“Healthy” drinks (Popeye, Sabretooth)

Today’s drinks both have some kind of nutritious ingredient, so you can enjoy them with clear conscience ;P

POPEYE

Spinach vodka (see below)

(dash of Midori, if you feel like it)

Shake with ice and strain into a suitable glass with some ice in it. Garnish with spinach leaves. Enjoy while smoking a corncob pipe.

While publishing Bamse and Super Goof I promised to publish Popeye; one more “superhero” who gains his powers through eating some particular stuff.

Using spinach in Popeye The Cocktail is self-evident… but it turned out to be tough thing to do. Spinach has such a faint taste, it will disappear when mixed with other aromas, no matter how careful you try to be.

Producing spinach vodka: mush fresh spinach leaves with suitable pestle, cover it up with vodka. Let it soak for 2 hours, stirring occasionally; strain.

I tried soaking mushed spinach leaves for different time periods, even for two days, but the taste won’t get any more “spinachy” after two hours.

Okay, the colour is pretty okay and you can sense the faint aroma of spinach (when liquid is suitably chilled)…but mixing it with any other ingredient completely vanishes thin spinach taste.

The only ingredient that seems to work with spinach vodka is Midori, and even then you should use it very sparingly (measuring by the drops, actually). Midori covers up the spinach, sure, but the taste of Midori itself seems to change due to spinach.

I must apologize, my dear readers… Popeye The Cocktail is not a very good cocktail. Sure, thematically it works (because of the spinach) but the taste leaves a lot to hope for… and I always try to design my cocktails “Taste First”.

Luckily, today’s second cocktail is way more better; both in taste and in thematical sense…

 

EDIT: check out another version of Sabretooth here.

SABRETOOTH

one egg white

4 cl (1 1/2 oz) whisky

4 cl sweet red vermouth

(dash of tequila, if you yearn for “sharp kick”)

2 cl (3/4 oz) bouillon (see below)

(dash of simple syrup, see below)

Shake vigorously with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

I guess you’ve heard about the cocktail called Bullshot? Recipes vary, but the essential element is bouillon. Internet and books describe Bullshot as Bloody Mary with bouillon added, or Bloody Mary without tomato juice…with bouillon added.

Bloody Mary w/ bouillon seems like a missed opportunity to me; you could achieve some much more with such an interesting and unorthodox ingredient – some much more than just dumping it into B-Mary, to get lost in all that tomato juice. The second approach, vodka + bouillon + Bloody Mary spices, is just an uncomfortable experience; looks like it’s meant to be some kind of stupid “Test Of Manhood” for hangovers.

While sipping different Bullshot versions I couldn’t help wondering… “vodka lacks a character in this case (as it usually does): the taste of bouillon is destined to dominate this cocktail no matter what, but instead of adding “faceless” vodka you could use something that works with bouillon – something that will not set itself “below” bouillon, but something that enhances its taste…”

“Hmm…whisky could be the weapon of choice”, I thought, and instantly my “theoretical taste buds” realized that red vermouth will complete the trio into something truly worth publishing.

“It’s so obvious, someone’s bound to have invented it before, and I end up publishing something that has been known by everyone for years” (as I unbeknowst did with Penguin, Solomon Grundy  and Swamp Thing (The Green) )… I’m pretty sure someone has thought whisky+vermouth+bouillon-combo but I couldn’t find such an act written up, anywhere.

So, I started to finetune this combo, and here it is: Sabretooth The Cocktail.

Sabretooth is such a “carnal” character, I think “meaty taste” describes him very well. Whisky and sweet vermouth support bouillon perfectly, as expected. Egg white binds them all together: instead of three elements together there is one smooth (but strong) taste.

Tequila, for those who want an extra kick, is not essential. If you feel like you’ll need some simple syrup to make this cocktail enjoyable, don’t just add it to the shaker: pour in some to the bottom of the glass before straining the drink on top as well – this way you’ll avoid potentially unsavoury aftertaste with the last gulp…

…though I personally don’t find the strong taste of the cocktail unsavoury at all: on the contrary, I think regular bouillon is a little too mild for the purpose – I found out that the broth made out of “beef taste” noodle spice powder works better than actual bouillon 😀

You might think that I’m yanking your chain with this cocktail, but it really is delicious. Please check it out.

 

Next time… St. Valentine’s Day, with cocktail #225 😀