Cooking Lesson #221 Sous Vide Cherry Rum & Cola*

…from the Friday Happy Hour Bar

How you doin’? You can’t be in the food business without the imagination to press the outer limits of what has been done in the past. I am a lover of technology, especially when it comes to new food equipment. You might not know it but I hold patents on several pieces of microwave timing equipment that I developed for Pizza Hut several years ago for a fast-cooking pasta program.
 
If you are a regular reader of this blog, then you know my fascination with everything Instant Pot. On a couple of occasions, I have also introduced Sous Vide recipes, as well as recipes made on an indoor smokeless broiler made by Philips. I am not a lazy cook. For me it’s all about flavor and the pleasure of eating. So, why not take advantage of some of the more exciting developments that have happened in the food technology world?
 
*For those who came here looking for a quick cocktail recipe for happy hour, see ShortCut recipe below.
 
What is Sous Vide is all about? Dr. Bruno Goussault describes it best—“The power of Sous Vide is that it enables you to precisely prepare food with more tenderness and flavor than can be obtained through traditional cooking techniques. Sous Vide makes it possible to unlock the full potential [flavor and texture] of food.”
 
Cooking Sous Vide involves sealing the food in a plastic pouch, essentially creating a second skin and immersing the food in a water bath set for a series of precise temperatures and times. Sous Vide was first widely utilized for industrial food production, and over the past several decades, professional chefs in many of the finest restaurants across the Americas and Europe have used the technique to maximize the flavor and texture of food—to serve the absolute-best steak, fruit, grain, vegetable or oil. The applications for Sous Vide are infinitely ripe for experimentation in both foods and beverages.
 
The Wine Kitchen in Leesburg, Virginia, offers more than red and white wines. Its rum-based Night at the Movies with Sous Vide cherries and kola nut syrup tastes just like a hopped-up cherry cola. It starts with a cherry infused rum made from Mount Gay Distilleries. More on Mount Gay in the ChefSecret.
 
Prep time:  5 minutes
Cook time:  3-5 minutes
Sous Vide cook time:  4 hours
Yield:  about 4-1/2 cups of the cherry rum / enough for 18 cocktails
 
Ingredients
For the Cherry Rum
4-1/4 cups dark rum, Mount Gay
1 cup frozen dark cherries

For the Cherry Rum & Cola Cocktail
4 tablespoons cherry rum
1-1/2 tablespoons Torani Spicy Kola Nut Syrup
1-1/2 tablespoons simple syrup
Club soda
Orange or Lemon Peel (for garnish)
 
You will also need
Sous Vide circulator
Sous Vide pouch
Vacuum sealer
Fine-mesh sieve & coffee filter
Cocktail shaker
Nick and Nora glass
 
Directions
To make the Cherry Rum

1. Add rum and cherries to a Sous Vide pouch.
2. Seal and cook at 134.6°F for 4-hours. (Yes, 4-hours! Don’t fret about the time, there’s nothing required for you to do.)
3. Open the pouch and strain contents through a coffee filter-lined  sieve, reserving the liquid until ready to use.
4. Discard the cherries.

To make the Cherry Rum & Cola Cocktail

1. Combine 4 tablespoons of the prepared cherry rum and the cocktail ingredients into an ice-filled shaker.
2. Shake, then strain into a Nick and Nora glass.
3. Top with club soda. 
4. Garnish with an orange peel.

 
                                   Short Cut Recipe for Cherry, Rum & Cola
 
Ingredients
1-1/2 ounces Rum (your favorite)
1/2 ounce Maraschino Cherry Juice
8 ounces Cola
Ice
Maraschino Cherry (for garnish)
 
Instructions

1. Add ice to a Highball glass.
2. Pour the rum and cherry juice over the ice.
3. Fill the glass with Cola.
4. Garnish with a cherry.

 
ChefSecret:  Mount Gay Rum is produced by Mount Gay Distilleries Ltd. of Barbados— the easternmost island of the West Indies. The oldest surviving deed for the company is from 1703, making Mount Gay Rum the world's oldest commercial rum distillery.
 
Mount Gay Rum is made from molasses and water that has been filtered through natural coral. This mix is fermented using an exclusively selected yeast and then distilled in both copper pot stills and column stills, before being aged in charred oak barrels.
 
Mount Gay Eclipse rum has a very distinctive flavor. There are other rums made on the island, but Mount Gay is the oldest and most prominent with a unique flavor. The aroma is full and rounded with notes of fresh flowers and honey, a little vanilla and tropical fruit. The palate is fruity and well-rounded with notes of banana, vanilla, smoke, oak and spice. The finish is long and spiced with toasty oak.
 
The first drink James Bond (Daniel Craig) orders in Casino Royale (2006) is not his trademark Vodka martini but a Mount Gay Rum with soda. If Mount Gay is good enough for James, it’s good enough for me.

Covid-19 Quip of the Day:  “Today my son got dressed in nice clothes and said it was picture day at his school (which is, of course, our kitchen table). It was either a very sweet moment or the first sign that the kid is starting to crack up. Either way, I charged him $45 for the photo shoot and another $25 for a 15-picture package.”
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