Chefs Get Into the Gin Game Before and After Distillation
Two stories have popped up recently on the intersection between chefs and gin.
Before:
Roxor gin is made in Texas and was developed in part by Robert Del Grande, a James Beard-awarded chef with a PhD in biochemistry. The gin contains the usual juniper, corriander, orris, grains of paradise and citrus including grapefruit and lime; plus hibiscus, cocoa nibs, Texas pecans, and cinnamon.
The chef developed the gin, and it is distilled to his specifications at San Luis Spirits in Dripping Spring, Texas.
After:
Chef Peter Smith of PS 7's in Washington DC uses the spent mash from gin distillation- the botanicals left in the bottom of the still - to cure meats for the restaurant. He uses the mash from both Bluecoat Gin in Philadelphia and Catoctin Creek in West Virginia. Then:
At the distillery, the fresh, non homogenized botanical spices are boiled down and melded together into a balance of flavors that is mellow but intense. Peter mixes this leftover, tea-like compost, with oil, leaving it to sit for a month. Then, he strains it through three times to get it pure, clear, and compressed.
He has created a “Ginola,” a play off breseola, by rubbing his beef with the spent botanicals and hanging it to dry and cure for about a month. The beef develops a gin-like taste and is included on his tasting menu. He has been curing “GinBelly,” similar to pancetta, a cured pork belly covered with the gin mash botanical and then rolled and dried for two-five months. PS 7’s also now features a halibut dish in which the fish has been treated with his gin-mash powder, giving it a light and unexpected gin flavor. He has also worked with Catoctin Creek to develop a gin salt.
You can read the press release here.