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The Lobster Series (Part 2): How to Cook a Lobster

This is part of a series on how to buy, cook, eat and make stock from lobster.  Yesterday’s piece focused on how to purchase lobster and how to tell the gender; today we talk about the simple task of cooking it.  This article assumes knowledge from the previous (the most important part being that we cook 1.25-1.5 pound lobsters with an absolute ceiling of 1.75 pounds) – the timing is based on the assumption that the previous page has been followed.

If there is one thing that you need to know about how to cook a lobster it’s that it’s simple.  If there’s a second thing to know, it’s that each region, town and family has their own way that, according to them, is the ONLY way to cook a lobster.  My family is no different. 

Here’s our rules in a nutshell:

  • You must remove the rubber bands before cooking them.
  • You must steam them.
  • The water should be heavily salted (the risk of under-salting is more threatening than under or over-cooking).
  • A lobster takes 2-beers to cook (meaning that in the time our family drink 2 beer, the lobster is done).

Traditions from other families dispute some of the above; many boil them, some leave the rubber bands on, others don’t salt the water and we cook ours longer than many.  According to my Grandfather, they are all perilously wrong.

We steam lobster in heavily salted water (including ocean water if we’re in Nova Scotia).  It’s important that you add enough water that it can boil for 30 minutes (or less) without running out.  We don’t measure but use a few inches (under 3) in a large pot.  The lobsters at the bottom will become more salty if you’re not careful so we often use a few pots which leave enough room to rotate the ones on the bottom to the top about half way through cooking.

As for salt, we add two considerable handfuls (I am 6 feet tall with average-large hands) like these:

Now, before we share the step-by-step process, let’s talk about handling lobster:

  • They are not slimy and you can, and should hold them firm.  They can, at times, wiggle aggressive as they try to escape your grasp.  As long as you are holding them reasonably securely, they won’t leave your hand.  I hold them over the sink in the event that happens and use great care (especially once the elastic bands are off).
  • Pick up a lobster by the back of the body.  You’ll see that they can’t reach behind them.  Practice for a few minutes before taking the band off so you can see their range of movement.
  • Only remove the elastic bands at the last moment and handle with extreme care and minimal distraction.  Lobster can draw a crowd and you’re dealing with boiling water and an animal that could cause significant pain including broken fingers.  If you don’t believe this, allow a lobster to grab the tip of a butter knife and you’ll see the trouble you have removing it (wiggle side to side to do so).  Lobsters have 2 claws: one is used to crush and the other is used to cut.  I don’t know what I’d do if I ever got pinched (and don’t have tested advice for this) but I’d either cut the claw off or try to toss it away.  Instinct would take over and while your life would likely not be endangered, you really don’t want to test this one out.
  • The only real threat to you is those two big claws, don’t be worried about the other ‘arms.’

How to cook a lobster (I do 4-5 per pot so I can rotate them)

  1. Pour 1.5-3 inches of water into a large pot.
  2. Add two handfuls of salt.
  3. Cover and bring to a boil.
  4. Remove the elastic bands from the lobster (use care; I use scissors to make this easy) and drop the lobster into the boiling pot as soon as possible.
  5. Cover pot.
  6. After 15 minutes, rotate the lobster from the bottom to the top and vice versa.  They will already have turned fairly red.
  7. After another 10 minutes check to see if they’re done.  Do this by gently lifting a lobster by its antennae (1).  Gently jerk upwards and stop – the lobster should travel 1-2 inches ‘up’ before falling back towards the pot.  If the antennae releases, the lobster is done.

Here’s a video of us testing that this lobster was cooked that shows step 7 in detail:

video a video by Well Preserved on Flickr.

We’ll share how to eat tomorrow.

The Lobster Series (Part 1): How to Buy Fresh Lobster

Today kicks off a series I’ve been meaning to share since we started writing: how to buy, cook, eat and make stock (and bisque) from lobster.  Lobster is one of the most sustainable seafood, it’s fantastically flavorful, easy to cook and, when eaten correctly (including using the whole animal), can be rather affordable.  A lobster dinner can cost $10-$25 per person but if you make a stock you’ll cut the cost per meal to $3-$8.

My Mother is from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.  Knowing how to eat a lobster without assistance was a key to survival in our house: if you couldn’t break your own lobster apart you would have to wait until others had eater theirs hot.  I’ve been shelling lobster, without assistance, since I was 5 years old.  When my Mother was growing up, lobster is what the ‘poor people ate’ as many were fishermen living off the land.  The ‘rich’ kids had luxuries like SPAM that was imported from elsewhere.

