Cocktail Hour: Bacon-Infused Bourbon

A couple of weeks ago, Karl emailed me a link to a New York Magazine article containing a recipe for a Bacon-Infused Old-Fashioned. I had the feeling he had sent it to me for its shock value, or even in an attempt to induce his favorite response of mine (apparently, my face is capable of evincing both horror and scornful disdain simultaneously). Imagine his surprise when I emailed him back and told him that we would be conducting the experiment of infusing bourbon with bacon flavor as soon as possible!

I really, really like bourbon, and the idea of the smoky flavors of bacon mixing with the spicy aromatics of a good bourbon tickled my fancy. As the process described by New York Magazine did not seem very difficult, I thought, "Why not?"

Karl and I chose Elijah Craig bourbon for our experiment, even though Maker's Mark is my usual bourbon of choice. We felt that the powerful vanilla notes in Marker's Mark would not pair well with smoky bacon flavors. Elijah Craig lacks the vanilla and boasts a much spicier taste (think cinnamon and black pepper). We bought a hickory-smoked maple bacon for our infusion.

Essentially, the infusion process consists of cooking the bacon, and taking 1 oz. of the rendered fat (while it's hot) and pouring it into 750 mL of bourbon in a nonporous container. Then, while eating the bacon, you then let the mixture sit at room temperature for several hours, then put it in the freezer until the fats solidify on the top of the bourbon. You can then remove the fat with a slotted spoon, and voila! You have bacon-infused bourbon.

There was still a good amount of fat floating around in the bourbon (in particle form) after I had spooned out the large pieces, so I also poured the bourbon through cheesecloth to get the last bits out.

The resulting infused bourbon tasted a lot less like bacon than I thought it would. However, it took on some smoky back notes and a more viscous mouth-feel (thanks to the fat, I'm sure). Karl compared the taste and mouth-feel to a nice Scotch Whiskey. Overall, we were both very pleased.

We also took the suggestion of the New York Magazine article and made a variation of the Old Fashioned (which traditionally consists of bourbon, Angostura bitters, sugar, and a slice of orange). The variation substitutes the bacon-infused bourbon for regular and maple syrup for the sugar. What a delicious and elegant cocktail! Granted, we did not have the proper glass (you should use an old fashioned glass), but I thought the cocktail looked rather charming in a wine glass.

I will definitely be pulling this recipe out for parties, and maybe even for when I try a bourbon I'm not wild about. At the very least, it's an interesting way to get a few extra miles out of bacon fat!

What To Do With Too Many Limes

Karl and I bought a ton of limes at Shur-Save in Bloomfield because they were 6 for $1. I suppose you can probably get them even cheaper if you buy them by the 5- or 10-lb bag at CostCo or some other similar store, but we don't have a membership to anything like that.

So, what to do with all these limes?

Well, I decided to keep it simple. I had contemplated trying my hand at lime curd, since lemon curd is so amazing, but I am attempting to watch it with the calories if you know what I mean. (For those of you who don't know, lemon or lime curd traditionally uses quite a few egg yolks and quite a bit of butter....and is absolutely heavenly on a scone with some clotted cream!).

But enough drooling. Instead of slaving over a hot stove making curd, I decided to make limeade.

After reading about a few techniques I discovered through various recipe search engines (check these out! They're great: FoodieView and ProjectFoodie), I decided I'd use the simple syrup method.

The benefits of creating a lime simple syrup are twofold. First, the sugar gets completely dissolved when it goes into solution as the water boils, which means no more sludge at the bottom of your glass (sad news for some, I guess?). Second, you can control how "watered down" each glass of limeade is (to accommodate for varying tastes).

I like my limeade to be much more tart than sweet, so I adapted a recipe for limeade that I saw on many sites which called for 3 cups simple syrup for every 1 cup of lime juice. I cut that ratio to 2 cups simple syrup to 1 cup of lime juice, and it turned out great! There is just no more refreshing way to cool off after a 90˚F day than by sipping on a tall, frosty glass of limeade.

Stay cool everyone!

Limeade Simple Syrup
Yields 3 cups syrup

1 cup fresh-squeezed lime juice, seeds removed (it took me about 7 limes to yield one cup of juice)
1 cup sugar
1 cup water

Place the sugar and water in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil, stirring, until the sugar dissolves completely. Pour the hot mixture into a heat-resistant container with the lime juice and stir. Allow to cool, then refrigerate.

That's it! When you are ready for a frosty glass of limeade, put a couple of of ice cubes in a tall glass and fill 3/4 of the way with the lime simple syrup. Top it off with cold water.

Alternatively, you could top off your limeade simple syrup with some sparkling water or club soda. Or add some gin, vodka, tequila, or rum for an adult twist. Use your imagination!