One ingredient I’ve kind of put off making is Sirop-de-Citron.
Not because it is particularly or challenging to manufacture, but mostly because I have a bottle of Monin Lemon Syrup I’ve barely put a dent in.
However, I’ve never really been thrilled with the drinks I’ve made with the Monin Syrup.
With the recent arrival of Clayton’s Kola Tonic, an ingredient commonly combined with Sirop-de-Citron, it seemed like a good opportunity to revisit. Plus, it’s Lemon season.
Source recipes:
Sirop-de-Citron
Ingredients:
5 Lemons
1kg Natural Sugar
Water
Method: Slice lemons, (note deadly ceramic Mandolin in foreground and cut resistant glove in background,) toss with sugar and place in a clean container.
Let stand for 2-3 days.
Add mixture to a sauce pan and bring to a simmer.
Strain through cheesecloth.
If you desire, save now candied peel, dehydrate and store in a sealed container.
Strain into clean 750ml bottle, fill with water. Refrigerate, (though with this much sugar to liquid, I really doubt much is going to happen here,) and serve with soda water or where Sirop-de-Citron is called for.
Comparing the Monin and home-made, it is really apparent the Monin syrup has been pumped up with Ascorbic Acid. It is pretty extreme in it’s lemon flavor. The home made is more natural tasting, though with a bit of a bitter after taste from the inclusion of the pith in maceration. For those very picky about bitterness, I did find some fancy pants, pastry chef type recipes which zest the lemon peel, juice the lemons, and use this to create the syrup. Personally, I don’t mind the bitter after taste, and hope it lends some zip to drinks like the Big Boy, Clayton’s, Filmograph, Marvel, Pink Baby, and Re-Vigorator.
Re-Vigorator Cocktail.
1/2 Gin. (1 oz Plymouth Gin)
1/4 Kola Tonic. (Scant 1/2 oz Rose’s Cola Tonic)
1/4 Sirop-de-citron. (1/4 oz Lemon Juice, 1/4 oz Monin Lemon Syrup)
Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.
Cheating slightly, as I just can’t face these Kola Tonic and Sirop-de-Citron cocktails without a little bit of citrus juice.
This isn’t, strictly speaking, awful. On the other hand, it isn’t that great, either. Definitely on the Saccharine side, like a vaguely medicinal lemon flavored hard candy.
Good name, though!
This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.
Pink Baby Cocktail.
1/2 Gin. (1 oz Plymouth Gin)
1/4 Grenadine. (1/2 oz homemade Grenadine)
1/4 Sirop-de-citron. (1/4 oz Monin Lemon Syrup, 1/4 oz Lemon Juice)
The White of 1 Egg.
Shake well and strain into medium size glass.
Sorry, I find I just can’t hang with these “Sirop-de-Citron” cocktails with no fresh citrus. Maybe if I made my own Sirop de Citron, it would have enough bitter lemon character from the peel that it would be tasty. But just using Monin Lemon Syrup, these cocktails just aren’t that good.
Anyway, the best looking recipe I’ve found for Sirop de Citron is here:
Essentially, you slice a bunch of lemons and then preserve them by completely covering them with sugar. The recipe on the above page calls for: 3 lemons sliced thin covered with 400 grams sugar and macerated at room temp for 3 or 4 days. Bring to a boil and strain out the solids.
I can see how that would be quite different from the lemon syrup we typically get from Monin or Torani.
Anyway, back to the Pink Baby. As written above, she’s not bad at all. In fact, quite delicious, perhaps the most promising of the various upcoming “pink” cocktails. We shall see!
This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.
The Marvel Cocktail
3/4 Jamaica Rum. (1 1/2 oz Coruba Rum)
1/8 Sirop-de-citron. (1/4 oz Monin Lemon Syrup)
1/8 Grenadine. (1/4 oz Homemade Grenadine)
Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.
Previously I have made these sorts of Grenadine and Rum drinks with Appleton V/X.
I have to admit, trying the Marvel with the Coruba Rum, the flavor combination makes a lot more sense.
It’s just a lot more funky and flavorful rum for this application than the Appleton is.
I’m gonna have to go back and try the Chinese Cocktail again.
This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.
Filmograph Cocktail
1/2 Brandy. (1 oz Cerbois VSOP Armagnac)
1/4 Kola Tonic. (1/2 oz Rose’s Kola Tonic)
1/4 Sirop-de-citron. (1/2 oz Monin Lemon Syrup)
Shake, (well, stir, I suppose,) and strain into cocktail glass.
I know I promised to make my own Sirop-de-Citron the next time one of the cocktails called for it. And it is even lemon season. Sadly I have failed. And sadly failed this drink. At least with the Monin Lemon Syrup, this is the equivalent of some sort of very sweet hard candy with the Kola Tonic giving it a lovely medicinal edge. Cough Drop in liquid form. It’s hard for me to see this as anything other than a waste of a delicious Brandy.
…
Earlier in the day, a friend had called. Asking if I happened to have any Armagnac. It isn’t odd for him to ask me for a couple ounces of drink ingredients, as I know he is currently making drinks as part of his personal obsessive-compulsive project to make all the recipes from the “Joy of Cooking”. But, I did think it a bit odd to ask about Armagnac. I mean, there really aren’t that many cocktails that specify Armagnac. Why would they include one with the dozen or so cocktails in the Joy of Cooking? Turns out it is a Sidecar variation which they are inexplicably calling an “Armored Car,” (every google I do for “Armored Car” and “cocktail” turns up tequila and amaretto.)
My friend came over, and I made him an Armagnac Sidecar (2-1-1) with the Cerbois, Cointreau, and fresh lemon juice. Damn, if it wasn’t the best Sidecar I’ve ever made. I’ve actually always thought it a bit of a waste to use a too nice Brandy in Sidecars, as it often gets plowed over by the Cointreau and Lemon. The Armagnac really puts up a fight!
This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.
Clayton’s Special Cocktail
1/2 Bacardi Rum (2 oz Flor de Cana Extra Dry Rum)
1/4 Kola Tonic (1/2 oz Rose’s Kola Tonic)
1/4 Sirop-de-Citron (1/2 oz Monin Lemon Syrup)
Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.
Note: I did slightly increase the ratio of booze to syrup in the recipe.
My big regret is I bought Lemon Syrup instead of making it myself.
The Monin is OK. At least it doesn’t have corn syrup. However, I didn’t realize until I looked at the bottle when I got home, that it does have preservatives, natural flavors, and FD&C Yellow #5.
I know this cocktail would have been at least 200% better with home made lemon syrup. Well, the next time sirop-de-Citron comes up, it’s going to be home made.
The Kola tonic seems to be a fairly subtle flavor to me. I kind of get it as an aftertaste. Nothing really strong. It seems like a dash or two of Fee’s Aromatic Bitters or Lemon Bitters would really punch this cocktail up.
Anyway, quite tasty. Could be a little more tart for my tastes, I suppose.
As an aside, I was sort of wondering who the Clayton in Clayton’s Special Cocktail was.
After a bit of googling, I discovered the following:
According to the wikipedia, Clayton’s was “originally blended and bottled by the Clayton Brothers for the Pure Water Company, Battersea, London, in the 1880s”…and is the brand name of a non-alcoholic, non-carbonated beverage coloured and packaged to resemble bottled whisky. It was the subject of a major marketing campaign in Australia and New Zealand in the 1970’s & 1980s, promoting it as “the drink you have when you’re not having a drink” at a time when alcohol was being targeted as a major factor in the road toll.
This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.