As an odd bit of trivia: I’ve never eaten a cooked lobster in a restaurant (I did have some raw as ceviche but that’s another story).  Lobster has never been seen as a fancy meal in our house; it’s actually the opposite.  Tables get lined with newspapers, everyone puts on short-sleeved shirts (or rolls up their cuffs) and shells start flying across the kitchen.  It’s a messy meal and one that’s very hands-on.  This isn’t exactly a meal that the shy want to share with strangers.

Buying lobster is an easy task.  There’s only a few ‘rules’:

  • They must be alive.  Don’t buy or cook a dead lobster.
  • The should be lively; you may have to pick them up to see that but a limp lobster is one that you want to avoid.
  • Like all other things, they are best in season.  In Canada this means later spring through summer.
  • They can be stored in your fridge or in a cooler – but be careful with ice.  If ice melts it turns into fresh water – if you’re lobster are submerged in fresh water, they will die.  Blocked ice that is covered in a few layers of newspaper is best.  The traditional way to store them is in the vegetable crisper in your fridge.  They’ll easily last a day in these conditions (we try to use them the same day we buy them).
  • Do not store them in plastic bags.

Now onto the more subjective rules.  These vary from region-to-region and family-to-family but each of us will swear by our own:

  • Size matters; but not in the way most think.  A big lobster is an old lobster and an old lobster is a tough lobster (the largest cow is the toughest meat whereby traditional field-raised veal is far more tender).  1.25-1.5 pounds is the sweet spot my family swears by; 1.75 pounds would be an absolute ceiling that you would not want to cross.  Smaller lobsters are also less expensive by the pound (meaning two 1.5 pound lobsters will be cheaper in most cases than a 3 pounder).
  • If a store won’t let you choose which lobster that you’re taking home with you, walk away.
  • It’s all about gender: know how to identify a female vs. a male.  The females have roe (eggs, similar to what is eaten on the top of sushi although the texture is different as they’re cooked) and some believe they have more tail meat).  There’s two ways to tell a female from a male:
    • Many females have hips.  They get wider at the top of the tail near the body of the shell.  This isn’t foolproof but it generally gives a good indication.
    • The 100% way to tell the gender is to check the underside of the tail (we’ll talk about how to handle them tomorrow; for now it’s good enough to know that if they have elastic bands on their claws, they’re safe to handle).  Gently flip the lobster over and examine the swimmerets (they’re the ‘fuzzy things’) under the tail.  The first pair (nearest the body) will either be soft and almost velvety or they will be hard and almost forged of plastic – there’s NO in between.  The soft ones are female.

Here’s a male (it’s easier to feel than see):

And a female:

Other than the eggs, there’s no significant difference between the two – we try to buy females as they offer another flavor that the males just don’t have.

That’s all there is to buying fresh lobster.  Tomorrow we’ll share how to cook it!

 

How to Tile a Backsplash – Step 2 – Install

This should be the easiest step of all if you’ve spent your time on planning.  The key is to know what you have to do off the top of your head so that you can install without needing to check your instructions.  The adhesive and grout dry moderately fast so you’ll want to execute without delay.

Make sure to check the instructions on the items you’ve purchased (there’s a list of required items on yesterday’s post about planning) and read the instructions on each as different tiles/ grout may have different requirements.

Day 1 – Apply Tiles

  1. Clear your counter entirely (you’ll be able to use it again in a few hours; just clear it to work on it).
  2. Wash your wall.
  3. I know that the proper procedure is to start from the center of your project.  I was running a narrow space and knew that my tiles were exactly 6 feet wide – as was the width of my counter.  I started from one side and was satisfied with the results – it starts and ends exactly where I wanted it to.
  4. Using the small trowel, put adhesive on the large trowel.  The small trowel simply allows you to easily reach the adhesive that’s in the container.
  5. Apply the adhesive using the jagged side of the trowel (around a 45 degree angle).  Assuming you picked the right trowel for the depth of your tile (I asked for help), this will lay enough adhesive for your tile.  Work about a square foot at a time (I used the empty box of a tile for a quick check) and make sure that there is adhesive under each piece of the tile.
  6. Push your tile (in my case it was a 1-foot by 1-foot sheet of tiles) into the adhesive and hold for a few moments.
  7. depending on your size of tiles, this is where you use spacers (they look like ‘plus signs’; point one end towards the wall which will leave the other pointing out so that you can easily remove it).  My entire project included 12 sheets of tiles and was easy to set by hand.  I made a few small mistake of which I was able to correct all but one; however I’m the only one who notices that one.
  8. Continue until done.

