Homemade hazelnut orgeat
Tasting Notes
Rory: was wondering if I wasn’t a fan of almond orgeat; the flavor stood out in all its drinks in a bad way to me. We made a cheater (?) hazelnut orgeat this afternoon; blending it finely instead of steeping. It was delicious on its own, but I worried the hazelnut would be too strong in a drink.
The overpowering almond-extract flavor has been replaced with a subtle nuttiness, so I think it was a success. It’s a little dry, and I wonder that the orgeat we made is much dryer than the Smuggler’s Cove orgeat - I suspect it might be about half as sweet?
We also split the rum here between Denzien Merchant Reserve and Smith & Cross, which I think I’m liking better than just the Denizen.
Ryan: Today we made some hazelnut orgeat, so we made a Mai Tai. We weren’t sure what to do for the rum blend so we decided to bring back the Denizen Merchant Reserve (which we hadn’t liked all that much), but add some Smith & Cross for funkiness.
Generally this works a lot better. The orgeat has a lot of good notes in it, and the mai tai has a distinct nuttiness rather than “almond extract flavor”, which is what we’d been getting before. I don’t have all that much to discuss about the drink–it’s not particularly different than the other mai tais we’ve made, except for the orgeat. It definitely makes me want to pay around more with the hazelnut orgeat!
Recipe
- 2 oz rum (equal parts Smith & Cross and Denizen Merchant Reserve 8 year)
- 1/2 oz Pierre Ferrand Dry Curacao
- 1/2 oz Hazelnut orgeat (recipe follows)
- 1/4 oz rich Demerara syrup
- 3/4 oz lime juice
Shake and strain into a rocks glass over crushed ice. Garnish with a spent lime shell and mint.
Hazelnut orgeat: Toast 5.5oz blanched, skinned hazelnuts in a 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes. (We ended up turning the oven down to 350 about midway through, although 350 was probably too low).
Blend hazelnuts with 2 cups of water. Start with 1⁄2 cup and then add the rest once it thickens. Strain with a mesh strainer, without pressing hard on the solids. This results in about 2 cups of liquid.
Blend with 1 cup of sugar, then strain once more. The result is about 2.5 - 3 cups of liquid.
Add 1 dropper (about 0.5ml) of 25% saline solution.
Add 3 droppers (about 1.5ml) of orange blossom water.
Should keep in the fridge for a few weeks
Source: Smuggler’s Cove