opinionated alchemist

I am using Amarena cherry several years now. I thought they are the best compromise (even if they are a compromise at all) between taste, looks, quality. If only they were Amarena cherries with stem (they've got lower points in the style, due to this reason). Amarena cherries are beautiful almost black cherries in very sweet syrup, they still have a snap and they are quite natural [this is a bit confusing - because obviously they are heavily processed, they are cooked in a lot of sugar and half inverted - with quite natural I mean, that the producer don't help themselves with the box of food-additive wizary - all ingredients are "really" natural]. This is pretty much the opposite of the typical bright red Maraschino cherry, which is bleached, stabilized, dyed and flavored with artificial colors and flavors. It was not long after I've started to use this amazing product, that I wondered, how to use the dark sweet syrup, which is full of the Amarena flavor ...

There are a lot of talking and myths about new products and new appliances, which happened to be appearing in the bar. Myths, because often they are overestimated. Here just a short review, what kind of new tech is available for the bar and how effective it is… Espuma maker [iSi creamer]: This is one of the first "molecular" cuisine appliances. And even now, it is one of the more sustained trends. Basically a liquid with a stabilizer is filled into the container and is then pressurized with nitrogen or carbon dioxide. The result is a rather dense foam. Due to the much bigger surface of foam compared to liquids, the taste is amplified. And the texture is also modified, which makes the play with foam interesting. As long as you keep it simple, drinks with foams are quite successful. Though: use egg white and a good share of guests will  reject the drink, due to a wet dog smell. Also be carefully if you are applying espumas to carbonated drinks, as the foam is expand...

There is always one big challenge in a bar, if somebody is ordering... iced tea. As it is here [in the Middle East] not a regular order, bars usually don't have chilled tea available. If some outlets have it, it is usually... nasty - in old Store 'n Pour containers it taste horrible - already spoiled - or at least soon to spoil. The solution - brewing fresh tea and chilling it down. Problem: the tea just gets watery - if you put ice into it - or it takes a long time [and time it will take anyway], if you are chilling it without direct contact with ice. The ultimate solution:  Rapid Infusion Pour ambient water into a iSi siphon [or any competitive brand - we won't do product placement here]. Add loose tea - maybe little bit lemon zest as well - or feel free to add herbs or anything else, if you would like to do specially flavored iced tea. Close the siphon and charge it with one N2O cartridge.  Swirl for around 45 seconds. Release gas upright [with ...