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Slow Cooker Recipes
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How to Scrape a Vanilla Bean
Best Riffs on Hot Chocolate
How to Make Holiday Punch with Erick Castro
By Eric Slatkin, Blake Smith, and Roxanne Webber
Erick Castro, the general manager of Rickhouse Bar in San Francisco, shows how to make a great bowl of holiday punch by demonstrating the things that people do wrong, including using cheap ice (don’t water it down!) and reaching for poor-quality liqueurs (they’re loaded with high-fructose corn syrup and artificial flavors!). Do it right: Use fresh juices and good (but not too good) liqueurs; freeze a block of ice and chill your spirits in advance; and mix up the punch right before your guests arrive, adding the citrus and sparkling ingredients last for the best flavor and effervescence. Here’s Erick’s recipe for Champagne Holiday Punch. [Editors note, December 15, 2011: Unfortunately, you can no longer find Erick behind the bar at Rickhouse; he is currently working as the West Coast Brand Ambassador for Plymouth and Beefeater Gins.]
More Holiday Rights and Wrongs:
How to Brine a Turkey
How to Pour Sparkling Wine
How to Make Latkes
How to Make Pumpkin Pie
To make the ice block, use a mixture of the fruit juice you are planning to use, instead of the water. The ice block will be much nicer, very pretty and no dilution of the punch, except the alcohol (Which may not be a bad thing!). BUT if you are going to use water, don't do what he did (to use the vernacular, “you're doing it all wrong”). If you notice his ice is cloudy and white, not clear and...+READ
To make the ice block, use a mixture of the fruit juice you are planning to use, instead of the water. The ice block will be much nicer, very pretty and no dilution of the punch, except the alcohol (Which may not be a bad thing!). BUT if you are going to use water, don't do what he did (to use the vernacular, “you're doing it all wrong”). If you notice his ice is cloudy and white, not clear and crystal like. The cloudy look comes from air dissolved in the water. To make clear ice, you need to get rid of the air. You can let the water sit for a couple of days or you can gently stir the bubbles out with a large spoon. Either way if the water has a flat taste, when you should have clear ice when you use it to make ice.-COLLAPSE
This sounds Awesome! I can't wait for the holidays to use it!