A Bitten Word Adaptation
About a year ago, we had an incredible dinner at Momofuku Ko in New York City, an amazing restaurant from the chef David Chang. The food is awesome: A fixed-price tasting menu that changes every night. Our 12-course dinner had everything from Gruyere Soup with Bone Marrow and Brioche Toast, to Mackerel and Yuzu in Orange Oil, to Slow-Roasted Duck with Mustard Greens and Honey-Braised Turnips Rolled in Pumpernickel Crumbs.
Along with all the outrageously delicious and unique food, one of the most memorable things about the dinner was the drink pairing. Restaurants that do a tasting menu almost always offer a wine pairing to go along with the food -- a procession of glasses of wine specially selected to complement each dish.
But at Momofuku Ko, the drink pairing is much more free-wheeling. It includes wine, beer, sake and cocktails! Their thinking is that wine isn't necessarily always the best possible pairing.
We loved the idea! And we especially loved this Gingersnap Cocktail.
The Gingersnap Cocktail was the perfect accompaniment for that dessert! But we've found that it's pretty darn delightful on its own. Our server/chef said it only had three ingredients -- Amaretto, ginger soda, and bitters. So when we got home we started playing with different ratios of the cocktail. We find that we prefer ginger beer to ginger ale in this drink (we assume that Momofuku makes a ginger soda that's used in the restaurant). Ginger beer is similar to soda in that's in a non-alcoholic carbonated drink, but ginger beer adds a spicier note than you get with ginger ale or ginger soda. We made the drink a handful of times last winter, and we've already had one or two this year.
The gingersnap is an excellent cocktail for the holidays -- the warming, almondy Amaretto gets a nice spicy spike from the ginger beer. Be very generous with the bitters here: You need them to cut the sweetness of the liquor and the ginger beer. If you're used to making cocktails with a quick dash or two of bitters, well, just think more in terms of an actual measurable amount of bitters here, like 1/4 teaspoon. Even still, it's a sweet cocktail. It's very much an after-dinner drink, ideally suited for idle Christmas-tree-gazing.
Pour yourself a Gingersnap, grab a couple cookies, and toast the Christmas season.
Happy Holidays!
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Gingersnap Cocktail from Momofuku Ko
A Bitten Word Adaptation
Makes 1 cocktail
INGREDIENTS
1 ounce Amaretto, such as Disaronno
2 ounces ginger beer, such as Reed's or Gosling's
1/4 teaspoon bitters, such as Angostura
DIRECTIONS
Combine ingredients in lowball glass over ice. Serve.
