Toronto

Drinking French

Another cocktail for quarantine! This uses a (perhaps) more difficult to find liqueur, Fernet Branca, but it's worth it. The author suggests you could also use Fernet Vallet (as he does), but that was even harder for us to find in our area.

About the liqueur: https://www.fernetbranca.com/

Captions

[00:04]: hello and welcome to cooking the books
[00:06]: with Heather this week we're going to be
[00:09]: working out of drinking French again I
[00:12]: had a visit from my sister who lives in
[00:16]: another state where it is easier to get
[00:18]: a few of the liqueurs that are in here
[00:21]: and I was just quickly asked her to pick
[00:25]: up a couple of things so we're gonna
[00:26]: make today we're going to make the
[00:28]: Toronto this includes oh excuse me
[00:34]: fernet branca which is an herb liqueur
[00:38]: I'm not actually sure exactly what's in
[00:40]: it there's a section in the book I did
[00:42]: read it but I read about a lot of things
[00:45]: and so I've forgotten but the Toronto is
[00:48]: supposed to be served in a chilled coupe
[00:52]: glass which kind of looks like the wide
[00:55]: champagne glasses but sort of rounder
[00:60]: well I think I've seen champagne served
[01:03]: in these but there that's that's the
[01:04]: glass that he has in me in the book has
[01:07]: this cocktail served in I don't have
[01:10]: that so we are going to be serving it as
[01:15]: we usually do in this glass a highball
[01:17]: type glass with a large cube of ice so
[01:20]: that will water it down a little bit but
[01:22]: it's fine it'll keep it cold longer than
[01:25]: it will in this glass if I don't chill
[01:27]: it blah blah blah whatever so now that I
[01:31]: have gotten the ingredients that I was
[01:34]: missing another thing I want to say is
[01:37]: that he uses a Demerara simple syrup
[01:43]: that is also a recipe in this book but I
[01:45]: don't have that kind of sugar right now
[01:47]: didn't want to look for it but I do
[01:49]: generally have some simple syrup in in
[01:54]: my refrigerator and he says that that is
[01:57]: fine so either is fine I did not use his
[02:01]: recipe we make it all the time I assume
[02:04]: it's just water and sugar as usual
[02:07]: anyway
[02:08]: and another disclaimer we have tried
[02:10]: this I we tried it with my sister who
[02:12]: brought us the things to help us make it
[02:15]: so we tried it already we enjoyed it and
[02:18]: also we know that having the ice in it
[02:22]: in these glasses is a good idea so that
[02:26]: said the other ingredient is rye whiskey
[02:30]: we have some bullet here not sponsored
[02:34]: and also orange orange or Angostura
[02:40]: bitters we have this orange and fig
[02:42]: bitters from a local place that makes
[02:47]: bitters all different kinds of flavors
[02:49]: crude so local to my area we're doing
[02:54]: this in a shaker even though we're not
[02:56]: going to shake this I'm going to go
[02:60]: ahead and get started so first I'm going
[03:01]: to put in the whiskey I have I already
[03:06]: have the ice in here so I'm just trying
[03:14]: to pour I'm hoping we have enough we may
[03:20]: not have enough for two in this
[03:29]: it's three emphases we need four so
[03:35]: we're gonna mix it I guess because we
[03:37]: didn't quite have enough for two drinks
[03:40]: in this bottle I'm go ahead and do the
[03:44]: fernet branca he also uses Burnett
[03:47]: velvet I assume you have perhaps tea
[03:49]: there as well
[03:51]: he often changed exchanges it for that
[03:56]: but this is what we have some of the
[04:02]: things in this book are hard to find
[04:04]: especially in North Carolina and outside
[04:06]: of France but this is what we have so we
[04:10]: need to figure out where on my
[04:13]: I am point pouring to
[04:21]: okay
[04:24]: I think
[04:26]: - there
[04:30]: is the right amount for two things it's
[04:34]: close and we have some whistle pig piggy
[04:43]: back for the rest of our ride this is
[04:46]: this is not the top that came with it
[04:50]: because the top that came with it
[04:51]: actually broke off when we went to open
[04:55]: it so that's awesome
[04:57]: there we go there we go
[05:06]: so we are not faking this but they are
[05:10]: going to stir this for 10 seconds and
[05:15]: then stir it until it's well chilled and
[05:17]: there's a piece of ice stuff to the
[05:19]: bottom of that Berlin roulette sit for
[05:27]: 10 seconds
[05:35]: all right stir it again and then strain
[05:42]: it into your serving glasses like I said
[05:44]: don't have the right ones try and guess
[05:48]: half-and-half and then garnish with an
[06:14]: orange twist and my orange twist broke
[06:18]: when I tried to twist it so that's great
[06:20]: all right so we've put in all of the
[06:23]: alcohol in here and I kind of forgot
[06:28]: that we needed to add the sugar water
[06:31]: the sweetener so we have our simple
[06:34]: syrup here and then I also forgot the
[06:39]: bitters so I've already started this
[06:43]: once we're trying it again I always have
[06:48]: a hard time figuring out how much a dash
[06:50]: is when I'm using these bitters but I
[06:52]: think I put about four or so drops per
[06:59]: let's stir this again
[07:02]: [Music]
[07:09]: all right not gonna wait this time
[07:13]: supposed to wait 10 seconds blah blah
[07:15]: blah but I'd already started it was
[07:16]: already cold and this is cold and that's
[07:19]: just a few drops so into our glass with
[07:22]: the ice which is not as he intended but
[07:28]: it is what we have and there we go now
[07:44]: we have our correct drink
[07:54]: so the sugar that I forgot the first
[08:02]: time in these drinks like this help
[08:08]: bring out the flavors much like I think
[08:10]: salt does in in savory dishes like in
[08:15]: your regular cooking salt helps make
[08:17]: things taste more like themselves and I
[08:19]: think in drinks like this I certainly
[08:23]: taste more of the fernet branca
[08:25]: the Irby nasur baselessness of it with
[08:29]: the sugar than I did without I do have a
[08:32]: palate that likes a little bit of a
[08:34]: sweeter drink but this isn't super sweet
[08:35]: as it is but it's really delicious I am
[08:38]: enjoying it I hope you enjoy it and I
[08:41]: hope you liked watching me make it if
[08:44]: you get it please give me a thumbs up
[08:46]: hit the subscribe button and come back
[08:48]: and watch me make something else
[08:50]: [Music]