Day 2 – Apply Grout

  1. Grout is almost like sand.  Start by using your small trowel to apply it to your grout trowel (it’s like a thick sponge; it spreads grout without scraping your tile).
  2. Spread grout on your tiles with the trowel.  Make sure that all of the spaces between the tiles are filled.  You may need to delicately use the small trowel to help.  Work 1-2 square feet at a time.
  3. Push the grout further in and clean the tiles using a large, damp sponge.  It will look like a mess at first but it will quickly clean up and look good.  Get all the grout you can off the tiles as it’s far easier now than after drying.

Day 3 – Seal the Grout

  1. Clean the tiles again with the sponge; after this step it will become really difficult to clean the tiles of any leftover grout.
  2. Use the sponge brush to seal the grout – this will allow you to clean the tiles without washing grout away in the future.

That’s it – we hope this helps!

Reminder: Home Ec #3: Food On Sticks (March 26) and a New Poster

Dana just finished the new poster for our next Home Ec night!  Check it out:

Home Ec is all about meeting new people, making something and sharing it.  It’s not competitive and the community is super-friendly.  We hope you’ll come out.  Everyone that shows with food on sticks will get a custom pin as their ‘badge’ proving they have the Food on Stick skill!

This months theme is food on sticks.  There’s no way to heat things there so be imaginative – we’ve been thinking of everything from salads to pastas and more; as long as it’s on a stick of some sort.  We’d love to know that you’re coming – RSVP (not required but it helps us plan) on FaceBook or let us know by the comments below!  The last two events have been very well attended and a whole lot of fun!

How To Tile A Backsplash – Step 1 – Plan, Plan, Plan

I recently shared that I surprised Dana with a new back splash (there’s some closer pics at that link):

Before I proceed with the first of two posts on how to do a project like this, let me start with a warning: I am a novice.  A newbie.  I have never done anything like this before and can’t guarantee even my own results.  I did ask a lot of questions, relied on the knowledge of others and learned/ used some tricks that were ideal for a beginner.  Use these posts with caution – but know that I am sharing because though my experience is small, I believe in the results.

Laying tile is not complex.  Here’s the general steps (they are spread out over a few days, more detail tomorrow):

  1. Measure everything.  Lots.
  2. Buy tile, adhesive, grout and other supplies (details below).
  3. Clean wall.
  4. Apply adhesive, apply tile, cut tile and apply adhesive.
  5. Let dry.
  6. Apply grout.
  7. Wipe with sponge.
  8. Let dry.
  9. Wipe with sponge to get final details off.
  10. Seal grout.

Not a big deal really.

However, the most important step isn’t in the list above: planning.  I knew that by the time I’d get adhesive on the wall that I’d have to know what the next steps were without thinking.  The actual application of the tiles, grout and sealer took 3-4 hours (at most) while my planning took closer to 20.

Here’s a few of the decisions/ steps I made in planning that made this project relatively easy and are my essential tips for starting a project like this:

  1. Measure everything 2-3 times.  “Everything” includes the width and height of the space your covering as well as exact locations of outlets or anything else that may get in the way.
  2. Calculate the square footage (the number of feet wide x the number of feet high) as well as square inches (multiply the first number by 144).  You may need to convert to metric depending on the product you buy.
  3. Use graph paper to draw the layout you’re trying to cover, including outlets and other pieces.  This is critical – it allows you to ‘bring the wall’ to the store.
  4. Head to the store, browse options but make no decisions until consulting with a pro who works there.  If the person doesn’t appear to be knowledgable, move on.
  5. Decide on a tile.  Don’t choose only based on looks.  This step can make a project like this super easy or beyond difficult.  Here were the key decisions I made:Decision #1 – Tiles with Mesh
    I opted to buy tiles that were already on a mesh background and in 1 foot square sheets.  This meant that I had to lie 12 sheets (6 full, 6 partial) to cover my wall and not lay individual tiles.  It was more expensive but saved hours of work and meant I had to align far fewer things so my final results would look much, much better:

