Morning Comrades. As mentioned earlier in our Telegram Group you are getting this email from Paris, rather than my comfy office in Hamburg and seeing that Paris has had its way with me already I am apologizing for any and all spelling mistakes that may or may not transpire in this email. I hope the new piece of introductory art makes up for those in any case.
With that, let’s get straight to it - no Black Friday Corporate insanity here this week but if I may draw your attention to two new pieces that are available to you now. First up we have a collaboration with Fonsaide, a dear friend of mine, Hamburg based tattoo artist and all around good person to have around you. We’ve been working on this collab over months, mostly failed because wine got in the way, but here we finally are. This t-shirt is available now through to Sunday. We both appreciate your interest and support in this wildly capitalistic times.
Also available after a few days of deliberation and figuring out logistics is this engraved, black tungsten ring that I made last year. The engraving reads: No Gods No Masters and it is a bit of a beaut. I won’t be making this again, because it is a bit of a pain in the arse for everyone involved in the process but hell, why not.
Truthfully, I have out-spent myself in regards to writing this week to give you your usual deep Friday content so following are your usual resources to carry you through your weekend until we return to this space on Monday. I reckon you’ve also had enough deep talk from this end by now, so without further ado, here we go:
Two AV clips that will hopefully allow you to get into some interesting rabbit holes.
Feminist Economics
Returning to this last installment of Feminist Economics - a hugely important part of this discussion in my opinion, here is a great piece on Gender Awareness and Public Policy by Professor Jayati Ghosh. Within this piece Professor Ghosh explores the impact of economic policy on women, and the importance of adopting a gender-perspective in formulating policy. This goes beyond the inclusion of women in the decision-making process, to recognizing the differential impact a policy may have on women. Prof. Ghosh explains how migration remittances, fiscal policy (government expenditure and taxation), monetary policy, international structural adjustment programs and environmental policy affect women differently. This differential impact will have consequences on the ability of the policy to achieve its economic stability and poverty-reduction goals. The development of gender-responsive budgeting and policy is not only necessary for improving the welfare of women, but also to achieving its general public goals.
Yes, we are jumping straight into the good life with 2 new contributions from both Ana and Tatjana respectively.
Tschebureki are, traditionally, dumplings with meat filling, usually beef or lamb dripping in fat. Whilst we are making a vegetarian version, these will still be dripping in goodness.
Ingredients / DOUGH: 500h of flour, 200ml warm water, 40ml of neutral-ish oil, one egg ( which is optional if you want to keep it vegan ), 1 table spoon of salt, pinch of sugar-
Ingredients / FILLING: 200g of vegan minced “meat”, 80ml hot vegetable stock, 2 chopped onions, whatever fresh herbs you have lying around, salt & pepper, oil to fry
Step 1: Use half the flour and the rest of the ingredients for the dough and stir it all together to make a smooth dough, once that sets, keep stirring and add the rest of the flour. This should take around 15 minutes to be sure so the dough isn’t sticky anymore but still soft. Let it rest, covered in a dark-ish place for 30 minutes at room temperature.
Step 2: Chop the onions and and quench with the hot vegetable stock and let rest for a few minutes. Mix in the vegan minced “meat”, herbs and salt/pepper.
Step 3: Separate the dough into 10-12 equally large pieces, roll into little balls and let rest for another 15 minutes. Once that is done, roll them out into small pieces of flatbread and add small amounts of the filling to each one of them. Fold in half, use a fork to close them up properly and fry the fuck out of them. Enjoy!
The 20th Century cocktail is attributed to the British bartender C.A. Tuck. The recipe itself was recorded by W.J. Tarling in his book Café Royal Cocktail Book (1937), where it's creation is attributed to C.A. Tuck. Tarling recorded and chronicled cocktails from the U.K. Bartender's Guild in the first half of the 1900's. C.A. Tuck published his own book of cocktails including recipe for 20th Century in 1967 called Cocktails and Mixed Drinks. It if weren't for cocktail historian and writer Ted Haigh – AKA Dr. Cocktail – I'm not sure it would have become the classic it is today. Ted Haigh wrote about this drink in his book Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails (2004), where he attributes the cocktail's name and inspiration to the express train 'Twentieth Century Limited Train', which travelled between New York City and Chicago. Now, this drink was created in Britain by a British bartender, so why name it after an American railway train? Haigh speculates besides the title of 'the world's greatest train' in combination with the 1934 movie 'Twentieth Century' might have something to do with it. Name recognition helps selling a drink.
