Raspberry Love Letter

For Valentine's day, I invited some of my close friends over for an intimate cocktail party with an emphasis on technique. The first drink in my series was made with raspberry coulis ala Jacques Pepin, and topped with a rosewater sucro foam. I have been chasing "soap sud" style foams for a while, and I finally found the right compound to make it. To the best of my knowledge, Ferran Adria is the man who first had the idea to use sucrose esters to create this style of drink. In the past I had tried using soy lecithin, but I was never happy with the results.

For the raspberry coulis, I was inspired by this recipe for raspberry velvet from Jacques Pepin, who is a culinary hero of mine. The method is simple, and the resulting product is both sweet and tart. Upon mixing it into a drink, the flavor became dull, so I added additional malic acid and sugar to bring it back to life.Initially I used brandy for the base spirit, but the flavor was too harsh. As I was tuning the drink, I was reminded of the common juice pairing of apple and cranberry, so I reached for my trusty bottle of calvados. Its soft and mellow flavor was the perfect base note for the tart purée.

To garnish, pulverize freeze-dried raspberries and sift them through a fine mesh strainer. I put down a cocktail glass and tapped the strainer to create an empty circle on the serving tray.

To make the candied fruit, brush raspberries, blueberries, and rose petals with egg white, and then roll them in sanding sugar. It is important to use sanding sugar here, as granulated or powdered sugar will dissolve. Allow them to dry, uncovered, for at least six hours. They will keep for about two days.In the picture, you can see that I used a mint leaf, but in practice this turned out to be a little tooth-pastey. A red rose petal, on the other hand, is subtle and tasteful.

Love Letter

1.5 oz Raspberry Coulis ala Jacques Pepin

1.25 oz Calvados

1/4 tsp Malic Acid

1 Barspoon of Simple Syrup1 Dash of Angostura Bitters

Shake and strain through a fine-mesh strainer

Top with Rosewater Air

Garnish With Candied Berries and Raspberry Powder

Rose Air

1/2 cup of water

1/2 oz simple syrup

1 teaspoon rosewater

1 teaspoon sucrose ester

Blend using a stick blender with a whisk attachment, or an egg beater.

Raspberry Powder

Pulverise freeze-dried raspberries in a mortar and pestle.

Sift them through a fine-mesh strainer

Candied Berries

Brush berries with egg whites and roll them in sanding sugar.

Cheers.