Canes: Mojito and Caipirinha

Canes: Mojito and Caipirinha
El Bulli
Chef: Ferran Adriá
Country: Spain
City: 17480 Roses (Girona)
Address: Cala Montjoi, a 7km. del centro urbano
(+34) 972150457

We’d like to award another facet of Ferran Adrià by which he has yet again made history: the edible cocktail. For many years now he has begun his endless tasting menus with attractive cocktails that were more or less solid, tactile evanescence being one of the qualities that the genius from Roses has always worked on developing, that and sapid immaculateness. We could never forget the original, exquisite version of the gin fizz, the first gin fizz, and a night in which we had five in a row, but now there is another that has taken its place, given the name snow-fizz, very techno, that is consumed by hand and is half broken by the time it reaches your mouth. A jewel like any of the other fifty dishes tasted this year at El Bulli. Snow-fizz, cactus margarita, cosmopolitan: grape and currant tea, Campari with peanut-mimetics… and the best, excuse us, the most brilliant, “canes”: mojito and caipirinha. The most brilliant and the one we liked the most, although that may be subjective, since so much of why we love the caipirinha and mojito stems from the gorgeous drinks we remember from our trips to Brazil and Cuba. Hundreds and even thousands of caipirinhas and mojitos have been put to shame by the exquisite versions presented to us by the best chef in history. Never has a mojito or caipirinha tasted so good, not even close. Hundreds and even thousands of caipirinhas and mojitos have been not only overshadowed in terms of palate but in concept as well. The alchemist of textures has given them another being, another body and consistency: sugar cane. Sugar cane “reeds” impregnated with exotic, refreshing flavors. The reeds are sucked on, pleasurably releasing the flavor of the cocktails. More than just sucking, the guest eats the sugar cane, causing the inebriating juice of mojito and caipirinha to pour out, providing a magical sensation whisking us away to an idyllic paradise drenched in happiness.



The Recipe



INGREDIENTS FOR 10 SERVINGS

For the sugar cane rectangle
5 pieces of fresh sugar (20 cm long)

For the mojito canes
10 sugar cane rectangles (prev. prep.)
150 g aged rum
15 fresh mint leaves
1 vacuum bag

For the caipirinha canes
10 sugar cane rectangles (prev. prep.)
150 g cachaça
1 vacuum bag

Others
20 g de Demerara sugar
5 g granulated citric acid
50 g lime juice
Grated lime peel
10 fresh mint leaves
1000 g crushed ice

METHOD

Sugar cane rectangle:

1. Saw the sugar canes following their natural separations (not less than 8 cm).
2. With a knife, cut the bark of the sugar cane in order to peel it.
3. Cut the tender internal part into 7 x 1 cm rectangles.
4. The idea is to have 20 sugar cane rectangles.

Mojito canes:

1. Put the sugar cane rectangles into a vacuum bag together with the aged rum and the mint leaves.
2. Vacuum-pack totally (100%) and keep in the fridge for 24 hours.

Caipirinha canes:

1. Put the sugar cane rectangles into a vacuum bag together with the cachaça.
Vacuum-pack totally (100%) and keep in the fridge for 24 hours.

FINISHING AND ASSEMBLY

1. Remove the two types of canes from their liquid.
2. With a knife, make a 1,5 cm vertical incision in the upper part of the mojito canes. Insert a mint leaf in the centre.
3. Spread a bit of Demerara sugar, grated lime peel and lime juice over all the canes.
4. Place 2 citric acid crystals into the mojito canes.
5. Fill two flowerpot plates with the crushed ice and plant 5 mojito canes and 5 caipirinha canes into each of them.

HOW TO TASTE: Take the canes with your fingers and suck them while chewing to extract all the cocktail juice. Don’t eat the cane.