    Decision #2 – The size of tile
    Once I knew I was using mesh, I had to decide on what tiles I liked.  My ideal tile was white subway tile.  Subway tiles are staggered which means that there would be a LOT of cutting involved – cutting on each end of the back splash as well as around the power outlet.  Experienced people will laugh at me shying away from cutting tile but the truth is that I didn’t want subway tile badly enough to take on the increased work and research (and possibly mediocre results of a novice tile cutter) associated with the decision.  So I decided on these tiny half-inch by half-inch tiles (they are made of stone and glass):

    The only cutting I had to do (the power outlet as well as cutting partial sheets for the lower part of the 16 inch high back splash from the 12 inch sheets) was done with scissors – simply cutting the mesh.behind the tiles.  This allowed for less custom equipment and a lighter learning curve.

  6. Have an equipment list.  I involved the person at the store who was pleased to help me choose:
    1. The right number of tiles
    2. The right adhesive (based on the tiles)
    3. The right sized tile trowel (based on tiles and adhesive) – I wish I had purchased a small one to make applying the adhesive and grout to the larger trowel
    4. Tile spacers (this determines the amount of space between tiles)..  If you’re using mesh tiles like us, two notes:
      1. These may be optional.  We had a small space and were laying 12 sheets.  Even though I bought spacers I found I could do this by eye.
      2. There are different sized spacers so you’ll need to make sure yours match the space already defined on the mesh.
    5. A large sponge
    6. The right grout (we used pre-mixed to skip a step and ensure we had the right consistency).
    7. Grout sealer
    8. A sponge brush for the grout sealer.
    9. A grout trowel (it’s like a very firm sponge instead of metal).
  7. A last tip for today: if your tiles come in a box, keep the box handy.  As the box was essentially the same size as the tile it was really handy for quick approximate measurements and far easier than holding a sheet of tile up to see how much space it would take.

Tomorrow we’ll share the blow-by-blow.

Any tips you would add?

Sneak Peek: Our New Tile and Glass Blacksplash

Our kitchen looked like this a few weeks ago:

Dana was taking a course for the weekend so I cooked up a surprise:

Pictures don’t really do it justice.  But here’s a closer look (this was before the final cleaning of the grout):

Have you ever wondered if you could tile a back-splash yourself?  This was a relatively simple project, in part because of the research done in advance and a few key decisions.  Come back next week for a 3-part series on how to tile your own back-splash!  For those who already have done something like this, we’ll also be asking you to share your tips and/or ideas as well!

Hope to see you then!

Home Ec #2 Recap: Preserve Swapping

We had an awesome evening of Preserve Swapping at Home Ec 2 last night (It was originally scheduled for Feb 27th and while we tried the best to get the word out about the change because of an unplanned business trip, I’m afraid we have missed some).  There will be one more preserve swap this year (in the fall) and a food swap before then; so there will be lots of opportunities to get involved in soon.  apologies if our messages didn’t reach you; we’re learning as we go…

Before we review, let’s announce Home Ec #3: Pot Luck on Sticks!  Come with bite-sized portions of your favourite foods (be creative) served on sticks on Monday, March 26 from 8:00PM-10:00PM.  You can RSVP on the Facebook group (which will make it easy to let you know of any updates) or stay tuned here.  You will be asked to fill out a small card describing your goody (simple facts like whether it’s vegetarian, contains nuts, etc).  We hope you’ll come out and meet some fantastic people – all are welcome!

The Preserve Swap was epic last night with several hundred jars of preserves traded.  Here’s a pic from early in the night:

Here’s our haul:

The complete list of what we came home with:

  • Apple Butter
  • Quince Elderberry Jam
  • Roasted Peppers
  • Crabapple Jelly
  • Banana Butter
  • Rosemary Jelly
  • sun-dried Tomatoes
  • Italian Vegetable Pickle (Antipasto)
  • Pickled Chilis
  • Nectarine Ginger Jam
  • Strawberry Rhubarb Jam
  • Tomato Sauce
  • Wild Grape Juice (unsweetened; this will be made into vinegar)
  • Pickled Hot Pepper Rings
  • Apple Sauce
  • Spicy Pickled Cauliflower
  • Dill Zucchini Pickles
  • Maple Sap (yep, right out of the tree!)

Swapping is an unbeleivable way to diversify your pantry.  As the variety of products in our CSA box tends to decrease in the darker months of winter, it’s a welcome boost to our cooking to have such an influx of new flavors and treats.  It’s also a great help in planning for next years preserving season and let’s me try things and decide on what to make in the coming year.

