Holiday - - Page 32

by BS

Five Ways to Drink Your Thanksgiving Dinner

Turkey…stuffing…mashed potatoes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, they’re all great, but in the ES book holidays are a time to get booze-y. But that doesn’t mean you have to give up traditional Thanksgiving flavors. These five liquor-fueled concoctions put the yay in turkey day.

1. Pumpkin Martini

We’ve been seeing this one pop up a lot lately, whether made with pumpkin spice or pumpkin syrup. At Devil’s Alley in Philadelphia, they say screw the FDA and throw some caffeine in there too. Their espresso pumpkin martini is made from Van Gogh Expresso Vodka, Bailey’s Irish Cream and pumpkin syrup. Leave pumpkin pie for the babies. (Photo by M. Edlow for GPTMC)

2. Cranberry Cocktail

We all know that frightening blob of canned cranberry sauce is gonna be left on the table at the end of the meal, right? Fortunately for cranberry lovers who want their antioxidants in a more easily digestible form, there are now several types of cranberry liquor on the market. At Patina Restaurant in LA, the turkey day menu gets washed down with “the fall cocktail” — 1½ oz. Pear Vodka, ¾ oz. Cranberry Liquor and 1 oz. Apple Juice.

by BS

Feed Us Back: Comments of the Week

– Last Halloween post, we swear, but we had to share this photo from reader Dan of Food in My Beard, who proves that broccoli costumes don’t have to end up on the worst list. Also, Mr. and Mrs. JoeHoya of Capital Spice make an early bid for next year’s cutest costumes list:

in Holiday 0 comments

by BS

Feed Us Back: Spooky Comments of the Week

– So we thought we had found the Top 10 best Halloween cakes last year, but then Paul Joachim goes and points us towards the Zombie Dog Cake, which pretty much blows everything else out of the water. A-freaking-mazing. Thanks for the link, Paul.

– ESers were quick to defend the Taco Bell hot sauce costumes on our Top 10 Worst Halloween Costumes list, but there was much less love for poor Broccoli Roberta. dan:

so… I’m being broccoli this year, but I SWEAR my costume is gonna be 10 times better than that one! I saw that one yesterday actually when I was trying to figure out how to make mine. There are some terrible broccoli costumes out there.

http://partywiththis.com/product.php?productid=18013
http://www.mascotcostumes.co.uk/broccoli_mascot_costume_109.html

Do people even know what broccoli looks like?

– Whatever broccoli costume you decide to go with this year, be sure to check out Endless Simmer’s Halloween page for all the best ideas on Halloween costumes, cakes, cocktails and more.

in Desserts / Holiday 1 comments

by bakersroyale

Hallo-Baking: Pumpkin Caramel Mousse Cake

What, you thought we were done with pumpkin recipes? Here’s one more last-minute Halloween dessert idea to serve alongside your spooky cocktails.

The Pumpkin Caramel Mousse is killer. It’s light and smooth in texture, full in flavor and only takes 15 minutes to make. For those of you who want to get in and get out of the kitchen, you can forgo the joconde cake and simply serve the mousse in ramekins or in Martini glasses for some kicked-up elegance. But if you’ve got the time, the cake makes it a full dessert.

A few notes:

The recipe I used for the joconde cake and decorative paste is from The Professional Pastry Chef by Bo Friberg. For an online recipe resource click here.
If you decide to make the joconde cake with the decorative decal, start with a silpat, not parchment paper. The small freeze time required for the decorative paste will cause the parchment paper to shrink and ripple and ultimately affect the shape of the finished cake.

Pumpkin Caramel Mousse Cake
Yields 16 2×3 inch cakes

in Desserts / Holiday / Recipe 12 comments

by Roo de Loo

Wings of Death

When my cohorts at ES asked me to develop a deadly but delicious Halloween recipe, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to try out my brand new bottle of Bacon Hot Sauce. Because if you’ve ever asked yourself, “What makes any dish better—bacon or hot sauce?” clearly you know the answer is both.

Although there’s no actual bacon in the hot sauce, it has an interesting smokehouse-style kick. In the spirit of Halloween, I used the hot sauce for a ghoulish creation that may knock a few years off your life in one sitting.

Wings of Death
Chicken wings wrapped in spicy capicola and slathered in bacon hot sauce

2 dozen chicken wings, patted dry

1 bottle of bacon hot sauce (5 oz.)

1 stick of unsalted butter (8 tablespoons)

salt & pepper

24 thin slices of hot capicola

in Bacon / Endless Bacon / Fowl / Holiday / Recipe 1 comments

by Borracho

Top 10 Worst Halloween Food Costumes

I cannot think of a worse Halloween costume than dressing up entirely in different cuts of meat. If the prospect of spreading salmonella, e. coli and other diseases around you isn’t enough, try fending off all the small critters. Wait a second…this isn’t a costume? Someone actually wore this for real? And to top it off, a group of butchers has actually warned the public about trying to duplicate it this Halloween? OK, so maybe pass on the GaGa-influenced meat outfits. But in that spirit, here are 10 more foodie Halloween costumes we hope no one will duplicate this year.

10. Bacon Tuxedo

“We’ll force a half-smile as long as your promise not to show these to anyone, Mom.”

9. Sandwich Girl

“I said I wanted to be a princess, a ballerina or a witch but a sandwich? Seriously Mom, WTF?

8. Vanilla Bean

Who doesn’t want to pay $109 to look like a decayed banana?

in Bacon / Holiday / Lists / Sandwich 16 comments

by gansie

Top 10 Halloween Cocktails

It’s not really the costumes. It’s not even the candy. The real reason we love Halloween—it’s another excuse to get drunk. Here are some ideas for scary, beautiful and tasty libations.