The Art & Science of Cocktails and Food

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The idea of serving cocktails principally before dinner and exclusively with canapés and hors d'oeuvres is as out-of-date as bowler hats and petticoats. Their diverse ingredients and array of flavors can make cocktails complicated to pair with food, but those very attributes offer cocktails greater power and versatility to complement and enhance food in surprising and exciting ways.

Brandon Reyes, Director of Operations of Bittercube Bitters and a consultant for Christopher’s Southern Kitchen and Bar in the North Avenue Market, offers us a guide to the art and science of cocktails and food, as well as recipes for two cocktails to drink with (or without) an entrée.

An Interview with Brandon Reyes of Bittercube Bitters and Christopher's Southern Kitchen and Bar

Gaetano Marangelli: What principles do you apply when pairing cocktails and food? How do you think through your pairings?

Brandon Reyes: The main thing to keep in mind for pairings is to match the intensity of the dish, and then decide if you want to contrast the flavors in the dish with complementary flavors or amplify them with congruent flavors. 

Intensity of flavor is important because you don’t want to overwhelm your palette with a strongly flavored cocktail and not taste the nuance in your food, and vice versa. A congruent pairing would be a cocktail with ingredients/flavors that match up. For example, a Strawberry Margarita would pair up with a summer salad with strawberries, basil and balsamic vinegar. Aside from both containing strawberry, the intensity of the lime holds up to the vinegar, while tequila and basil both contain eugenol, an aromatic compound responsible for the spicy scent of clove. A contrasting pairing would be BBQ ribs with a Creme De Flora Collins. The sunny and sweet floral notes of chamomile, elderflower and rose offset the charred, salty, smokiness of the ribs, while the acidity of the lemon cuts through the fatty richness of the meat to cleanse the palette.

GM: What is an example of a great cocktail and food pairing? What makes the pairing so great?

BR: A Dry Gin Martini with fresh oysters is one of my favorite pairings. The luscious and creamy texture of the oysters balances out the drying bite of the gin. The briny liquor of the oysters combined with herbaceousness of the gin creates a fresh, salty and ozonic aroma that transports you to a pier somewhere, with waves crashing and scent of sea spray fills the air.

GM: Why does the southern food at Christopher's Southern Kitchen and Bar lend itself to cocktail pairings?

BR: Both the food and drink are created with layers of flavor and combined with the variety of options, there’s a lot to mix and match pairing wise.

GM: Which cocktail and food pairings do you recommend we try at Christopher's?

BR: The Fried Green Tomatoes and the Sweet Tea Sling creates a nice interplay of acidic, malty, and gently bitter flavors for a great aperitif pairing. A piping hot bowl of Vegan Gumbo goes great with an icy cold Frozen Hurricane. The passion fruit makes a surprisingly great pairing with the gumbo’s savory herbs and spices. Its tangy acidity helps cut through the richness. BBQ Pork Chop with the Pineapple Spritz or Smokehouse Sazerac. Either amplify the smokiness of the pork chop with the Sazerac or contrast it with the sweet and acidic Pineapple Spritz. The Banana Pudding with the Mai Tai creates a harmonious union of tropical spice, creamy texture and nutty flavors.

Recipes for Cocktails to Drink with or without a BBQ Pork Chop

Pineapple Spritz

  • 1 dash Bittercube Bolivar Bitters
  • 1⁄2 oz Fresh Lime Juice
  • 1⁄4 oz Pineapple Juice
  • 1⁄2 oz Simple Syrup
  • 1 1⁄2 oz London Dry Gin
  • 1⁄2 Heirloom Pineapple Amaro
  • 1 oz Seltzer
  • 1 oz Prosecco

Glass: White wine with fresh ice

Garnish: Lime wedge and orange peel

Instructions: Add all of the ingredients except seltzer and sparkling wine to a cocktail shaker and then fill with ice. Shake briefly with a fluid, strong motion. Add sparkling wine to the shaker and strain into glass.

Smokehouse Sazerac

  • 4 dashes Bittercube Root Beer Bitters
  • 1⁄8 oz Simple Syrup
  • 1⁄3 oz Heirloom Genepy
  • 1 oz Rye Whiskey
  • 3⁄4 oz Cognac VS
  • 1 Bittercube Cocktail Cedar

Glass: Cedar smoked rocks glass

Garnish: 1⁄4 oz Heirloom Alchermes, lemon peel expressed and discarded

Instruction: Add ice to the rocks glass, then stir to chill the glass. To smoke the glass, ignite a Bittercube cocktail cedar, then invert a glass over the flame to fill with the smoke. Place inverted glass and cedar on a plate or flame-resistant surface until the cocktail is ready. 

Add all of the ingredients to a stirring vessel and then fill with ice. Stir with a bar spoon until chilled, then dump out ice from rocks glass. Rinse the interior of the glass with 1⁄4 oz of Heirloom Alchermes and strain the cocktail into it. Express the oils from a lemon peel over the surface of the drink and discard the peel.