Emily made another killer cocktail with our Cold-Brewed “Espresso”.

A special mention to the kind folks (Lorraine) at Sausage Partners who brough fresh scones (fresh as in still warm from the oven) and passed around samples with their jam. 

We hope that you’ll come out to the next event – there’s a great group of people who are passionate about food waiting to meet you!

HomeEc 2: Preserve Swap!

We’re looking forward to seeing everyone next monday (February 20th)! This post has all the details of the event at the Avro…our second ‘Home Ec’ night. I’ve been working on a poster this week, it’s been a bit of a rush as we had to change the date to February 20th, but I had fun with it and think we’ll keep it around for any forthcoming preserve swaps (change the colors etc.) I wanted to capture the fun spirit of the event. A sort of yin and yang of preserves inspired a little bit by the simplicity of Saul Bass’ work, and a lot by my current obsession with screen printing. In fact, I’ll be getting back into the screenprinting studio in the coming month (i hope) and am planning to do a small run of these….so if it works, there might be some ‘gig posters’ up in the store come spring.

Hope you enjoy…hope to see you at the Avro or maybe you’ll be inspired to throw a mid winter swap at your own local.

Important Message: Change of Dates for WellPreserved Events in Feb (HomeEc and Seeds)

Team,

A brief but important post today.  An unplanned business trip has forced the change of dates of both events that we’re hosting this moth.

To be clear, the new dates are:

  • HomeEc 2: Preserve Swap is now on the evening of Monday, Feb 20 (a week earlier than announced).  All the details can be seen here.
  • An Evening at the Theatre (With the Leslieville Market and us to see the play SEEDS which features the story of a lawsuit between a Canadian Farmer and biotechnology giant Monsanto) has been moved to Tuesday, Feb 20th (back 1 day).  There is still a performance the night of the 20th so ticket purchasers can keep their tickets or contact Joel to swap for the 21st (he will put you in touch with the right person).  Click this link to see more details.

We apologize for the inconvenience.  Here is what we are doing to try to ensure everyone knows in advance:

  1. We’re posting this notice today.
  2. We’ve sent messages to everyone who has RSVP’d or been invited to the Home Ec Event on FaceBook.  This is the only record we have of people who are coming for certain.
  3. We’ll be putting a few posters around the ‘hood featuring the new date of Home Ec.
  4. Leslieville Farmers Market and we will both be updating our Facebook pages and tweeting about the change of dates.
  5. Joel will write to any that replied to the post about the theater night (which also counted as a ballot to be entered in a draw for free tickets to the event).
  6. We’ve added an event page for the Theater night on Facebook for updates (a great lesson going forward – this allows us to update people in case of personal emergencies like these).
  7. We’ve updated both posts – both their content and a large disclaimer at the top to note the change of plans
  8. We’ll be checking for tweets/retweets about either event and getting the word out directly to anyone who has messaged about either event.

Apologies for the change, hope you can still make it out!

We’re also open to suggestions or your concerns – send Joel an email at joel (a) elevenideas.ca if you have either (or both)!

Recap of HomeEc #1 (Bring Your Own Bar Snacks)

HomeEc #1 (Bring Your Own Bar Snacks) was an awesome night!

More than 30 people showed up (despite the first real snowstorm of the season) with food through the evening.  There were some awesome tastes and everyone met new people.  Sharing went beyond the plates and included some great conversation, recipe exchanges and just a great casual evening.

Our friend Margaret Mulligan (her personal photoblog is here) surprised us by bringing her camera and took some amazing shots despite the lack of light in the cozy confines of The Avro.

Here’s some shots and some of the ‘blow by blow’ of the evening.

I think some brought their own plates – this was a tremendous piece of strategy which I’ll need to incorporate in the future.  Here’s a sample of Margaret’s awesome spread:

Here’s a list of some of the things people brought (we had recipe cards so these are all of the ones I was able to find at the end of the night to share with you here):

