You Should Add Cheese to Your Cocktails
An unusual cocktail ingredient is on trend, and it’s not my cherry amarena syrup . (Bye.) It’s cheese. You already love it paired with a drink, so why not include it right in your libation? Our coupe glasses have room for both soft and hard cheeses, but you shouldn’t just toss old cheese into a shaker. Flavors and textures can go bad quickly, so before you grab a handful of cheese and a bottle of booze, let’s go over a few things.
I’ve eaten a lot of milkshakes in the past, cream being the most common – adding a drop can soften a harsh drink, or turn a fruity drink into dessert territory. But recently I saw a post from Food and Wine that got me thinking about drinking cheese. It featured an upscale restaurant in France called Le Syndicat that takes risks by adding select cheeses to its cocktails. In one of the cocktails they make, it’s called Gettin’ Milky with Nut (not my favorite name, i.e.), they pour alcohol into Roquefort cheese in the form of a milk punch. The other is covered with a goat cheese foam float. Sure, a gourmet region like Le Syndicate has access to high quality cheeses and cheese frothing tools, but that doesn’t mean we can’t try some of these tasty concoctions at home.
Taste and texture
Before you start pouring burrata water into your bar cart, think about the overall flavor profile of the drink and the texture of the cheese you’ll be using. The Cheese Professor has a detailed post including various examples of cheese smoothies. Cream cheeses, like mascarpone or goat cheese, add airiness and voluptuousness to whipped cocktails, while something aged, like parmesan, is best grated on a fine grater.
Consider if you want to add subtle, complementary flavors or if you want the cheese to stand out. The addition of cream cheese can add enough silky acidity to elevate your Amaretto Sour. Or maybe you would like to infuse your Dirty Martini tequila with umami even more? Spread grated manchego añejo on the surface.
Accompaniment, ingredient or infusion?
Decide how you want to add cheese to your drink based on what you already have on hand. As an ingredient, softer, spreadable cheeses can be easily mixed into smoothies by shaking them until they dissolve; the cheese becomes part of the mixture and adds balance and texture.
Use cheese as an accompaniment, which is similar to a side dish but a little more complex. Grate or finely crumble the salty hard cheese onto a plate, then slide a lemon wedge around the rim of the glass and rim the glass with the cheese. In this way, the consumer can enjoy his drink as he washes over the aromatic sample of the cheese.
One of the Le Syndicat methods that The Cheese Professor describes in the post above is cheese infusion, a form of fat washing in which ethanol (alcohol) dissolves water-soluble and oil-soluble flavors (cheese). According to this Washington Post article, cheese is 60 to 90 percent fat, so it’s a pretty effective way to add a cheesy flavor to alcohol. ( This post from an alcohol professor gives you some cheese infusion recipes and suggests cocktail recipes in which to use them.) After soaking your desired cheese in alcohol for a few hours, carefully strain the liquid and you’ll be rewarded with a funky new spirit to use in your expanding repertoire. mixology.
I do not hide the fact that I love limoncello and I think that it magically combines with the aroma of basil. If you can’t find limoncello at the liquor store, don’t let that stop you from making your own citrus liqueur at home. Try the following Italian-style cocktail for a taste of cheese drinks.
Lemon Basil Chisicle Cocktail
Ingredients:
- 1 tablespoon mascarpone cheese
- 3 to 5 large basil leaves (bruised and torn in half)
- 1 ounce limoncello
- ½ ounce Grand Marnier or Cointreau
- 2 ounces of vodka
Fill a cocktail shaker halfway with ice. Add mascarpone, basil, limoncello, grand marnier and vodka to shaker. Close it and shake it vigorously for about 30 seconds. Strain into a martini glass. Garnish with a sprig of basil and serve immediately.