Homemade milks are a beautiful thing. They are fresh and light in a way that no store-bought milk can be, no matter how good the quality of a brand may be. Your own milk also will not contain unnecessary ingredients. The best part is, they’re not difficult to make.
The latest thing right now is oat milk, and it’s probably the easiest of all homemade milks to make. You just dump all the ingredients in a blender and go. If you have a Vitamix, or other high-powered blender, now’s a great time to use it!
Oat milk tends to be a little flat in its purest form, so many people add a sweetener to it. I chose to add honey, but you can add whatever you like, or omit it altogether. I also chose to add a pinch of salt to enhance the flavor of the milk.Continue reading →
One of the nice things about the holiday season is all the festivities and food. On Wednesday, December 9, I got to do something a little different—I went to a cheese-tasting event at The French Cheese Board on 39th Street in Manhattan. It’s a chic, clean, modern space where you can purchase your favorite French cheeses.
Wheel of Raclette
The event was promoted by The Baddish Group, a PR firm that specializes in food and beverage marketing, and they offered a sumptuous spread of several different cheeses, from Camembert and brie to Raclette and butter made with sea salt. They were all so fresh and flavorful that I couldn’t help going back for more. I watched as others kept going back as well, which made me feel kind of bad for the kitchen staff. They were definitely being kept hopping trying to replenish the table. A server came by with a few different hors d’oeuvres: Mac & Mimolette, Brie and Grapes on a canape, and Raclette & Potatoes. The mac ’n’ cheese was so good in its simplicity, cheese and grapes is a classic combination that can never go wrong, and a potato slice with a piece of Raclette on top was divine.
It was a warm, friendly gathering of people in different segments of the food industry. A couple of us were food bloggers, while others were buyers, chefs, and marketers. I’m sure that other professions were represented. Despite the incredible and uncharacteristic warm weather, a simple, lovely Christmas tree along one wall reminded us that it was the holiday season. I think that always puts people in a better mood.
Mimolette
My favorite cheese, by far, was the Mimolette, a pumpkin-colored cow’s milk cheese. It’s a firm cheese, which is my favorite kind, but I really liked it for its smooth, sweet flavor. Which leads me to my favorite drink of the evening.
They asked mixologist Natasha David from Nitecap, a bar on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, to come up with some cheese-inspired cocktails for the event.
Natasha created cocktails that were not only inspired by cheese but that actually used cheese. And not just in the final concoction—her creations were made with spirits that were infused with cheese.
I asked Natasha what her method for the infusions was, and here’s what she said:
The infusions were quite simple—I let the cheese sit in the booze for a certain amount of time, then strained them and froze them so that all the fat would rise to the top and then strained again. I did that twice over 48 hours.
For the Mimolette Rind—I used 50 g of rind to 1 750 ml bottle of Calvados for 7 hours.
For Camembert—I did 60 g of Camembert to 1 750 ml bottle of Dorothy Parker gin for 5 hours.
For Bleu—I did 50 g to 1 750 ml bottle of Linie for 2 hours.
From there, the mixologists at the event concocted the three drinks below to accompany the hors d’oeuvres. I’m going to give an infusion a try at some point—it will definitely be a new experience for me. If you do it yourself, let me know how it turns out. Enjoy!
Cheese-Infused Cocktail Recipes
Cocktail #1: To accompany the Mac & Mimolette, a Mimolette Rind-Infused Calvados cocktail
2 oz. Rind-infused Busnel Calvados 0.75 oz. Lemon Juice 0.5 oz. Simple Syrup 1 barspoon Bon Mama Fig Preserves Egg White
Method: Shake, Strain Glass: Double Rocks glass with Big Block of Ice Garnish: Grated Mimolette
Cocktail #2: To accompany Brie and Grapes, a Camembert-infused Gin cocktail
2 oz. Camembert-infused Dorothy Parker Gin 0.75 oz. Lemon Juice 0.5 oz. Ginger Syrup 1 barspoon Lingonberry Preserves Seltzer
Method: Shake, Strain, Top w/ Seltzer Glass: Highball with Kold Draft Garnish: Candied Ginger
Cocktail #3: To accompany Racelette & Potatoes, a Bleu d’Auvergen-infused Aquavit
1.5 oz. Blue-infused Linie Aquavit 0.75 oz. Dolin Dry Vermouth 0.75 oz. Dolin Blanc Vermouth 1 tsp. Pickled Tomato Brine
Method: Stir, Strain Glass: Nick and Nora or Martini Garnish: Blue cheese stuffed Pickled Tomato
This is my friend Tucker. He wanted to do something classy this holiday season.
This was a particularly difficult month and week for me, so I decided that this week’s recipe should be a cocktail. I had quite a few cocktails and glasses of wine this month to get me through, but this one turned out nicer than I had expected. I used homemade limoncello, but any brand that you get from the store will do.
It’s a bit on the sweet side, so give it a taste. If you want to tone down the sweetness, add a little less o.j. and/or a bit more rum. It’s called “sunrise” because it looks like one of those types of drinks that are reminiscent of…well, sunrises. Little umbrella optional. :- ) Enjoy!
Limoncello Sunrise
1 ounce limoncello
1 ounce rum
4 ounces freshly squeezed orange juice (~2 juicing oranges)
1 tablespoon grenadine or strawberry syrup
1 orange slice
¼ cup crushed ice or 1 or 2 cubes
Place ice in a tall glass. Add the limoncello, rum, and orange juice and mix. Pour in the grenadine or syrup and let it settle at the bottom. Garnish the glass with the orange.
Homemade milks are a beautiful thing. They are fresh and light in a way that no store-bought milk can be, no matter how good the quality of a brand may be. Your own milk also will not contain unnecessary ingredients. The best part is, they’re not difficult to make. 
It was a warm, friendly gathering of people in different segments of the food industry. A couple of us were food bloggers, while others were buyers, chefs, and marketers. I’m sure that other professions were represented. Despite the incredible and uncharacteristic warm weather, a simple, lovely Christmas tree along one wall reminded us that it was the holiday season. I think that always puts people in a better mood.
Miz Chef 