This one was a hit at an underground dining event held recently at Bill Samuel's home. Bon Vivant Savant hosted. I designed the entire menu and was blessed to have 3 local executive chefs volunteer their time to help us execute this menu... Dan Thomas, Brett Donaldson and Michael Hargrove. Whattya do? I was lucky enough to step outside the kitchen this evening, let the chefs be chefs, and really spend some extra time on the cocktail details! How cool was that?
Think bourbon ball, add caramel and nut nuance and well! The end result reminded me of a cream liqueur...
I had originally thought this would become a fat-washed kinda thing, but it ended up...well...more emulsified than that. Quite good.
Because the nuts weren't toasted and added no real flavor to the end product, I went with the dumante crema and it worked brilliantly. The crema part of the recipe is an approximation- I didn't think I'd be writing about it, so use your best judgement!
Take:
2 king-sized Snicker's Bars
Melt them down in a double-boiler. In a non-reactive container, add this to:
.7 of a litre of Maker's Mark
Cover and place in the freezer for 2-3 days. Push through a chinois (not too hard!) Place back in the bottle and fill with water (to emulate the water added by tin-work.) Shake well. Return to freezer until use. Place into a cordial glass, 3/4 of the way up. Top this with the crema:
4-6 oz Dumante
2 cups Heavy Cream
Whipped until frothy. Spooned into the glass, like frothed milk.
We served it on the plate alongside a petit four of bold devil's food cake (a la mom ;D) and dusted it with mole powder. It worked quite well
