Sbiten, a Spiced Honey Drink.

Note: Don’t actually drink this much sbiten.

Ok, a bit late. I have finally done what I didn’t want to do, submit a recipe for 52 weeks of cooking on the first day of the following week.

But I guess given how many people submit weeks afterwards, I should not be so hard on myself.

This week’s theme is Russian food by the way, which is something I’ve never ever really thought about outside of a James Bond movie, or hearing about borscht. I wanted to try something a bit different however, and I think I found the ticket on wikipedia: sbiten, a spiced honey drink akin to good old grog, scourge of scurvy. Actually given how little citrus is in this, I’m not sure it would prevent scurvy.

Last Post of the Seven Days of Alton Brown Series! Let’s Celebrate With a Drink: Celery Seed Soda!

Well, this is the last installment of the blog series, Seven Days of Alton Brown. I hope I’ve entertained as I’ve ridden on the coattails of food geek hero (Alton Brown) by exploring some of the applications in his last Good Eats book, Good Eats 3. 

It was a fun project sticking to a strict blogging schedule of a post a day, and I’d love to be able to do this more often. Sadly one of the reasons this project was possible was due to one less person being around the house enabling me to make more use of the kitchen without getting grief, so for the time being, I probably won’t be able to keep up this rigorous schedule (hint hint.)

But enough on such sad stuff. While this is the last post of the Seven Days series, this isn’t a final farewell to Alton Brown. There’s still a ton of things I need to go through.

Seriously, look at all those bookmarks.

I think a fitting application is simple, sweet, and refreshing, just right to cleanse the palate. With just a touch of eccentricity. Celery seed soda it is! As always, this application comes from Alton Brown’s Good Eats 3.
This is very straightforward:

• two cups of sugar
• two tablespoons of celery seed, freshly ground
• one cup of water
• club soda as needed for serving

So, this is celery seed. Small but potent flavor containers.

Harry Potter Edition–Two Butter Beers on the House.

Well, it’s the end of an era I suppose. The books have been read, and now the movies have all been released. I’m speaking of the Harry Potter series of course.

I’ve many memories of times spent with this series, starting by dubiously listening to a friend telling me her mom was reading it, then deciding I should get into it as well. I burnt through three of the books to catch up then eager awaited the fourth. Spending a few lovely days in July to finish the Goblet of Fire. Reading The Order of the Phoenix by the Clinique counter at the UC Davis Bookstore while chatting with my friend who worked there. Gasping collectively at finding out what happened at the end of The Half Blood Prince. And cheering (silently) in my head with various spoilerish things etc etc Deathly Hallows.

I suppose there’s something to look forward to with this somewhat mysterious Pottermore thing, and I’m hopeful that great things shall result. But at any rate, this is a rather notable milestone for the world of Harry Potter, so here’s a few mugs of butterbeer for everyone.

I tried two different recipes, so if you’d like to see them check out the very cool thebakedbeen and then check out the recipe on Mugglenet.

I opted to try the more complex recipe first. With sugar, vanilla, a pinch of salt, milk, heavy cream (had to use heavy whipping cream sadly) and butter, it sounded amazing, but would it work? Also, special thanks to my friend Janis who was my photographer and fellow Deathly Hallows cohort.

Sugar is melted over medium heat at first, with the help of a rather distracting forearm.

It’ll slowly melt, and perhaps clump up, but don’t worry!

This! This is the perfect color to add the butter.

I added it here though, which might be slightly late, due to fumbling around a bit. Still, it worked out! Don’t worry!

It’ll slowly melt in… oh the goodness….

And the cream! It’s a sauce, a glorious buttery sweet sauce.

Not the best picture, but you get the idea. It’s goodness. It’s… magic? Ok, set aside the magic and resist diving in. Because you’ll probably burn yourself.

In a pot, heat up some milk over medium heat. Add vanilla.

Once it simmers… add that delicious delicious goodness.

All of it.

A rather nice color and aroma hm…

And whisk it if you don’t have an immersion blender…. hrm this is taking a while.

Screw it! If you’ve got the hardware that will work, use it.

Damn skippy.

Got the mixture nice and frothy.

Oh  yes. That’s right. Glorious buttery frothy milk concoction.

A very very nice warm drink. I could see having a glass of this while sitting by a fire and reading a good book. And then perhaps guiltily hitting the treadmill afterwards.

Will the much simpler contender win though? This is really all you need. Butterscotch topping, a cream soda (or club soda), a little bit of butter.

That’s…. an awful lot of butterscotch.

Oh well, we’re committed. Bit of butter goes in, and the lot goes into a microwave.

It was bubbling like nuts, but died down by the time I got it out to take a picture. I’m hopeful! Let it rest for a half minute.

Oh yeah! It’s bubbly! But is this really enough liquid to syrup here?

I whisked this vigorously to get the syrup incorporated, but this was such a pretty picture.

And there it is, my second cup of butterbeer. Verdict? If I wondered why there was so much butterscotch topping before, I was utterly aghast by now. The taste going down is good until the finish hits you. It is overwhelmingly butterscotchy sweet, and for me at least, that’s not a good thing. Maybe club soda instead would have cut some of the sweetness, but I really think this would do better with… much less topping. It did have some fizz though, which the first wanted, but not nearly enough to even be in competition.

I loved thebakedbeen's version. Check out Sabeen’s blog, it’s a winner!

Once again, a toast to the end of a great literary journey and a notable film adaptation. Think I just might start reading the whole thing again tomorrow..