Today, the fashion for homemade drinks is set by the so-called gastropubs and other establishments where guests are treated to their own tinctures, liqueurs and others like it. The trend is clear and, perhaps, positive. One of the latest hits in public catering establishments “with their own” was dill, it is a dill vodka tincture. Let’s do.
There are many recipes for this potion, no less and twofold reviews about the resulting drink. Some – lift up to heaven, others – spit. For an amateur, in general. But the reaction still depends on the recipe, which, I must say, allows some liberties. The easiest way to prepare dill vodka is as follows: take 2-3 fresh or dried dill umbrellas with seeds, put it in a jar and pour 0,5-1 liter of vodka. Exposure 5-6 days in the sun, filtering, tasting. If desired, you can soften ½ teaspoon of sugar or a spoon of honey.
It turns out a curious drink with a purely dill taste and smell, a slight greenish tint. You need to drink with a hearty snack. It goes well with any fish, including sushi, as well as lamb, poultry, etc. Dill tincture can be added directly to barbecue sauces, salad dressings, stews, soups and other dishes. Under the ear is generally a great drink, and if you cook it according to the canon, then you can flop dill into a cauldron instead of vodka.
The Scandinavian Akvavit is the most similar to dill tincture according to the recipe. It includes dill, coriander, cumin seeds, as well as citrus peels and other ingredients. By the way, in Denmark, local men do not mind drinking ordinary dill vodka, which is made according to the recipe described above.
True, there is one BUT! Dill can be different – fresh and dry branches-umbrellas give different drinks. Some people like to do on greenery, which is available almost the whole year (in winter from greenhouses). There are also grains that are sold in the departments with spices – also an interesting option. You don’t need to take a lot of grains, about 3-5 g per 3 liters of vodka. But your moonshine is always a priority – with it, if the distillate is of good quality, the dill tincture turns out to be softer.
But that’s not what it’s about. It is easier and more correct to make a concentrate first, and then mix the drink to taste. The method of preparing tinctures-liqueurs with concentrate extracts is actively promoted by my colleague Vitaly Pomazan. In this I support him wholeheartedly. Making dill concentrate is even easier, especially if you are actively engaged in distillation, and you have several liters of high-quality double in your bins. Fill a three-liter jar without pressing with yellow-green dill umbrellas and fill the whole thing with alcohol or strong moonshine – 70-80%. After 2-4 weeks we filter. We add the resulting concentrate to taste to moonshine-vodka, plus a couple of days for aging. For example, for 3 liters of sorting, you can add 1 glass.
This method allows you to 100% control the taste of the drink. You can also do with other ingredients that are often added to dill vodka – coriander, cumin, fennel, cardamom, etc. If you use these spices in a small sample, they simply dissolve in the taste and smell of dill. At the same time, it is easy to overdo it with them and spoil the taste completely. With concentrates, you can blend indefinitely and achieve the perfect result. Profit!
What I do not advise you to make dill tincture with is garlic – you will get a typical pickle (we swam, we know, garlic tincture is better – an exclusively masculine drink that harmonizes with cumin, especially black). However, in Jewish cuisine there is a recipe for medicinal tincture with dill and garlic. Drinking this tincture is not very pleasant, but it will help to overcome the flu in a day or two. But we’re not playing pharmacists here. So…
Dill tincture on vodka “Brine”
- 1 cucumber, peeled and chopped
- 10 sprigs of fresh dill
- 1 st. l. black peppercorns
- 1 st. l. mustard seeds
- 1 small garlic clove
- 600 ml of vodka or moonshine 40-45%
Put all the ingredients in a liter jar and fill them with vodka to the brim. Keep in a dark place at room temperature for 7 days, shake once a day. Strain through a fine sieve, pour into a bottle with a tight-fitting lid.
At first glance, this recipe will seem wild. Cooking brine on vodka? What? But this drink is not 100% suitable, and it is not intended for, so to speak, plentiful libations. Unless for rare gourmets. But for bartenders, and just lovers of interesting, pronounced cocktails, this tincture will be a real find. With it you can cook a magnificent Bloody Mary:
- 120 ml dill tincture “Brine”
- 160-170 ml tomato juice
- 1 tsp Tabasco sauce
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce (Worchester)
- 2 tsp any brine (optional)
- 1 / 8 hours. L. salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- dill, celery and other vegetables for garnish
Fill a large glass with ice, add sauces, tincture, tomato juice and brine, season with salt and pepper, mix well. Decorate with whatever comes to hand.
… or the unusual Dirty Martini:
- 60 ml dill tincture “Brine”
- 10 ml dry vermouth
- 10 ml dill pickle
- pickled cucumbers for garnish
Mix all ingredients in a mixing glass or shaker with ice. Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with cucumbers.
Experiment, share your discoveries, read The Rum Diary!