Zero - making champagne

Ok, so I am a bit emotional. I just read our latest email about how my good friend, nephew and staff member Jake is moving up in the world. I am so glad we had him for the past 7 years and I know he is going to kick ass in his new job! The email from Meg was so sweet, she is a pearl!

Anyway, moving on to today’s post.

Focus is on the 2 events we have tonight, one for 150 the other for 60.

My dilletante project will come second, if I have time.

Today, champagne 2 ways. Okay, so the book is super precise in many ways, but then not.

In champagne, p195, the recipe calls for 140gr lychee puree. That’s it. So I figured I would try it 2 ways. One with lychee pureed in the food processor. And another using my new ly aquired centrifugal juicer. I procured canned lychees in syrup from my local Asian supermarket, drained and pureed one batch, juiced the other. The juiced gave me exactly the 70 grams I needed to prepare half a batch. I am splitting the recipe in 2, it is quite easy by using grams.

I did this yesterday, in order to be able to chill all the ingredients before carbonating.

Clarity - is covered in chapter one, but I am having trouble with it. Obviously, since I took this on… Seriously, the liquids are cloudy, the Gin is slightly brown, there is sediment settling in the bottom, pulp rising to the top. For champagne, I hope it comes out a little clearer. I am not sure yet what to do about filtration, I have used the finest mesh I own.

This afternoon, I will have a bunch of staff here, so we can taste the champagne cocktails.

We will be able to do the last 3 cocktails of chapter 2.