Morning Comrades! Time to drop this summer’s Riot Gear that is now available for everyone. The above image takes you directly to the online store and the ones below to the individual releases! As always, all profits are directly donated to Doctors Without Borders. Thank you in advance for your support!
If there is one show to watch today or this weekend make it the new Contra Points Video. Full disclaimer, I haven’t yet at the time of writing this but I am very eager to do so. It sits at nearly 2 hours and the response so far has been furious from the self-proclaimed commie purity world to sheer admiration from pretty much everyone else. I’m excited about this one and equally excited to hear from anyone on here what they thought/ think!
Food & Drink Time!
Fuck yeah Friday and I am excited for two features from both AnaTensta and Tatjana, respectively. Let’s start with this absolute banger that should be on everyone’s list this weekend.
Çilbir- Turkish Eggs
Ingredients: 200g Turkish Yoghurt ( min. 10% fat ), 1-2 eggs, 20g Butter, 2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil, 1 Teaspoon of Aleppo Pepper or Chili Flakes, 1 Clove of Garlic, 3 Tablespoons of Vinegar, Fresh Herbs ( Your Choice ), Salt & Pepper, Bread or Baguette
Step 1
Take the Yoghurt out of the fridge a good 15 minutes before you start making this. As soon as its taken on room temperature either grate or press the garlic into the yoghurt, add some salt and pepper to your liking and set aside.
Step 2
Add the butter and olive oil into a pan and heat slowly until it starts making noises, add the pepper or chili flakes and roast for a few minutes and then also set aside.
Step 3
Poach the eggs. Use plenty of water but don’t boil it, try and keep it just under boiling point and add the vinegar. I usually open the eggs over a strainer and into a small bowl before adding them to the water. When you are ready with that gently stir the water and slowly add the egg and cook for 2-3 minutes and then take out.
Step 4
Put the yoghurt onto a plate, place the poached egg on top of it and then add the chili butter over it all. Whack some fresh herbs ( parsley works well ) over it all and serve with bread.
This week we're doing another one that's easy to both make and ingest. It doesn't require any tools beyond a jigger – or whatever you used last week to precisely measure any liquid under 10 cl. This week we're doing a PALOMA!
A PALOMA essentially consists of tequila, lime, grapefruit soda and ice. It's a cocktail which is hard to pin-point the exact origin of, but most agree it's sometime in the 1950's. It's an refreshing cooler with a tart note.
Tequila is generally a spirit with very diverse opinions on. Some love it, some hate it with a fucking passion. Some think they hate tequila, but has only ever had that fucking horrible exhaust cleaner called Sierra (it has a sombrero as cap, do I need to say more?). Some shoot it with salt and lime, while making a 'not-pleased-with-this'-face. I personally like good tequila and I like it neat. For those of you who think drinking it is all together a bad time, fear not: get your mezcal out instead. I used a little gochugaru-salt on the rim of my glass, because I like a touch of spice with my palomas. Some enjoy a salt rim and some like it without any. This is completely optional. I put a pinch of salt in my palomas as well. It gives a nice savory note to the freshness and tartness. Now if you do the salt rim, do that first. If not, skip that part and go straight to recipe!
WHAT YOU NEED:
- Blanco tequila (go ahead and make sure it's good by taking a shot of it first) - Lime and FRESH lime juice
- Salt (sea salt is what I prefer to use)
- Grapefruit soda
- Ice cubes
- Highball (or more depending on your thirst levels)
- Jigger (or whatever kitchen tool you used last week)
HOW TO DO THE SALT RIM (OPTIONAL):
- Cut a wedge of the lime and run it on the top of the glass' rim. It can also just be half of it.
- Take out a napkin and put your salt (gochugaru-salt in my case) on it somewhat evenly in level. - Turn the highball upside down and gently press the rim into the salt.
- Do this with small up and down motions in the salt until the rim is covered nicely. Be gentle!
- Turn your glass back the right way around.
HOW YOU DO THE DRINK:
If you did the salt rim, you gotta be a little careful from now on until you actually start drinking. We don't want to ruin that beautiful salt rim you just made.
- Pour 5 cl blanco tequila and 2 cl FRESH lime juice into the highball.
