Sugar; Spice; Anything Remotely Pleasant

Forgive me for the hiatus.  Apparently Dr. By Day will - in fact - become a doctor after all.  Give it a few more months; but it’s a done deal.  So…whereas the past few months have been spent worrying and researching, I can now replace the worrying with blogging; thus making awesome science AND cocktails/whiskey reviews.  As a testament to the new lifestyle change, I plan on blitzkrieging my own site with a generous number of posts in the next couple of weeks that should stretch all over the board, so here’s the first installment.

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Normally, seeing the word ‘cinnamon’ scrolled on a label in a liquor or drink isle would immediately illicit a face that I’d have normally reserved for listening to GW speak at press conferences.  That’s probably because cinnamon-flavored beverages - for the most part - speak LIES…thick, sticky, corn syrup-tainted, esterified lies that will no doubt adhere to the your teeth and gullet like a pile of carcinogenic, abrasive chemical hooey (think Big Red or Goldschlagger).

Okay, my hyperbole needs work.

The uncomfortable truth is; I’m not a fan of raw cinnamon, but I can’t help but acknowledge it’s prevalence in many a tasty baked treat; from apple pies, to cinnamon rolls…even churos (I miss going to the LA Zoo) and rugulah (hell of such as oy).  So, while I’m fairly sure that I’ll never be able to understand nor appreciate any product in which cinnamon is at the forefront; I can’t deny it’s versatility in many a comfort food.

Time to make a comfort drink.

Cinnamon-Orange Simple Syrup

• 1 cup water

•  1/2 cup sugar or raw sugar

• 1 rounded tbs ground cinnamon

•  1 whole orange

As is the nature of these syrups…the directions for making them are really, really…easy:

Dissolve the sugar in a medium saucepan on high heat with constant stirring. Once all the sugar is dissolved, turn down the heat to a gentle simmer and add the teaspoon of cinnamon (which should not dissolve completely) followed by the entire rind (whole or in pieces, but with as much pulp attached as possible) of the orange into the reduction and continue stirring for about 10-15 minutes.  Turn off the heat and let the mixture cool to room temperature before adding all the contents to an air-tight container.  Let the slurry sit in in the fridge for about 2 hours before straining the excess cinnamon and orange rind through some cheese cloth and into another sealable container.

While I’d imagine this would do well in an old fashioned or other whiskey/rum based drinks, I was looking for more recipes to tinker with and stumbled across the appropriately named “naked skin,” (it’s not actually appropriate; it just made me ‘tee-hee’ like a 12-year-old) while perusing the Esquire Hosting Guide (circa 1949) that my grandfather had given me a while back.  ‘Man knows how to ‘tend.

Whiskey Skin (I’ll take any other less innuendo-heavy suggestions)

• 2 tsp cinnamon-orange simple syrup

• 1 jigger bourbon

• Hot water

• Orange peel

Add all ingredients in order to a 6oz tea or coffee cup (float the orange peel on top).

Not very conducive to the weather at the moment, sure…but it really does make a great digestif or nightcap.  I recommend bourbon over rye since it’s sweeter and mixes well with the syrup to - I swear to you people - make this taste almost exactly like chamomile. Try it. Try rye with it, too if you wanna.

Toodles for now. Enjoy your toddys.