ViperMan
Well-Known Member
I like to cook...
Alton Brown - a highly knowledgeable and talented chef from the Food Network - once shared a recipe for braised ribs with a homemade Bar-B-Q sauce. He wanted to impart a citrusy-yet-sweet flavor to the thick, sticky sauce.
What's my point? I'm getting there...
He made a point of saying that orange juice - when cooked down for an extended period of time - breaks down and becomes little more than mildly flavored water. He suggested using Margarita mix to retain a citrus character after a period of prolonged heat.
I'm preparing to rebrew an orange-flavored beer I made several years ago. I'm much wiser now, so I'm planning a few tricks - some from before - to get a delicious orange-juice flavor into my beer. For starters, I'll use Mandarin Vodka (Absolut) - in a taste test we did here, it was the smoothest flavor even over a home-infused vodka. I'm also going to dry-hop with some Cascade for that pineapple/citrus flavor without making things overly bitter. Now I'm also considering adding some Margarita mix - probably boiled, cooled, then added to secondary - to bring it home.
Any thoughts or suggestions? I know most store-bought mixes have sugar in them, so I'll be taking that into consideration in my calculations. I only plan on adding a few ounces - 6 or so - for a 5 gallon batch.
If nothing else, stay tuned and I'll let you know how it comes out!
Alton Brown - a highly knowledgeable and talented chef from the Food Network - once shared a recipe for braised ribs with a homemade Bar-B-Q sauce. He wanted to impart a citrusy-yet-sweet flavor to the thick, sticky sauce.
What's my point? I'm getting there...
He made a point of saying that orange juice - when cooked down for an extended period of time - breaks down and becomes little more than mildly flavored water. He suggested using Margarita mix to retain a citrus character after a period of prolonged heat.
I'm preparing to rebrew an orange-flavored beer I made several years ago. I'm much wiser now, so I'm planning a few tricks - some from before - to get a delicious orange-juice flavor into my beer. For starters, I'll use Mandarin Vodka (Absolut) - in a taste test we did here, it was the smoothest flavor even over a home-infused vodka. I'm also going to dry-hop with some Cascade for that pineapple/citrus flavor without making things overly bitter. Now I'm also considering adding some Margarita mix - probably boiled, cooled, then added to secondary - to bring it home.
Any thoughts or suggestions? I know most store-bought mixes have sugar in them, so I'll be taking that into consideration in my calculations. I only plan on adding a few ounces - 6 or so - for a 5 gallon batch.
If nothing else, stay tuned and I'll let you know how it comes out!
