Evan wrote:
> Donna Rose > wrote in message nk.net>...
>
>>I'd love to see your Grand-Marnier recipe. What sort of vodka-based
>>liqueurs are you making?
>
> Well, really I'm guessing at it. One of my primary sources is Gunther
> Anderson's lovely liqueur-making website:
> http://www.guntheranderson.com/liqueurs.htm.

Glad to know people are finding it useful. I really need to go through
and update it...

> My attempt to get a tangerine-flavored version of a Grand Marnier-like
> liqueur will probably look something like this:

I'll admit I don't have nearly as much experience working with orange
peels as I'd like. But how much is the rind actually like the flesh of
an orange? That is, do you really find rind-based liqueurs get some of
the flavor of the underlying fruit? It'd be cool if it worked that way,
but I have (unsubstantiated) doubts.

Of course, my next citrus liqueur is going to come from the calamondin
orange tree in my living room. We're about 2 or 3 weeks from maturity
with its very first fruiting. And we've got dozens of fruit coming
along nicely.

> (optional - a small amount of spice, possibly including a single pod
> or seed of cardamom and/or coriander, or a sliver off the end of a
> cinnamon stick)

If you decide to go with this option, I'd actually caution you about
being too stingy with the spices. Not that you want to overpower the
orange, but nor do you want to be too subtle here. Likewise, you can
always add more orange peel. OK, I confess, I'm a fan of stronger
flavors. When you get to the cranberry, you'll see...

> Variants to try are all honey or sugar instead of a mix, and altering
> the amount of tangerine rind.

Well, one thing you can do is decide to add more peel after the fact.
There's no reason you can't finish the liqueur, decide it's too weak in
the orange department, toss in another few peels, and steep again for
another month. It saves you from losing the entire batch.

> As for the vodka-based ones, I want to try infusing whole pierced
> tangerines or tangerine quarters into vodka, thus including some of
> the juice. Either keeping that just as a flavored vodka, or mixed
> 50-50 with a simple syrup of white sugar for a clear, sweet 40-proof
> liqueur more like triple sec.

One caveat about quartering tangerines is that you will be exposing the
liqueur to the dreaded white pith (even if just at the edges of the
quarters). You may find it more useful to throw peels and juice in a
jar, since I can't imagine you're going to get any nice flavors from the
inner membranes or seeds

> I just love tangerines, and nobody seems to sell a good tangerine
> liqueur these days. :-)

Indeed...

> Various other flavors I plan to try are ginger, cranberry, and lemon.

If you get a good tangerine recipe, try tossing in a tablespoon or two
of grated ginger. I've been looking for a good orange/ginger liqueur
for a while. OK, I haven't been looking _too_ hard, and we only got our
wonderful Microplane zester/grater last year, and I haven't made an
attempt since. But our orange-ginger sorbet is so amazingly good that a
comparable liqueur would have to be, too...

> And I'm tempted to infuse limes into tequila, but I know too much
> about good tequila to do it with the cheap stuff...

Simple, light infusions should be done with good stuff, I'll agree.
It's only when you get to the level of calling something a liqueur does
the required quality go down. That is, when you're drinking more fruit
than booze.

Anyway, glad to hear of some good experiments going on out there.

Gunther Anderson