Your Video Guide to Making the Perfect Cocktail

{ and what to pair with it }

Watch Paul make his award-winning Oh Pear cocktail and Steve his zippy spiced cheddar fricos, with special guests Barbara & Jon. (Click ► to play.)

“The challenge was to create a cocktail using pears—in any variety, form, and combination. I decided that the drink had to have pears in the forefront, first and foremost, and that it should taste like fall in a glass. I’ve always loved Drambuie and felt that it was underrepresented in cocktails, and thought, hmm, this might be good with that bottle of Jameson’s Irish whiskey that’s been sitting on the shelf. I also just got a bottle of Belle de Brillet pear liqueur and, man, that stuff has incredible pear aromas. Combine that with the Red Bartlett puree and voilà! you get a cocktail that is sweet, slightly spicy, and has a playful texture. Seconds, please!” — Paul

“We discovered that cheddar is the perfect flavor accompaniment with the Oh Pear. I didn’t want to just pair the drink with a slab of cheddar on a cracker. In a pinch that’s fine, but I wanted to add a little zing to the flavor of cheddar, and that’s where the idea of blue cheese and several herbs and spices came into play. Caraway seeds, mace, dried chervil and marjoram, a little pimentón (smoked paprika), and some salt and pepper bring out more of the cheese flavors. The biggest challenge was trying to come up with a snack that would be easy to eat with little mess. The classic fried little frico popped into my head. But be forewarned, it’s almost impossible to eat just one!” — Steve

The recipe:

2 ounces Irish whiskey (Jameson suggested)

1 ounce pear puree (fresh Red Bartlett suggested)

1/2 ounce pear liqueur (Belle de Brillet suggested)

1/2 ounce Drambuie

pear slice, for garnish

In a blender or juicer, puree a pear, seeded but not peeled (half a pear usually works per cocktail). In a shaker half-filled with ice, add the puree and the remaining ingredients. Shake for 30 seconds. Strain into chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with pear slice.

If you don’t have any pears left over for garnish, no worries. The pear puree has a consistency that will most likely be enough pear for your drink; however, if you want to pretty up the Oh Pear, we like to thinly slice a smaller pear (try a Seckel) lengthwise, right through the middle, seeds and all. Then just float it on top. Gorgeous!

You can of course use other varieties of pears — Comice, d’Anjou, Clapp — for your puree, but we like using Red Bartlett because of the way it makes the drink look: little red flecks floating in the cocktail give it a rich, burnished appearance that gives this chilled cocktail a fall warmth.

Spiced Flour:

2 tbsp flour (1 tbsp for chewier fricos)

1/4 tsp mace

1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp caraway seeds

1/8 tsp. pimentón

1/2 tsp dried chervil

1/2 tsp dried marjoram

Combine ingredients  in a bowl and mix thoroughly with a fork.

Fricos:

4 cups grated sharp or extra sharp cheddar cheese

1/4 cup grated blue cheese

spiced flour (see recipe to the left)

Preheat oven to 375°F

Combine cheeses in bowl and mix with a fork.

Add spiced flour and continue mixing until incorporated. Scoop tablespoons of the mixture and place on nonstick liner on cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.

Bake about 8–10 minutes until golden. Remove from oven and place entire cookie sheet on a wire rack to cool for 2 minutes. After cooling, use a metal spatula and carefully remove the fricos, placing them on the wire rack to cool completely.

May be made up to 3 days in advance. Keep in an airtight container with layers separated by wax paper.

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Cocktail Buzz www.cocktailbuzz.com is owned and operated by Steve Schul and Paul Zablocki ©2007. Any inquiries can be sent to mail@cocktailbuzz.com.

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