> Well, Im sure I'll catch hell for this, but leave the damn food on
> the dinner plate! "culinary, adj. Of or pertaining to cookery or
> the kitchen." So according to Funk and Wagnalls Dictionary, you
> cannot have a culinary experience in a drink.
>
> We frequently use food to enhance the drink, notice I say enhance.
> Certainly this is not a bad thing. BUT, I think we are rapidly going
> to the point where the food flavor is more important than the liquor
> flavors. Our job is to create drinks that enhance the food, not
> compete with it.
>
> Have we created every drink, with every combination of liquor that
> now our only choice is using food?
Read your old school bar manuals - all the way back to the days of Jerry
Thomas they were hand making their own syrups, using herbs and creating their
own tinctures. ALL of this falls under the category of culinary. "Cookery"
has been a part of bartending for as long as people have been drinking.
Tell me, what's the difference between using a pomegranate syrup on a dessert
and using pomegranate syrup in a drink? It's grenadine either way you cut it.
Any problem with using ice cream in a drink? How about chunks of pineapple
and cream of coconut?
Do you have a problem with things like coriander, cardomom, carraway, and
other herbs and spices?
Crafting quality drinks is as much a culinary art as creating a fantastic
appetizer or amazing fish course. The originators of the cocktail knew this
and were revered for it - why shouldn't we employ more modern culinary
methodology into our drinks?