Limoncello Update

I got my first taste of homemade Limoncello today after 2 agonizing weeks. Of course, it's easier to avoid sampling the product during the initial soaking step when it's an undrinkable 190 proof. Over the last 13 days, I've been diligently stirring up the slumbering lemon peels every day and watching the liquor take on a decidedly rich, dark yellow hue.

The lemon peels didn't lose as much color as the lime peels I previously used, but they were weirdly crunchy when I removed them from the jar - I guess they were dehydrated by the alcohol. I'm getting ahead of myself though.

First, I need to let you in on the prep work I did prior to cracking open jar o' lemons. An hour or two before I wanted to strain the soaking lemon peels, I prepared simple syrup by dissolving 6 cups of sugar into 5 1/2 cups of boiling hot water (according to the recipe I posted last time). Looking at the final volume of simple syrup I ended up with, I thought there was no way I would use all of it, and I was right. I don't have a hummingbird feeder - what am I going to do with all this sugar water?

Once the syrup was at room temperature, I started prepping the liquor. I used 2 steps to process the liquor and get it ready to mix with the syrup. First, I used a colander to remove all of the big chunks of lemon peel - straining the liquid into a large pot. I took note of the level of the liquor in the pot, so I would know how much simple syrup to add later.

Unfortunately, I don't have a really nice giant jar to age this stuff in, so I walked a few blocks to the local Food Whole and picked up one of those refillable blue water bottles (1 Gal). I used a funnel and a coffee filters to remove all of the tiny particles and sediment that was released by the peels. This can take a while and a few filters because they get clogged. Be patient.

I ended up with 3 or 4 inches of straight lemony spirit in the bottom of the blue jug. I used the same large pan to measure out my simple syrup by pouring it in up to the mark I made earlier (I made a notch on a plastic swizzle stick, if you must know). I used my funnel to add the syrup to the same container as the lemon liquor and that was that, ese. Limoncello.

It looks classy in that big ol' jug, right? I'll let it sit for a few more weeks before I put it in smaller bottles and stash them in the freezer, but I couldn't resist a small taste. I also wanted to show off the milky yellow color that resulted from adding the simple syrup. As you might expect, it is very sweet, but the intense lemon flavor makes it taste like really excellent fresh lemonade. Because I mixed roughly equal parts of 95% alcohol and simple syrup, the final limoncello is probably around 45-50% alcohol. Based on the flavor, you'd never know. I added a few ice cubes and it improved as it got colder, as well as taking on an even more pale, milky color.

If I had to find a way to improve the recipe for next time, I would add the simple syrup "to taste," rather than blindly following the 1:1 mixture called for by the recipe. Don't misunderstand - it is still very good and I'm proud of it, but I wonder what it would have been like with, say, half the simple syrup. Will the sweetness of this batch taper off in the coming weeks? Will the lemon flavor develop somehow? I don't know, but I'm excited to find out.

Cinnamon Roll Bread Pudding

Are you sick of coming around here only to find the most recent post is still Limoncello? Me too. Ugh. Sorry about that. I've been a little preoccupied with some fun stuff and some not-so-fun stuff, and all I have to show for it is a couple completed knitting projects and a boatload of reading to catch up on. I don't have much time to talk food right now, so I'll just get straight to the recipe. It's delicious and a great way to use up stale bread or cinnamon rolls.

Cinnamon Roll Bread Pudding

Adapted from Bon Appetit, December 2003

12 ounces crustless bread, cut into large chunks (about 4 large cinnamon rolls)

7 large eggs

2-1/2 cups whole milk

1/3 cup raisins, preferably soaked in hot water for about 10 minutes until plump

1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

1-2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

2 tsp ground cinnamon

These are the leftover cinnamon rolls that I made a couple weeks ago. The only reason I had leftovers is that I'm not really a cinnamon-roll-a-day kind of person, and after snacking on them for a few days I had to get my gluttonous tendencies in check. So I made bread pudding. Makes perfect sense, right?

Cut the crust off the rolls, and cut them into about 1" cubes.

Crack 7 large eggs into a big bowl. Lightly beat them.

Add the milk, sugar, and vanilla. Whisk to combine.

Add the nutmeg and cinnamon. I didn't actually measure the nutmeg, but I grated somwhere between 2/3 to 3/4 of a whole seed. It was pretty strong on the nutmeg flavor, which I really liked, but you could reduce the amount of nutmeg if you'd prefer the cinnamon to shine through more.

Did you know that both mace and nutmeg come from the same plant? And they grow on an evergreen tree? The ol' Myristica fragrans is the only tropical plant that's the source of two spices. Fascinating, isn't it?

Stir the egg/milk/sugar/spice mixture until everything is combined, and then pour it over the bread and raisins in a large bowl.

Use a spoon to push down any bread that isn't submerged, and let the mixture hang out for at least 20 minutes and as long as overnight.

Pour the mixture into a greased 11x7x2-inch* glass dish, cover it with foil, and put it in a cold 350 oven for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and continue baking for about 35 minutes, until the top is puffed golden brown.

*If you only have a 9x13-inch dish, that should work as well. You might need to adjust the baking time, though.

I took mine out a little too early, which I didn't realize until I started cutting pieces from the edges and the runny center rushed to fill the newly vacant space in the dish. If that's the case, just throw it back in until the center is set.

The original recipe calls for a drizzle of maple syrup and a sprinkle of toasted pecans to top it off...

But we went with vanilla ice cream. There was also a bottle of chocolate syrup that was passed around, but for some reason I resisted.

Limoncello

Infusions are the easiest and most satisfying way to dabble in DIY spirits this side of a bathtub still. Since being introduced to vodka infusions many moons ago by my brother, Bo, I've done a modest amount of experimenting with vodka and even an infused whiskey here and there, but a while ago I read several articles online about making limoncello and was intrigued enough to give it a try. The difference between limoncello and standard infusions seems to be a dilution with simple syrup after the initial infusion and a subsequent marrying period where the flavor supposedly further develops. Regular infusions don't involve dilution and artificial sweetening - just straight soaking.

This is Kyle, by the way.

The first time I tried my hand at this I decided to use limes rather than lemons. My lime-cello was pretty good, but for the second attempt, I decided to stick to the original lemon. As with last time, the recipe I used as a rough framework is on the Washington Compost website: here.

The ingredients are pretty simple: Lemons and booze. I used 22 lemons and 2 bottles of Everclear (95%). Because you basically dilute the limoncello 1:1 with simple syrup, it's best to start with the highest concentrated alcohol you can find or you'll end up with glorified lemonade. I don't know if it's true, but I've also seen it written that the flavor that is extracted from the lemon peels is alcohol soluble, so a higher alcohol percentage will extract it more efficiently.

The first step is to peel the lemons, but there's a trick. You only want the yellow part of the rind, and if you take too much of the white pith underlying the bumpy yellow part you can end up with a bitter twinge to the final product. The good news is that the simple syrup step can knock that bitterness down a bit, but best to spend the time carefully peeling the lemons at the outset - this stuff is going to take a few weeks to mature, after all.

Once I peeled the lemons using a veggie peeler, I stuffed the rinds in the biggest jar I could find and dumped in the Everclear. I think that when I made it last time, I only used one bottle and added the second after a week, but this time I added both. Ehh.

In about two weeks, I'll remove the lemon peels (which should have lost all their color to the alcohol) and remove any additional sediment using coffee filters and a funnel. Removing all the sediment is another way to reduce or eliminate any bitter elements in the final concoction.

Here's a picture of the Day Zero version. And the carcasses of 22 lemons. A jug of fresh lemon juice is a nice by-product of making this stuff.