Easy Jack'o

The 'Easy Jack'o' was my attempt at creating something that would chance my view on pumpkin - I really dislike... or actually, I don't; I just really find the whole experience really bland and boring. I'm glad to report that pumpkin in cocktails can actually be a surprisingly nice experience, indeed.
Now, as we are approaching May, I have had to take the 'Easy Jack'o' of the Karriere menu on account of pumpkins being out of season. But it was a perfect ingredient for the season, and for a winter-ish kind of cocktail that baked pumpkin-flavor worked beautifully. I'm really sorry to see it go.


The way forward was a bit strange with this cocktail because I knew in my heart that this would never work ( because I really don't like pumkin). It couldn't! I had, however, read something about someone using pumpkin in 'Imbibe' magazine, I think it was, and as it turned out the kitchen at Karriere was planning to use it in one of their dishes. Now that it was readily available I decided to give it a shot.

To even get it ready for human consumption pumpkin has to be prepared, either cooked or baked. I figured I wanted as much of the flavour still in the pumpkin so I baked the thing. - cooking it in water kinda wash out the flavours a little. I had different types of pumpkins that I tried, some tasted exactly as bland and boring as I had imagined. Others, one in particular, kinda surprised me: nice, honey-like sweetness to it that was easy to translate into something drinkable. Finally, settling on Hokkaido ( -not at all scandinavian, I know!), I started out playing with bubbly - had an idea for a champagne cocktail that in my mind just sounded so much better than the actual results I got... (I must just say at this point that I'm not a huge fan of champagne cocktails either - I have tasted very few that really spoke to me so maybe I was just doomed to fail in this endeaveour). I got one decent drink out of it which tasted remarkably like a mimosa -very much orange flavour in it, despite the fact that no orange what-so-ever had been used- but nothing spectacular. The orange'y flavours combined with the inert honey-sweetness kinda got me thinking, though, got me thinking of tequila. I changed goals, going for a margarita-style drink instead...
I had, however, decided on this drink to be one of two sparkling cocktail on the winter menu- the sparkles and the velvety feel of the hokkaido worked nicely and was worthy of an exploration. Beer would be my solution:
::

'Easy Jack'o'

Hokkaido Puré:

1 hokkaido ( ca 250 g after baked)
120 ml agave syrup
60 ml tequila
60 ml water
a pinch of salt

-peel and cut the hokkaido in cubes and bake until good and tender - about 20 minutes at 160 〫c. Puré it with the other ingredients. The hokkaidos I got gave very different results, both in the texture of the puré and flavour so you'll maybe not get it right right away. The only real test is using it in a cocktail - see if it give a nice balance... sorry I can't be more helpfull.

the drink:

40 ml 100 % agave tequila blanco
20 ml lime juice
50 ml puré
30 ml pilsner (I used Carlsberg - worked fine)

::In a shaker, combine the first three ingrediens and shake for about 5 seconds. Over dilution is you enemy here. You need to strain and fine strain it on account that the pumpkin has a weird texture, kinda feel like tiny little pieces of fibers in your mouth... which it probably is. Fine straining it takes that away. Top off with beer and serve on the rocks. Straws, in this case, optional, with a lime wedge on the side.

If you really want to be ambitious - I was planning to be, but never really had the time to effectuate - take the seeds from the pumpkin, roast it lightly. When it's almost done pour a little salted water on there and keep heating until the water has evaporated. Apparently that little trick brings out that pumpkin-flavour from the seeds, and ( as an added bonus) when the water evaporates it leaves the seeds nicely salted. Original plan was to serve a couple of these with the drink. We'll do that next year ;)

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