Let’s Toast Julia Child!

Julia Child’s former summer home and iconic kitchen in Provence are opening for cooking lessons, retreats, and Airbnb rentals in the spring of 2017. 

The announcement sent my petit coeur soaring. Closing my eyes, I flew to Julia’s kitchen; her voice resonated from its tiles and pinged from her copper pots, referencing all its octaves. In my daydream, Julia lifted a grand piece of beef onto the chopping block as her first step in making steak au poivre, and instructed me step by step. Opening my eyes, I regretted that I wasn’t in France with Julia, but in my own home kitchen, left only with thoughts of a someday trip of a lifetime.

Then I thought, Why wait? Julia would not want me grumbling about a distant future plan. She’d want me celebrating what’s already surrounding me. So I decided to look up her favorite cocktail, which makes great use of cocktail bitters.

Toast the re-opening of Julia’s home with The Savory Pantry by trying this light and refreshing, equally no-fuss twist on the “Angosoda” she loved, along with another Julia-inspired champagne cocktail with aromatic bitters.

Barrel Soda

• 4–8 dashes Fee Brothers Whiskey Barrel-Aged Bitters to taste*
• 1 slice of lime
• 4–6 oz of your favorite sparkling water
• 1 handful of ice cubes

*Fee Brothers says, “These limited-edition bitters are bottled only once a year, in the spring, and when they’re gone, they’re gone!” Order now while we have stock.

Directions

Pick a glass you love, preferably one that is transparent so you can enjoy the drink’s color. Add ice to ¾ line of glass. Dash your bitters. Squeeze your lime and toss it in the glass with abandon. Fill with sparkling water to just below top of glass.

A Note from Erin: “This recipe is perfect for an occasion when one wants to feel festive without getting catawampus. It is also practically calorie-free. Julia Child is quoted as having said, ‘The only time to eat diet food is while you’re waiting for the steak to cook,’ and to the extent that this is a diet drink, it would certainly play that role well. It will not offend a palate that finds whiskey distasteful, but promises a surprising cinnamon and woody complexity. I love the zippy squeeze of lime—what my husband calls a ‘working lime’ (versus one that’s just there to look pretty).” Erin writes, edits, and joyfully flits about her kitchen for The Savory Pantry.

The Tomahawk Twist

• 1 Blood Orange
• 2 dashes Fee Brothers Whiskey Barrel-Aged Bitters*
• Champagne or Prosecco to fill

*Fee Brothers says, “These limited-edition bitters are bottled only once a year, in the spring, and when they’re gone, they’re gone!” Order now while we have stock.

Directions

Pick a glass you love, preferably one that is transparent so you can enjoy the drink’s color. Cut blood orange in half. Cut one round for garnish and set aside. Juice blood orange into glass (or use separate glass and then pour into the glass you’ll use if you want to be extra tidy. Careful! Blood orange juice will stain). The size of your glass and your tastebuds can determine how much blood orange juice you use. Add 2 dashes of Fee Brothers Whiskey Barrel-Aged Bitters. Fill to top of glass with Champagne or Prosecco. Note that you can find single-serving bottles, so this would be a fancy surprise for spring picnic with someone you want to woo! 

Mock-tail or low-alcohol alternative: Substitute San Pellegrino’s Blood Orange or Limonata Sparkling Fruit Beverage for Champagne or Prosecco. Bitters do contain alcohol, but you’re just using dashes. 

A Note from Erin: “This recipe was inspired by a report of Julia Child being taught to open a champagne bottle with a tomahawk by a Colorado restaurateur. Now that’s fun! I love the festive nature of champagne and prosecco, and the idea that every occasion becomes special when a cork is popped. For this cocktail, I was drawn to the currently-in-season and always intriguing blood orange, as it seemed to speak to what could have happened if fate had differently guided Julia’s hand.” Erin writes, edits, and joyfully flits about her kitchen for The Savory Pantry.

