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Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Molecular Mixology - Cuba Libre

If you remember my last attempt at making a molecular mixology drink, I tried the screwdriver and the mojito.  Well I had to try another. This time it's the Cuba Libre, otherwise known as a rum and Coke.



This drink called for rum, Coke (duh!), three different sachets of chemicals, sugar and water. Here's the recipe.


I used the immersion blender to mix up the coke and one of the sachets (sodium alginate), and let it sit for an hour. I mixed another sachet (xanthan gum) with sugar, water and rum and mixed with the immersion blender. This went into the refrigerator for an hour.


When our guinea pigs guests arrived, I brought everything out to make it in front of them. A little scary since I didn't want to look like an idiot. Especially since our guests were all scientists - and I'm not. The rum mixture goes into shot glasses, which I didn't have enough of, so I improvised. The rum liquid was cloudy and kind of gelatinous.


Using the provided plastic pipette (aka eye dropper), we dropped the Coke liquid into a prepared bath of water and calcium lactate. The balls formed quickly like tapioca. Removing them with the slotted spoon provided was time consuming, especially with 5 sets of eyes watching me. My daughter manned the pipette while I did the scooping. Hubby figured that a strainer would be more efficient, and as usual, he was right.


The result? Better than the first two drinks. But still a little too alcoholic tasting for my taste. Maybe if I used a better brand of rum...

The Coke "caviar" was interesting, but less intense than I'd hoped. We tried some of the balls on their own. After a few sips, I gave up on my drink, though two of the guests had seconds. So it didn't go to waste, but I won't be making it again.








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