Morning Comrades! It’s Friday and as with every Email at this point I will aim to leave you on a good note for your weekend. The first drop of the F/W Black Lodges line is now available to you all and I am most stoked on this one. You are looking at a heavy weight, organic cotton black crew neck sweater that you can pick up with a small 5x4cm black or red embroidery. The embroidery is done locally by two incredibly talented women running their own small shop down the road from my place and I cannot emphasize how good their work is. Both the black and red version are available until the end of Sunday as per usual and if you have any questions about the fit, please drop me a line or check out the fit pictures I posted in our Telegram Group or the online store.
In yesterday’s email to the paying subscribers I wrote a few words on the fallacy of democracies under capitalism exemplified through some serious fuckery that happened on local level. I do think the conclusions are worth sharing here for everyone, however, and here you go:
As long as as any party is in servitude of capital and capitalism, it is irrelevant what colour, what class, what special interest they claim to represent, it is a lie, and you, me, every worker will get shafted in the process.
Any “Socialist” state under capitalism can only provide social welfare through Capitalism and the wealth of the Global North West is PURELY and ENTIRELY based on the brutal exploitation and colonialization of the Global South. Any and all “Welfare” we are granted can not only be taken away at any point, to benefit the bottom line of those that uphold and pay for these “democracies” but more importantly, our welfare rests on colonialism, imperialism, war and theft.
Any party, any “democracy” that exists in Capitalism exists only to serve Capital.
Democracy, not as we know it, but as it should can and will only exist without Capitalism. Unfortunately this isn’t a nuanced discussion or reality. Luckily for us there are answers, experiences and entire histories as to how we can make that so.
“What presents itself to us as bourgeois legality is nothing but the violence of the ruling class, a violence raised to an obligatory norm from the outset.” Rosa Luxemburg.
My dear friends over at Verso have just released another reading list that specifically deals with work, labour and how we can envision our relationship with work going forward. It is one of the greatest and most vital discussions to be had to re-imagine a world without capitalists and work. I can only recommend every book on this reading list to anyone and the list is linked below.
Following is another installment of recommended infotainment from the wondrous world of YouTube for your weekend. Again, each and everyone of these clips is most certainly worth your time, especially this first one. The concept of alienation in Marxist thought is not only a vital tool for understanding the world around you but this little amateur philosopher holds it in the highest regard.
Returning to this wonderful guest edited section on food and drink, Ana and Tatjana went all out for us this weekend. Do enjoy these, make these, share these and so on.
Tzimmes are a classic Jewish side dish for the holidays. Normally, the carrots are cooked in a pot on a low heat, this version does this in the oven and works just as well.
Ingredients:
500g of carrots, 200ml vegetable stock, 50ml orange juice, 50g honey, 2 tablespoons of pomegranate syrup, 1 teaspoon of sumach, 1 teaspoon of of garlic powder, 1 teaspoon of ginger powdeer, 1 cardamom capsule, a touch of cinammon, grated orange peel, dried fruits ( ideally dates, cranberries and figs ), salt & pepper and parsley, coriander and pomegranate seeds to garnish.
Step 1
Preheat your oven to 200C - wash and quarter the carrots and place in an oven dish.
Step 2
Briefly boil the vegetable stock with the orange and honey and add to the carrots.
Step 3
Add the dried fruits and mix well with the stock and whack into the oven for 30 minutes. Occasionally sprinkle some of the broth onto the carrots during this time.
Step 4
Change the oven settings to grill for an additional 10 minutes so the carrots can caramelize. In order for this happen heap the carrots on top of the dried fruit.
Step 5
After said ten minutes, put the Tzimmes on yer plates, use the reduced stock and garnish with parsley, coriander and the pomegranate seeds.
This week the we're doing a proper classic. Most will have some sort of relation to it; either by wearing fancy hats at The Kentucky Derby or having watched Anchorman 2. Today we're doing the MINT JULEP.
The 'history of cocktails' is fairly young in comparison to the food and wine history. Sure, humanity has always found a way to get hot, bothered and fucked with the help of alcohol, but used for what we consider cocktails came much later with the likes of Jerry Thomas – the OG bartender. Jerry Thomas (1830-1885) is what you'd call the Godfather of Bartending. People have been doing stuff with alcohol forever, but even from the first mixed drinks of Jerry Thomas to today's date it has changed a lot. Juleps as a drinks has in some form been around since the 1400's – even though it doesn't appear as a printed recipe until 1803. Jerry Thomas wrote two books, one called The Bar- Tenders Guide which includes a lot of drinks we consider classics today. His julep – and those before – use brandies, wines, aged genevers and rich rums with fruit and berries as garnish. The one we do today uses bourbon and mint, but that one didn't come about until the 18th century with bourbon becoming a thing. Today Mint Juleps are traditionally served at some celebratory events, and more famously at The Kentucky Derby. You know, ladies in fancy hats and men in sailing shoes betting on fast horses.
