A couple of weeks ago, I attended a Holiday Cocktail + Snacks Class at The Bent Brick in NW Portland. First, a little background on my relationship with The Bent Brick.
Oh wait. I don’t have one. Or, at least I didn’t. I’d been in for happy hour once, about a month or so before this class, and I enjoyed tasty tea sandwiches and red wine outside at the picnic tables on their adorable porch, but I hadn’t had a chance to experience what this place is also seriously rocking — cocktails.
I glanced over the cocktail menu while I was there, and noticed shrubs and tonics made in-house, fresh fruits and vegetables and spices and herbs, and local spirits spiking these fresh drinks. I knew I had to come back for those cocktails.
The Holiday Cocktails and Snacks class was led by bar manager Michelle Ruocco and Sous Chef Ryan Mead. They were both welcoming and laid back, impressively knowledgable about their respective crafts, and fielded all of the questions we had throughout the class.
There were seven of us in attendance, and we kicked things off by learning how to make a Bishop, which is essentially holiday sangria. Think, mulled wine, but with a few twists. Here’s how we did it:
Bishop
- 1 bottle Ruby Port (Ruby vs. Tawny was stressed. Buy the Ruby.)
- 1 cup water
- 1 medium orange
- 20 whole cloves
- 2 ounces sugar (I used honey)
- Pinch each: grated (peeled) ginger, grated nutmeg, ground allspice
- optional, but recommended:
4 to6 ounces Brandy or Cognac - optional, but recommended: 1-2 whole cinnamon sticks
Wash the orange and pierce skin with cloves until orange is well-studded. Tip: use big toothpicks or skewers (I had neither, so I used a small [clean!] meat thermometer with a pointed end) to pierce the orange, and then pop the cloves in. Otherwise, be careful not to crush the cloves between your fingers.
Place orange in a baking dish and bake in a 350 degree oven for 60-90 minutes (this will caramelize it, and make your house incredibly fragrant and festive). Remove from oven and let cool. It will look like this:
Heat port and water in saucepan until simmering. Stir in sugar and spices. Cut the cooled orange into slices and add it and its juices to the pan of port.
Pour in Brandy. Stir and serve.
The Snacks Part of the Cocktail + Snacks Class
Next, Ryan didn’t show us how to put together a meat and cheese board, didn’t talk about crudités, and didn’t show us how to stuff dates and then wrap them in bacon (and to be honest, this is the type of “snacks” I was expecting). Nope, Ryan brought out the big guns and taught us how to make Chicken Liver Mousse. Sound fancy? Sure it does. And it looks fancy.
And while I’ve tried that and similar spreads on various charcuterie boards before, I never once thought that’d be something I could make myself.
Ryan explained that his goal was to “de-mystify” this dish. Well, he did, and it’s simpler than I expected. In fact, I made my own a few days later and felt confident enough to riff on what he created to make it my own. I’ll cover this one in more detail in an upcoming blog post, because I want to expand on the changes I made to the recipe we started with.
So! More on that one later.
The Brandy Crusta
Finally, while fully loaded up on meat butter and crostini, Michelle launched into our second cocktail lesson: The Brandy Crusta.
Now, I drink my fair share of whiskey, Scotch, and bourbon, but when it comes to cocktails? I’m a rookie. I don’t make many, and I don’t drink many (and when I do, they’re whiskey or gin, and very little else).
The Brandy Crusta is similar to a familiar classic cocktail, the Sidecar, the main difference being the prominence of the lemon peel in the drink. Where the Sidecar is garnished with a lemon, the Brandy Crusta is defined by it. Here’s what we did:
How to Make a Brandy Crusta
(Jerry Thomas, 1862)
- 1/4 oz. simple syrup
- 1 dash Peychaud’s Bitters
- 2 oz. Brandy or Cognac (we used E&J VSOP, which is what I bought for my home bar)
- 1/4 oz. Orange Curacao (or Cointreau, or Grand Marnier)
- Lemon + Sugar to garnish
Rub sliced lemon on the rim of a cocktail glass and dip it in pulverized sugar. Pare half a lemon (the way you’d peel an apple) all in one piece so it fits nicely in your glass (this is harder than it looks, and I ended up with a few pieces, rather than one long ribbon).
Put the above ingredients in a shaker and fill halfway with cracked ice. Shake up well and strain into your prepared glass.
I haven’t made this one at home yet myself, but I did just stock up on Brandy, so I’ll surely be trying it soon.
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If you’re local to Portland, check out The Bent Brick’s upcoming schedule of events and classes. I plan to take the chicken breakdown class in February, but if you’re interested in the cocktail class, there’s a Libations of Love class right near Valentine’s Day.
Photo credits: head shot photos for Michelle and Ryan were used with permission from Little Green Pickle, and were taken by Allison Jones. All other photos are my own.