  • Gayle’s Maple Tamari Almonds (almonds, maple syrup, tamarin, 5-spice powder)
  • Kyle had some Salt and Pepper Kawartha Peanuts
  • Kyle also brought his haggis Scotch Eggs (his haggis included pork, chicken and lamb)
  • Kyle (an awesome overachiever) also had foie gras Kawartha popcorn.
  • Our friendly bartender Emily even chipped in with her home-mixed Chex Mix
  • Dawn (and husband Marc) drove an hour to get here and brought a three-onion dip (her food blog is being worked on – you’ll see it appear soon, called “Joyous Food).
  • Mary Ann (and daughter Alena) showed up with a reuben braid – homemade bread that’s baked with pastrami, 1,000 island dressing, Swiss and Havarti cheeses and homemade sauerkraut stuffed inside!  It was amazing.  They shared that the recipe came from an awesome but now dormant blog named The Knead For Bread.
  •  Mary Ann (and daughter Alena) also brought my personal weakness, beer nuts.  They assure me that they’re easy to make and I really must try soon.
  • Margaret (our awesome photographer) brought “Not-Copy Pop” – a ‘bastardized recipe from her Mom’s 1980 microwave cookbook.  Hers included homemade brown sugar, smoked paprika, salt, corn syrup and vanilla.  Of course it also included popcorn.
  • Deborah brought some awesome spiced roasted chickpeas.  They were made with roasted garlic, coriander, fennel and Thai chilli.
  • Kerry brought maple spice pecans (which may be my favourite nut of all-time)
  • Mike (of Ed’s Real Scoop) brought a tray of ‘ice cream cupcakes.  It’s essentially ice cream inside a chocolate cup.  I had a maple-syrup bacon combination that was fantastic.
  • Jessie and Patrick brought crispy farfalle with Parmesan and truffle.  Deep-fried pasta goodness!
  • Brandi had these most amazing homemade pretzels that everyone was lining up for (she had two types: plain and garlic).
  • We brought my Smoky Spicy Salty Bitter Sweet Roasted Nuts (our ‘secret’ ingredient of coffee was a hit).
  • Dawn brought Dawnabelle’s Spicy potato chips (these were off-the chart good).  They were made with celery salt, smoked salt, sugar, paprika, habanero, onion and dry garlic.  Dawn’s posted her recipe from the night on her great blog here.

I know there was more but these were the ones I was able to find at the end of the night!

Kyle (from Sausage Partners) brought these amazing haggis-wrapped Scotch Eggs (a hard-boiled egg, wrapped with Haggis and then deep-fried).  They were amazing:

If you look carefully at the background of the photo above, you should see “WP” floating in the background.  Margaret made this amazing bokeh (a cut-out for her lens) that had a “WP” cut out of it; somehow this turns the blurry lights in the background to little WellPreserved icons.  Here’s how she made it.  Take a look at the photo below if you can’t make them out and check it out again:

Kelly and Aaron made grab bags (featuring a “Jumpshot” Margaret had taken of them previously).  In addition to sharing their recipe, they shared props to her.  Even though Aaron and Kelly live an hour away they’re quickly becoming part of the community (we hope others will do the same).

Part of the crowd hovers like friendly vultures around the snacks:

This was the signature cocktail of night (since it was inspired by a cocktail named “The Journalist”, Emily donned it “The Blogger”).  Each night will have its own signature drink that will be a collaborative effort between The Avro and WellPreserved and we’ll share the recipe whenever possible.  The recipe follows the picture for this one.

WellPreserved’s Ginger-Lemon-Maple Cordial
This is an intense bittersweet cordial that is meant to be mixed with other things:

  • 2-3 pounds of organic lemons, each quartered, then cut in half (8 pieces each).  Skins and seeds are fine; this is where the bitter comes from.
  • A whole bunch of ginger, roughly chopped (we used about 6 inches).
  • Enough water to cover everything by an inch.
  • Maple syrup to taste (we used 9 tablespoons)

Directions

  1. Toss everything BUT the maple syrup into a wide pan.
  2. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer.
  3. Leave on a gentle simmer until your liquid (after pressing the lemons) is about 1.5 cups.
  4. Allow the cordial to come to room temperature and add maple syrup to taste.  You still want it to be bitter so mix enough maple to make it just palatable by itself (remember that this is an INTENSE cordial).

Emily’s “The Blogger”

  • 1.5 ounces of gin
  • 0.5 ounces of dry vermouth
  • 0.5 ounces of sweet vermouth
  • 0.5 ounces lemon juice
  • 0.75 ounces of cordial (above)

Shake and stir!

A big thumbs-up to Emily – these were fantastic and had many talking about them through the night.

It was a fantastic night – we hope you’ll join us Feb 20th for HomeEc 2: Preserve Swap.  If you can’t make it then, know that they happen on the last Monday of the month!