Bacon-infused Old Fashioned Cocktail

I recently had a similar cocktail at the Ravenous Pig in Orlando, Florida (wonderful experience there). I found several recipes for bacon-infused bourbon online, but decided to try it with rye as I prefer that spirit for Old Fashioned cocktails.

 

I picked a happy medium of the recipes I found for the amount of bacon drippings to use (from 1 oz. fat to 750 ml liquor, to 1 cup fat to 2 cups liquor {at Restaurant August}). I used about 1/4 cup of my homemade bacon (using the MC cure) drippings that I had saved in the refrigerator with 750 ml Old Overholt Straight Rye whiskey.

 

You  add the liquor to the melted fat and agitate the jar frequently over 6 hours, warming as needed to keep the fat liquid; then freeze overnight to solidify the fat for removal.

 

The recipe for the infusion and cocktail that I found on the New York Magazine site called for maple syrup which was also listed as an ingredient in the Ravenous Pig menu. I was so happy I already had some maple syrup on hand.

 

The Ravenous Pig used the maple glazed bacon strip garnish. I wanted to use that idea, but I didn’t want to take 20 minutes to cook up just a couple of slices of my homemade bacon so I (gasp!) used my “emergency freezer bacon” – Hormel Microwave Ready bacon that I keep in the freezer for bacon emergencies (anyway, it’s still BACON). This was very easy to do and I think the cocktail is very good.

Mai Tai

My first job in high school was at a Tiki restaurant in Key Largo with the Polynesian fire dancers, Pu-Pu platters, and tropical drinks…
I recently found Beachbum Berry’s Sippin’ Safari, “America’s leading authority on tropical drinks and Polynesian pop-culture” on Amazon and have started to collect the myriad ingredients necessary to recreate these tropical libations.


I found most of the rums at Martin’s Wine Cellar, though I still need a good Demerara 151 for Zombies.


Mise for the Mai Tai: Aged Martinique and aged Jamaican Rum, lime juice, simple syrup (in the Grolsch bottle), Orgeat syrup, and Cointreau [A fine, colorless, orange-flavored liqueur made from the dried skins of Curaçao oranges grown on the island of the same name in the Dutch West Indies. The Generic term is Curaçao, and if redistilled clear is called triple sec. "...before Prohibition the Cointreau bottle still read Cointreau Triple Sec. The liqueur was not only the first triple sec, it's how the term was coined. After imitators reproduced the signature square bottle and imprinted the words "Triple Sec" in the Cointreau typeface, Cointreau dropped the words from their bottle. The premium liquor has long since transcended the category, but that's how it started out...the first and best triple sec. ... Use generic triple sec only if you are short on cash."].