WHAT YOU NEED:
- A nice bourbon
- Simple syrup
- Good mint (make sure it's clean before you start) - Finely crushed ice (very fucking important)
- Julep cup (traditionally it's made from silver, but other metals are more used now)
- A straw cut to 5-7 cm above the cup's rim
- Jigger
- Swizzle stick (if you have something similar, use it. If not, I guess a long spoon will have to do)
HOW YOU DO IT:
- Pour 8 cl of bourbon and 1 cl of simple syrup into the julep cup.
- Pick 4-7 mint leaves (depending on size). Put the in one hand and 'clap' them. Put them into the bourbon and simple syrup mix. Also find a nice mint sprig to use a garnish.
- Crush your ice into small, fine pieces. Be throughout!
- Fill the cup with ice to about 3⁄4 with ice and swizzle it. This is done by taking the swizzle stick (or the similar thing you got), putting it between your palms and rolling. Lift it up and down meanwhile, so you get an even dilution and cooling.
- Fill the rest of the cup with ice. Take your beautiful mint sprig, slap it back and forth on the cup's sides a few of times and place it nicely in the drink.
- Put the straw in right next to the mint.
- Drink!
ON A PERSONAL SIDE NOTE:
This is gonna be two parter. First lets address the recipe/tools. Two things about Mint Juleps are still debated: 1) finely crushed ice or pepple ice, and 2) clap the mint or muddle it. I generally prefer crushed ice over pepple ice, and I don't see a reason to muddle the mint for this drink – for other drinks it's the right call. It wouldn't serve a purpose here; just dirty up a tool and taking up more time than necessary. Clapping the mint will release the mints' aroma just fine. Sometimes muddling can also bring out the bitterness in the herb, which is not needed for a Mint Julep. Both 'questions' are still debated and the answer will change bar to bar. Every place has a style and a way of doing classics. On top of that, there's also personal preferences.
For the bourbon just use something you enjoy drinking. This drink has more sweetness than you might be used to, so keep that in mind. It's essentially only 4 ingredients, so the bourbon is going to feature heavily in flavour.
Some recommend using a higher ABV bourbon, which means it might hold up better with the dilution constantly happening – and fast. Simple syrup is a syrup made from sugar and water. The ratio is different from bar to bar, but it always somewhere between a 1:1 to less water than sugar. It's super easy and fast to make. Finding a recipe for should not be a problem. Just make sure it's cooled down before usage.
A swizzle stick is a bartending tool used to mix anything built in a glass involving crushed ice. It's part of the a main cast in anything remotely tiki-style. It's essentially a long stick with 3-5 points springing in different directions in one end. A whisk for crushed ice, I guess. You might be able to buy crushed ice (like pepple ice) or you might have to do it yourself. A bartender would normally use an ice bag and something to hammer it with – like a hammer. An ice bag is a made from a heavy duty, high quality canvas that's thick and tightly woven. This means it's durable as fuck – a necessity since we hit it over and over again to crush ice. I use a wooden mallet or bat for this. It's great anger management – trust me. At home, keep your surfaces in mind and the risk of damaging them, so maybe use a rubber hammer or something else that's wont leave dents in the kitchen table forever. The weirdly specific straw length is so you get the smell of mint while drinking, but not actual mint leaves up your nostrils. Danke aber nein danke.
Now for the second part: Jerry Thomas – the Godfather of bartending. There's others, but Jerry Thomas is the most famous one from this period by far. He's specifically responsible for what is known as American style bartending. He was a bartender that operated saloons in America during the mid to late 1800's. The book The Bar-Tenders Guide mentioned earlier is one of two he wrote, and is mandatory reading for any bartender interested in cocktails. Jerry Thomas was a rock star in his field, and helped popularize cocktails in America. Knowledge, skill, creativity and showmanship was all part him bartending. When reading old recipes like the ones from his book, it's important to keep in mind how alcohol and other ingredients have changed since. General produce and availability have become better. Distillers have refined their production and new methods are in play. We know exactly what's in it, how it's made and where it's from. This is a relatively new thing. Historical perspective is the name of the game, when reading through these types of books/recipes. Classics have a standard, somewhat agreed upon recipe nowadays, but every bar will have their own take or twist on them. This all comes down to ingredients, their availability and the bar's chosen style. Drinks that have been around forever – like the Julep, Ti Punch, the Grog – will inevitably change. Jerry Thomas' Julep tasted different from the one you get at your local cocktail bar now. If you feel urge to do an old timey style of julep though, get the french brandy instead of the bourbon and use berries as garnish – and if you do use berries: get the muddler out!
And now there is drinking to do!
(bonus points to any nerds, who know where that is from)
P.S. I forgot to mention that you should also get a strainer for your bar tools. I'd suggest getting both a Hawthorne strainer and a Julep strainer (yes I can address the name correlation to this weeks drink another time). A fine mesh strainer is a good idea to buy as well.