Official Recipe Thread

[Off the Roster]

since you make flavored moonshine as well check out this site:

http://www.specialtybottle.com/swingtopbottlesmi.aspx

if you can make one larger purchase the shipping might offset enough to be worthwhile (i always factor in time, energy, and gasoline too).

[stilly]

since you make flavored moonshine as well check out this site:

http://www.specialtybottle.com/swingtopbottlesmi.aspx

if you can make one larger purchase the shipping might offset enough to be worthwhile (i always factor in time, energy, and gasoline too).

Hey thanks for that! Yeah, come May or so I might be placing an order. Damn. I just bought about 20 plastic bottles for my powder coating colors too... Could shoulda woulda waited had I known... :\

Hey have you ever experimented with the flavors in the alcohol?

Like, I am thinking now that I have done this, what would the zest from my oranges, pink lemonade lemons, kishu mini mandarins, yukon golds, and leaves from my pineapple sage and lemon verbena along with maybe a leave or two of peppermint, taste like if I put them all jammed up in a bottle (yet another bottle from wallyworld) and made them sit for a few months and then combined with simple syrup...

Is it worth it I wonder? Should I bother with white dog or stick to diesel/ec190/spirytus?

Menthol would be good to add too, a nice chilling/warming alcohol that brings back memories of trix/fruit loops and having a pineapple-citrus taste...

[Off the Roster]

lol, you made my taste buds cringe! one beauty of food and drink is that it is highly adaptable to the individual. if it sounds good to you - Go for it!

[Librarian]

Where did you get your swing top bottles from and for how much? I think I have seen them on Amazon and fleabay for about $6-$10 each... :\

Buy Grolsch beer; pretty good beer, and bottles left over!

[Ricky-Ray]

Bacon Nutella Creme Brulee

Ingredients
18 egg yolks
1.5 cup superfine white sugar plus 6 tablespoons
2 quart heavy cream
2 vanilla bean
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Nutella
Bacon

Directions
Cook bacon according to package instructions. Doesn't have to be fancy bacon. I used the Kirkland brand and it came out good. I prefer cooking them a bit longer so when cool they are nice an super crunchy and break up easily.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. In a large bowl, cream together egg yolks and sugar with a whisk until the mixture is pale yellow and thick.

Pour cream into a medium saucepan over low heat. Using a paring knife, split the vanilla bean down the middle, scrape out the seeds and add them to saucepan, add the vanilla extract also. Bring cream to a brief simmer, do not boil or it will overflow. Remove from heat and temper the yolks by gradually whisking the hot vanilla cream into yolk and sugar mixture. Do not add hot cream too quickly or the eggs will cook.

Place a small scoop of Nutella in the aluminium cup and spread evenly as best as possible and add some crumbled bacon. Divide custard into 3.25-ounce aluminium cups, about 3/4 full. Place in a roasting pan and fill pan with enough water to come halfway up the sides of the aluminium cups. Bake until barely set around the edges, about 40 minutes. You may want to cover loosely with foil to prevent browning. Remove from oven and cool to room temperature. Transfer to the refrigerator and chill for 2 hours. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of sugar on top of each chilled custard. Hold a kitchen torch 2 inches above surface to brown the sugar and form a crust. Serve at once.

For non bacon lovers cut in half 2 raspberries or blackberries an add to the top before serving. The little bit of tartness from the berries will help cut the sweetness of the Nutella and give it a great balance.

Yield: Approx 20-25 cups


Pic was taken before it completely cooled so there's no sugar "crust" on it yet.

[stilly]

lol, you made my taste buds cringe! one beauty of food and drink is that it is highly adaptable to the individual. if it sounds good to you - Go for it!

Out of curiosity, You said to let the zest steep for about 9 days or so (I forgot the number, but it was about a week or so and on the previous page of posts...) So some of the recipes that I have seen call for the steeping to go on for no less than 45 days I think.

Have you steeped for that long in the past? It makes sense to steep until the pieces are white, but yeah anyways, just curious...

I think we about have thie wrapped up. I started steeping on the 31st of December and was going to let it go on till about mid february before I took it out and strained it.