There's two well known version of this drink out there on the internet. One is the original specs from C.A. Tuck, and the other is a 'modernized' version by bartender Joerg Meyer created for his bar Le Lion Bar de Paris (which – contrary to what the name suggests – is located in Hamburg). In both the original by C.A. Tuck and Joerg Meyers recipes there's more gin than anything else, and there's about 1 cl difference in the other ingredients when comparing. Both recipes are fairly easy to look up. The one I'm proposing here has equal parts of everything. This will of course depend on which ingredients you use, so if you don't find yours entirely balanced, try one of the other versions and see if it helps. Plus we have that whole 'gotta scale it down, when dealing with American recipse'-thing going on yet again.
The flavour profile of the 20th Century is fresh and tart with some good chocolate notes. The original by C.A. Tuck is more chocolate forward, while Jorg Meyer's is more to the dry side. Your choice if crème de cacao and whether you go with dry vermouth or Lillet will of course also make a difference.
WHAT YOU NEED:
- Gin
- Lille Blanc or white/dry vermouth
- Crème de Cacao (get a good one please. It will make all the difference)
- Lemon juice (strained!!!!)
- Shaker
- Hawthorne strainer and fine mesh strainer
- Jigger
- Coupe glass
- Ice
HOW YOU DO IT:
- Glass in fridge/freezer.
- Pour 2 cl gin, 2 cl Lillet Blanc, 2 cl crème de cacao and 2 cl lemon in your shaker.
- Get your glass out of the fridge/freezer.
- Put ice into your shaker and shake for 6-9 seconds.
- Take your Hawthorne strainer and fine mesh strainer (double straining), and pour through them into the glass.
- Drink!
ON A PERSONAL SIDENOTE:
I personally use Tanqueray for this drink, unless another is requested. Joerg Meyer's recipe calls for Rutte gin. I know, I've written Lillet and white vermouth as the same thing in the ingredients list. Some recipes say white vermouth, while others say Lillet. Both ways from reputable sources as well. I have not seen the original recipe nor do I own Café Royal Cocktail Book, so I'll give you both options and leave it up to you. For Lillet, you can also use Cocchi Americano or a Kina (quinquina) liqueur. Lillet Blanc and Cocchi Americano might be easier to get a hold of though. If you go with dry vermouth, I'd suggest a dry blanco. If you do end up using Lillet, know that the drink does come close to a Corpse Reviver no.2 in flavour – the crème de cacao and lack of herbal notes being the biggest difference in flavour. Which is enough to make it an entirely new drink essentially. Many drinks will be separated by a one or two ingredient difference.
For the crème de cacao there's quite a few options, but generally you want something flavourful but not too perfume-y. Brizard, Giffards and Cartron are all fine brands to get one from. But do make sure you get the white crème de cacao, not dark. This is another kinda thumb rule of bartending: if you're working with light ingredients (colourwise), you don't wanna put a dark liquor with it. For example with our drink this week – 20th Century – gin, Lillet/dry vermouth and lemon is used. Gin is transparent, and Lillet/dry vermouth is a light yellow and so is lemon. Gin and Lillet/white vermouth is transparent, and while lemon is opaque, it's still light in colour. Because of this, a bartender would naturally assume the crème de cacao is white in this instance if just told the ingredients/specs without knowing the drink. Were the chocolate liqueur the dark and everything else the same, the drink would get a very muddy colour and look very unappetizing. Had we worked with either a dark rum or bourbon, we might have gone for a darker crème de cacao, but colour is not the only difference. Flavour of course takes first seat when considering which one to use. Luckily there's a sizeable assortment of liqueurs by this point, so you should be able to find something that will work for you.
Traditionally this drink comes with no garnish, but an orange or lemon peel works well.
For the next two weeks we're gonna deal with two other drinks the 20th Century has inspired, which is why we're starting with the original fucker first. But for now, enjoy the weekend and this lovely little classic!
That’s it for this week comrades, I hope you had another good week here and I am as always thankful for your attention, feedback and support. Until Monday, yours, without compromise,
V.