Recipe: Chocolate Truffles with Aromatic Bitters

• 1/2 pound good bittersweet chocolate
• 1/2 pound good semisweet chocolate
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon brewed coffee, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon bitters (I used Pink House Alchemy Sarsaparilla Bitters)
• Confectioners' sugar and/or
• Cocoa powder and/or
• Pecans finely chopped in a food processor

1. Chop chocolate very finely and place in large mixing bowl.
2. Bring cream to a boil. As soon as it is boiling, remove from heat.  Wait 20 seconds and pour through a mesh, over the chopped chocolate.
3. With a whisk, blend the chocolate and cream until smooth.  
4. Whisk in coffee and bitters. Allow the mixture to come to room temperature for 1 hour.
5. Scoop teaspoon-sized portions onto a baking tray lined with a Silpat or parchment.  Refrigerate the scooped portions for 30 minutes to an hour.
6. Remove from the fridge and roll each portion in your hands to create a ball. (They won't be perfect spheres, don't fret!)
7. Roll each ball in confectioners sugar, cocoa powder, or finely chopped nuts.
8. Store truffles in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. Serve at room temperature.

Makes 40-60 truffles, depending on size.

Creative Notes:  

• This is a messy process and you will get chocolate all over your hands!  Which also makes it fun. You might try working with disposable plastic gloves.

• Good to roll up a couple of truffles at a time and coat them in coating of your choice while they are still sticky from the warmth of your hands.

• Research reveals that anything above 60% cocoa is considered semi-sweet and anything above 70% cocoa content is considered bittersweet. This is helpful when selecting The Savory Pantry’s specialty chocolate bars that meet these criteria.  

• Choose all bittersweet or all semi-sweet, depending on taste preference.

• A melon baller would work well for scooping the initial portions of chocolate that will later become truffles… the closer you can get them to round in the portioning, the easier your job will be when it comes time to roll them in your hands.

A Note from Amy: I live in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where humidity must be taken into consideration when making truffles and other recipes that require setting or cooling, as humidity prolongs the setting-up process. The light went off inspiring this recipe after trying the Prestat Truffles Keeley carries at The Savory Pantry, and wanting to try my hand at them. I’d heard bitters could be substituted when vanilla extract was called for. I received some bitters as part of a cocktail gift from Keeley when my husband and I were married last May and I was excited to branch out from using them in Old Fashioneds. I provide graphic design for The Savory Pantry, and maintain it’s Facebook and Pinterest pages.

Bitters: The What and The Why

There’s an awful lot to know about the curious and storied world of bitters. We’re excited to do the research and sampling for you in the coming weeks and share what we’ve learned, a dash at a time. We think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the countless ways that bitters can spice up all that flows from your pantry—beyond the world of original cocktail recipes, we’ll also introduce you to incorporating bitters in your sweets and savories from chocolate truffles to soups. Stay tuned!

Let’s start our bitters journey with a brief and piquant history . . .

Tantalizing Tastes: In The Savory Pantry, good taste always comes first. Bitters result from infusing high octane spirits with an array of barks, roots, herbs, botanicals, fruits, and spices. The result is a concentrated and pleasantly pungent rush to the tongue, which is why they are meant to be used in splashes and dashes. For a sauce corollary, think of the rich result of making a reduction and how that adds depth and intrigue to your dish. With only five basic taste sensations in the human palate (bitter, sour, sweet, salty, and umami), it sure would be a shame to live without fully appreciating one! Perhaps bitter has gotten an unfairly bad rap—we certainly seek to avoid “bitter” individuals—but we think you’ll see after some exploration of this underappreciated taste sensation, bitter can be better!

Healing Elixir or Snake Oil? Bitters got their start being touted as cure-all elixirs, said especially to promote healthy digestion (a benefit that some still claim today, and about which there is abundant reading online). They could be spotted at soda fountains, where they would be combined with soda water by a soda jerk and used to disguise the liquid medicines dispensed by the often adjoining pharmacy. Prohibition nearly wiped out bitters, save a few commercial brands, but as the interest in classic cocktails has experienced resurgence, makers are crafting splashy twists on the bitters of yore. Many bitters still salute their colorful past with their apothecary-reminiscent wrappings. 

Thanks to its growing popularity, there are bitters to interest every palate, since of course what creates the best tastes is a complex and individual answer. Here at The Savory Pantry, we have a dozen available flavors ranging from whiskey-barrel aged to rhubarb to sarsaparilla, so you can select those most appealing to you.

Queue up your bitter buds and prepare to join us on a bitter adventure!

Shop this article > Bar 40 Bitters, Fee Brothers, Classic Old Fashioned Kit, Hudson Standard, Pink House Alchemy