Also, your mason jar, about how many lemons did you zest and what size mason jar is specified in the recipe? I zested about 18 or 19 lemons and I think I got enough zest to prolly fill about 1/3 or 1/4 of a QT mason jar. I was thinking, WORST case, the zest with the ec190 will make it stronger, but I can always add more SS to it to take a bit of the bite out. Unless I am making an ultra concentrated lemon alcohol that will need 5:1 ratio of SS (I got no problems with that). Anyways though, just curious about that. I am gonna go out to bevmo and winco for some ginger and white dog and a few other things.

You also mention creamy limoncello, what is the difference? I have not seen any recipes that involve milk. Right now mine looks like a bottle of piss after being dehydrated. So, I am hoping it is on its way to tasting good.

[Off the Roster]

Out of curiosity, You said to let the zest steep for about 9 days or so (I forgot the number, but it was about a week or so and on the previous page of posts...) So some of the recipes that I have seen call for the steeping to go on for no less than 45 days I think.

Have you steeped for that long in the past? It makes sense to steep until the pieces are white, but yeah anyways, just curious...

I think we about have thie wrapped up. I started steeping on the 31st of December and was going to let it go on till about mid february before I took it out and strained it.

Also, your mason jar, about how many lemons did you zest and what size mason jar is specified in the recipe? I zested about 18 or 19 lemons and I think I got enough zest to prolly fill about 1/3 or 1/4 of a QT mason jar. I was thinking, WORST case, the zest with the ec190 will make it stronger, but I can always add more SS to it to take a bit of the bite out. Unless I am making an ultra concentrated lemon alcohol that will need 5:1 ratio of SS (I got no problems with that). Anyways though, just curious about that. I am gonna go out to bevmo and winco for some ginger and white dog and a few other things.

You also mention creamy limoncello, what is the difference? I have not seen any recipes that involve milk. Right now mine looks like a bottle of piss after being dehydrated. So, I am hoping it is on its way to tasting good.

i dont count lemons or measure zest anymore, i just put a good 2 1/2 - 3" of zest in the bottom of the jar and the world of ratios seems happy with that. with the white dog steeping goes about 8 days. once all the color has left the zest it is done - this is the true indicator. the amount of oil left in the whites is negligible and i would rather have a full product maturing in the fridge in 9 days than waiting an additional 5 weeks for meager improvement. now, i must admit that i have never steeped for 45 days, so if you have the patience please let me know the findings!

regular lemoncello is sugar/water simple syrup and creamy is milk/sugar syrup. the milk needs to cook down so it takes longer than just the sugar melting. let the simple syrup cool completely before adding it to the alcohol.

no 2 batches of lemoncello will ever be the same. for my taste (and now the tastes of my friends) i like the ratio of 2.25-2.5 syrup to 1 alcohol so on this first endeavor i would recommend you make a 2:1, a 2.5:1, and a 3:1 to find the realm of your preference.

if you make creamy lemoncello adding a hint of vanilla can be nice (i also tried some cinnamon which was yummy but again a hint only and i used cinnamon oil not ground).

*depending on your version of "dehydrated" you are either good or not so good lol - it should be a nice bright, crisp yellow, not a deep tea color.

[stilly]

i dont count lemons or measure zest anymore, i just put a good 2 1/2 - 3" of zest in the bottom of the jar and the world of ratios seems happy with that. with the white dog steeping goes about 8 days. once all the color has left the zest it is done - this is the true indicator. the amount of oil left in the whites is negligible and i would rather have a full product maturing in the fridge in 9 days than waiting an additional 5 weeks for meager improvement. now, i must admit that i have never steeped for 45 days, so if you have the patience please let me know the findings!

regular lemoncello is sugar/water simple syrup and creamy is milk/sugar syrup. the milk needs to cook down so it takes longer than just the sugar melting. let the simple syrup cool completely before adding it to the alcohol.

no 2 batches of lemoncello will ever be the same. for my taste (and now the tastes of my friends) i like the ratio of 2.25-2.5 syrup to 1 alcohol so on this first endeavor i would recommend you make a 2:1, a 2.5:1, and a 3:1 to find the realm of your preference.

if you make creamy lemoncello adding a hint of vanilla can be nice (i also tried some cinnamon which was yummy but again a hint only and i used cinnamon oil not ground).