- Put a pinch of salt in and give it a little stir with a spoon or straw to dissolve it a little.
- Put ice cubes in.
- Pour the grape soda or grapefruit/soda water mix into the highball too.
- Take your and give the drink a very light and gently stir, so everything mixes well together.
- Cut a lime wheel and put in into the drink, so you can see the full wheel from the side of the glass. - Drink!
Now a lot of people are confused about tequila, mezcal and exactly what is what. This is understandable, so allow me to break it down in a simple way: All tequila is mezcal, but not all mezcal is tequila.
Both are made from the same plant: the agave plant. It's succulent which predominantly grows in South America. There's 200+ sub species and it takes years (even decades) for the plant to mature. In a nutshell, tequila can only be made from the blue agave plant, while mezcal can be produced by a variety – just not the blue agave. Mezcal is both the overall category, but also an sub category for what is not distilled from the blue agave plant. It's a little more complex than that for the non-blue-agave- spirits, but you get the idea.
There's different distilling methods all still in use, and a lot of rules and regulations set up by the Mexican Government about what can be grown and distilled where, what it can be called and sold as. Suffice to say it's a goddamn deep rabbit hole full of equally interesting, complicated and confusing reading.
Being an agave farmer and a distiller is a hard fucking job, and with the recent boom in the global interest in mezcal in particular, please try to do your research on what you buy; if the farmers and distillers are being paid fairly, and that the fields are not being aggressively harvested. Unfortunately it's not always possible to find out, but some brands are more upfront and have better reputations than others.
If you like tequila (or have an inkling you will), go get a proper one. None of that Sierra and the likes bullshit. That type is only good for one thing: starting a fire. Get some fresh lime juice too. Either get limes to press yourself or buy some freshly pressed juice. Don't buy that shitty little plastic bottle shaped like an lime or green lemon. Just don't. It will make your drink taste way better if it's fresh juice. If you do press yourself, remember to sieve the pulp out. Most bars either buy freshly pressed juice or we do it ourselves, so we're able to make you the best tasting drink we possibly can.
ON A PERSONAL SIDENOTE:
I like to use Jarritos for the grape soda. It is absolutely delicious on it's own and in drinks. If you don't have Jarritos, can't get it or simply can't be bothered, it's all good. Choose whatever kind of grapefruit soda you like. If there's a selection, I'd recommend going with the pink grapefruit. If you don't wanna/can't do that, get a grapefruit and a soda water/sparkling water you like. Press the grape fruit and sieve the pulp away. Pour about 3 cl of grapefruit juice, put a bar spoon (little smaller than a teaspoon of simple syrup and then pour the soda water into the glass. That way the soda wont lose it's bubbles and stays 'fresh'.
Simple syrup is a syrup made on water and sugar – hence the name. It's super easy to make takes about 10 min to do, and then some time to cool down and be useable for making drinks. Some bars make it with equal parts, some make it with more sugar than water. It varies. Basically you put water and sugar in a pot, heat it up and stir it every few minutes until the sugar dissolves completely and is fully integrated with the water. It should be somewhere between almost and completely clear.
For the tequila itself I like to use blanco (which is also what a paloma is traditionally made on), but if you're more the reposado type you can just a easily use that. I personally don't like drinking a paloma on an añejo though. Then it'd have to be a twist, where the grape soda is used differently or is substituted maybe.. as I said last week: the end goal is to make something balanced.
If you use mezcal instead (which is equally delicious) it will simply have a more smokey taste. Gochugaru is a korean chili spice used in kimchi you buy grounded and ready to use. I've mixed that with some salt, so I essentially have a hot-and-savory spice to use whenever. You can buy it in every Asian grocery store. It also works really well in food that's not fermented cabbage.
For those interested, you can follow me here on instagram or the bar I work at in Copenhagen here I got a little long this time too, but I honestly don't know how to do it shorter when dealing with tequila. I warned you last time about my lack of talent for being brief.
So enjoy your drink - and remember: all tequila is mezcal, but not all mezcal is tequila!
That’s all for this week comrades! I will be sharing some of the highlights, hot shots and the fuckening over in our telegram group tomorrow for your pleasure and with that wish you all a revolutionary weekend!