Leftover Bacon Fat Can Take Your Old Fashioned to the Next Level — Here’s How to Use It

In 2007, the bartender Don Lee was entrusted with Riffa at the old -fashioned in PDT (please do not say), an influential cocktail -car hidden in a hot -dog in the eastern village of New Yorka. His decision: smoky ham.

Lee combined a bottle of bourbon with fat fat from Benton’s smoky mountain ham and took it into the freezer. In the morning, he pulled the garbage and added bitter and maple syrup. The star was born.

Old -fashioned Benton, a rich, piquant riff on a classic whiskey cocktail, is now considered a modern classic. A drink filled with ham, helped remove the passion for fat washing in craft cocktails.

Living washing, technology to fill the spirit of fats or oils can be found in cocktail bars around the world. The bartenders studied a number of ingredients and perfumes, from Chorizo ​​Mazkal to Pastor Daikiris and pistachio gin to coconut teques.

That’s all you need to know about washing fat, including how to make your own, filled with old -fashioned bacon.

What is the erasure of fat?

Washing fat is a process in which fats and oils (such as oil, bacon fat or coconut oil) are added to the spirit to give taste and texture.

“As a rule, the fat is united with the spirit and is left to insist for several hours or until several days,” says Lekinna Rice, a master of a mixologist and co-founder of Chicago for folk hospitality. “Then the mixture is cooled. Fat will harden and rise to the top, which allows you to easily strain. ” What is left behind is a completely new spirit.

Florian Tiro, Mixology Director at Bar Crenn, cocktail bar from the chef of Michelin Dominik Krenna, describes the stimulation of fat as a complex culinary equipment, which allows the bartenders to create complex “liquid experiences”.

Living washing can be more involved than your typical cocktail craft, but, according to many bartenders, it costs effort. “Living washing enhances the texture, increases aromas and oversees innovations,” says Ris.

What adds fat was added to the drink?

The process of washing fat allows you to explore the aromas and textures outside your standard alcohol and liquors.

“One of the reasons why we saw our spirit greasy is that it allows us to create complex aromas relatively easily,” says Yang Mendelssohn, Director of drinks in Fifth Group restaurants. He prefers to use coconut to give creamy drinks in the style of tics without adding coconut cream.

In Super Bucheno in New York, Barten Straye Jimenes adds Mezcal to add depth to Negroni. In the public works of Toronto, the brine factor in the dirty martini is intensified by washing Gin in blue cheese.

“Living washing gives the spirit a distinct taste of fats that is difficult to reproduce with other flavoring methods,” says Ris. “These aromas add a piquant depth or creamy wealth that complements or contrasts other ingredients in a cocktail.”

Tiro loves to fill rum with coconut oil to give his espresso Martini a more fluffy Latte texture. “He introduces a luxurious, velvety dimension for spirits, creating a silky movement in the mouth, which increases the experience of alcohol,” he says. “[Fat-washing gives a drink] The depth, smoothness and unexpected texture sophistication, which turns an ordinary cocktail into an extraordinary sensory journey. ”

Living washing has advantages outside the taste. This may be a way to use the remaining ingredients.

“I am twice a fan of ingredients,” says Marshall Minaya, Director of Drinks Madame George and Lolita in New York. If the kitchen is preparing a bacon, it will take fat to wash in drinks. “This helps to save and reduces waste.”

Chrissy Harris, the co-owner and director of the drinking shy shy and jungle in New York, agrees with this stable approach. “Previously, I had a bar who made a murderous branch, and we always had the remaining droplets with bacon,” she says. “I could not just leave him, so I washed Bourbon with the remaining droplets. It did Amazing bloody Mary.

Living washing can also increase the budget spirit with more elegance, intrigue and complexity. Bourbon with the lower shelf can be increased using brown oil or fat with bacon, while flabby rum can add the texture and depth through coconut oil.

Technique is also an excellent time for instant bags of cocktails. When the guests come, just take a glass, add bitter and a piece of citrus fruits and serve.

“This is a method to make things faster and easier in your assembly,” says Minkers. “You can give the aroma, aroma and body to your cocktail, without doing anything that did in the bar or in your house.”

How do bartenders introduce fat nutrition?

There is no single way to drink your cocktails. You can follow the example of Lee and add bacon fat to your bourbon. “This adds a smoky, piquant taste,” says Rice. Alex Howard, Bar Manager and Director of Martha drinks, my dear, prefers to wash his old -fashioned in brown oil.

The advice of most bartenders is to look at fat, which can add a lot of tastes and textures to the drink.

“The oil provides a rich, creamy texture and aroma suitable for Roma or Bourbon,” says Ris. “Coconut oil offers a tropical, walnut taste, excellent with rum or tequila. Duck Fat provides a deep, piquant taste in whiskey or brandy. Olive oil adds a fruit, slightly bitter note with a gin or vodka, and peanut oil or other nut oils give a nutty that is ideal for whiskey or rum. ”

Mendelsson uses olive oil to wash martini and adds bakers to wash rust. He discovers that both bring wealth in taste. “One of my loved ones is when we use coconut oil,” he says. “You are transporting to this beach.”

From there, opportunities seem endless.

“In a shy shy, I fill vodka with olive oil outside the virge for our Caesar Martini, which adds herbaceous notes and gives him a mulberry that softens the alcohol bite,” says Harris.

Mendelsson washes cognac with wooden pineapple in ECCO. In Alma Kokina, he washes a mescal with fried mushrooms for explosion with minds, and he retains spring strawberries, wash them with vermuth.

“Living washing allows the preservation of delicate aromas, such as fresh herbs, introducing them into fat, ensuring the remarkable integrity and complexity of the taste,” says Tiro.

With the deviation of the denver, rinse of fat is the main product. Jin for Martini is washed in feta and olive oil. Lasso mangoes rises from a gin washed in a pistachio, while in a state of thought in sesame seeds is used gin, washed in sesame oil, along with the aromas of lemongrass, ginger and Thai chili.

In Husk Savannah, the bartenders wash a pile with duck fat, and then add orange, coriander and smoked salt. And in the New York The Corner store, sour cream and onion Martini – Gene washed with cream and mixed with sharp spring onions and dill.

Are you ready to try fat washing? This is what you need to know

“When to wash the fat at home, try to stay as simple as possible,” says Minkers. Try for light cocktails, such as old -fashioned manhattans or martini, and start with several ounces of fat with bacon, olive oil or peanut oil. “Then add a cup or one and a half cup of spirit. Place together and freeze for 12 hours [or overnight]Strain through a thin strainer or coffee filter, ”he says.

If you have equipment for SOUS VIDE, use it. “The preparation of fat elements directly with perfumes in the SOUS VIDE bag at carefully controlled by lower temperatures, mixologists can provide an unprecedented consistency in time, temperature and measurements,” says Tyro. “This approach also prevents fat burning, which can introduce undesirable aromas and jeopardize the quality of infusion.”