*depending on your version of "dehydrated" you are either good or not so good lol - it should be a nice bright, crisp yellow, not a deep tea color.

Ahhhhhhhhh. Yes, it makes sense to make it like a reload ladder. Then once it is dialed in I can start making it with more of the whatever ratio worked. I think I will pour out most of the yellow mixture and then what is left in the bottle will sit for the remaining 45 days.

Damn that dog is expensive. $20 for a .375ml bottle... I can only hope I have to push it to 5:1... (j/k. no wait, no I aint; I'm dead serious...). I will follow your loading ladder and maybe even 3.5:1 if I am feeling extra frisky.

As for color, hmmm, more like a Golden. Well, you can see. In this photo, the Apple pie moonshine is on the left and the steeping limoncello on the right...

[Off the Roster]

there still looks to be alot of color in that zest but perhaps it is the photo. lol you really did go to town with that microplane, you might want to top off the rest of that bottle with more everclear to get you more product. for where the bottle is currently filled, i would use that beige line below "Grain Alcohol" as my zest line. have you stored the jar where light hits it or in a dark place? i will admit i have never had a batch that orange in color, but that can mean nothing. try some before adding simple syrup to check the taste but heads up it is going to be harsh!

[stilly]

there still looks to be alot of color in that zest but perhaps it is the photo. lol you really did go to town with that microplane, you might want to top off the rest of that bottle with more everclear to get you more product. for where the bottle is currently filled, i would use that beige line below "Grain Alcohol" as my zest line. have you stored the jar where light hits it or in a dark place? i will admit i have never had a batch that orange in color, but that can mean nothing. try some before adding simple syrup to check the taste but heads up it is going to be harsh!

The bottle sits on top of the fridge. It gets a little diffused light, but mostly only the light from the kitchen lights hit it. I will move it into the storage cabinet tonight.

Does that really make a difference?

[Off the Roster]

ive never done it any other way, but ive never seen your color either. do remove it from the fridge tho - it is an unnatural heat source which is no bueno (post #110 )

i generally steep mine out of the kitchen completely to avoid excess cooking temperatures.

[stilly]

Moved to the cabinet in the dark.

[stilly]

I actually made these last night:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/My-Favorite-Stuffed-Green-Peppers/Detail.aspx?prop24=RD_RelatedRecipes

They are stuffed bell peppers.

I must say, I do not normally make things like that, but it was exceptional last night since we were given about 11 large bell peppers from our neighbor, I wanted to turn them into something edible. Me being me though I also did the following:

1. added cooked bacon bits (that I previously cooked a week ago) to the ground beef, at a rate of about 1/4 cup for the 1.5lbs of beef.
2. added about a teaspoon of chipotle chili powder to the mix of spices.
3. used hickory smoked salt instead of regular salt.

Did not think to take photos, but this stuff came out really good.
I also did not read that part about HALVING the peppers, so I ended up cutting off the tops and then I had about 6 large peppers to fill up. It all worked out well I guess...

[Off the Roster]

how is the lemoncello coming along stilly?

[stilly]

how is the lemoncello coming along stilly?

Thanks for reminding me. I gotta go shake the bottle.

It is just chillin. I have moved it to the moonshine cabinet (is where I store my supplies) so I am not tempted to walk by and play with it all the time.

I shake it up and then I see there is a piece of zest on the glass so I shake it again to hit it with alcohol and knock it down into the rest, but then more gets stuck, so it turns into a chinese skill game of shaking the bottle and finishing with nothing left on the walls. :\

I did start zesting some other stuff, kishu mini mandarins, navel oranges and today I put in about 10 lemons. Now I gotta put in some lemon verbena and pinneapple sage and let it chill too. This is of course in a different bottle. When I am ready to add in the simple syrup I will be adding in peppermint schnapps or something else that is peppermint. I started with 350ml of EC190 but maybe I will move up to about 500ml instead.