(Guest post by The Boyfriend)
Do you ever forget about favorite recipes?
Perhaps you prepared a dish so often that you temporarily burned out on it...and then forgot about it. Maybe you made the dish only on special occasions...and those special occasions didn't occur for a while.
But have you ever said to yourself, for whatever reason, "You know, I haven't made Dish X in ages!"? And then ran to the store to get the ingredients because you couldn't wait to put it together? All the while recalling pleasant memories of the dish?
It was in this vein that re-discovered the perfect summer drink: The Bourbon Slush.
On a recent hot afternoon, I was looking for something to add to my mental file of "Beverages, Summer, Refreshing." This file normally contains three beverages:
1. Beer
2. A 50/50 mix of fruit juice and Sprite
3. Beer
About fifteen years ago, I stumbled across the bourbon slush. And it was a happy accident, indeed. Light. Refreshing. Quick. Perfect for summertime. I made at least one batch of the drink during each of the next several summers. Then, inexplicably, the drink just dropped off my culinary radar for probably ten years.
Just as inexplicably, the drink re-emerged from recipe purgatory. I have no idea as to why I thought of it, but I did. I pulled the recipe that a friend and I had freely adapted from an old charity cookbook that I found years ago on a bargain table in a Philadelphia bookstore (A Second Helping, published by the women's ministries of Gloria Dei Church).
And I headed to the grocery store.
I returned half an hour later and went to work...
The Bourbon Slush
2 cups strong tea (3 or even 4 teabags)
1 1/2 cups sugar
12-oz. can frozen orange juice concentrate
12-oz. can frozen lemonade concentrate
2 1/2 cups bourbon
6 cups water
Sprite or 7-Up
Dissolve the sugar in the tea while the tea is still hot. Add all remaining ingredients, and pour into a large freezer-safe container. Put the mixture into the freezer. Stir the mixture every couple of hours for the next 24 hours, until the mixture has frozen. Because of the alcohol, it won't freeze solidly, but will retain a slushy consistency (hence the name "Bourbon Slush"...clever, no?) (Note: The original recipe, titled "Slushy Beach Drink," called for only a half cup of bourbon, and listed even THAT as "optional." Right.)
To serve, fill a glass (any size) two-thirds to three-quarters full of the slush mixture. Give the mixture an extra splash of bourbon (this step is optional, but highly recommended). Finish filling the glass with Sprite or 7-Up. Stir. Enjoy.
The mixture will keep in the freezer for weeks. Once you've made the slush mixture, it's two minutes from freezer to glass. Quick. Easy. Extremely tasty.
So...when was the last time you remembered a long-lost favorite recipe?
13 comments:
Sorta similar...my son (age 3)won't eat fruit pies. I was making a blueberry pie this weekend, and he kept saying "Daddy, will you make me a chocolate pie?" What can I say? I've taught this kid well! :) Anyway, I found an old recipe for a chocolate cream pie in The Joy of Cooking. I forgot how great that cookbook is for finding a general recipe. It turned out really good! After swimming yesterday, we had blueberry AND chocolate cream pie. Yum!
One cannot survive on slushy pina coladas alone. I love a good slushy cocktail. MUST try that; it sounds delish.
Kim-- Mmmm, slushy pina coladas! Mind posting a recipe? :)
JKnepfle-- Joy of Cooking is favorite go-to book. It's one of three I actually keep on my kitchen counter. The other two: Best Recipe and How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman (which I refer to less and less; his recipes are too spotty).
I recently - this weekend - rediscovered the Mudslide. Slushy with a chocolatey punch that is perfect for a hot humid Cincinnati day!
I have a similar bourbon slush recipe that I adore. It's an old family recipe of a friend and I'm thrilled I have a copy of it. The only difference between my recipe and yours is the tea. My recipe calls for peach tea, which adds sort of a fruity kick to the whole thing.
Yum! Bourbon slush!
Rita--I love Mudslides. Talk about re-discovering favorites...I haven't had a mudslide in ages. Do you make your own? Or go out? Where?
Michelle-- I'm sure that the peach tea could only make it tastier.
Terry
Summertime and sitting on the patio at Barleycorn's on the River sipping Watermelons
nice double shot shotglass filled with ice
mix
2 jiggers Southern Comfort
1 jigger Amaretto
1 jigger Creme de Almond
(beat the hell out of it...the creme de almond has to break down)
pour into glass
add orange juice to the rim
Watermelon juice with a kick!!!!
Humm, have to think about the recipe I forgot. Julie which edition of the Joy do you have? 75 is the classic, the 97 was butchered by Maria Guarnaschelli. I can't do refined sugar so my summer refresher, non-alcholic, is Trader Joes Blackberry Crush juice, I mix it 1 to 1 with a good soda water and add a little lime, that's my pop. Salty Dogs are popular at ou place, by the way Terry at Terry's turf club does a killer one, he keeps the vodka in the freezer and fresh squeezes the grapefruit. Toddy O why are they called watermelons if they have orange juice in them?
Julie, have you had Pimms and lemonade (called, I believe, Pimms Cups in the US)? I just cannot imagine a more perfect summer drink. If you can get your hands on a bottle of Pimms, combine it with Sprite and chuck in lots of fresh, sliced cucumber, orange, lemon, strawberries and torn mint. This is truly the only drink I have missed since I went teetotal. It's just flawless.
Good call Jackie, the number one is available here, there are boocoo variations, here are a bunch
http://tinyurl.com/69cjhj
A quote from spittoon.biz
"Created by James Pimm in his 1820`s Oyster Bar. Pimm began to market it ready-mixed in 1859, such was its popularity. It was taken as a digestive tonic, due to the high level of quinine and the mash of herbs involved in its production. Fashionable society began to drink Pimm`s as a cocktail during the later part of the 19th century, partially for the alcoholic lift and partially because it was weak enough to be drunk all afternoon."
If you can't find it try 1 x shot Gin + 1 x shot Red Vermouth + 1/2 x shot of Curaco, Cuantro or Triple Sec). Add mint cuke orange strawberry, what ever you like really, let the flavors mingle while it chills. Add lemonade, ginger ale or soda water to taste.
Mo info here
http://www2.anyoneforpimms.com/
vudutu-- I have a reprint of the '75. Your drink sounds good too! I love fizzy fruit beverages.
Jackie-- oh, wow. Pimm's cup sounds fantastic. I'm a big fan of lemon-based drinks (I love gin and tonic)... this sounds perfect. I wonder if I'm doing anything on Sunday, that sounds like a Sunday drink to me.
I have a similar recipe except quantities are a little different (I cut back on sugar for instance) and I used Rum instead of Bourbon and I add a pit of Triple-Sec.
It is always a hit at parties.
I'd be interested in a lower sugar version, Dan. You ought to share!
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