Sweat the technique, part 3

Photo: Beth Levendis

Click the photo gallery at left for a step-by-step illustration of the creation process.

Gin and juice at L’Ecole

Clarified grapefruit juice with gin and vodka-and-herb-infused cucumber from vice president of Culinary Arts Nils Noren and director of culinary technology Dave Arnold of the International Culinary Center

Noren and Arnold decided that they wanted to make an extrajuicy grapefruit cocktail with the clarity of a clear drink. They used gelatin clarification, a technique that removes impurities from liquid, for the first time in their beverage program at L’Ecole, the restaurant of the French Culinary Institute in Soho, to create the crystalline gin and juice.

The juice
1. Noren heats a small amount of grapefruit juice in a saucepan with gelatin—just enough to hydrate the powder. He then adds the dissolved gelatin mixture to fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice, pours the mixture into a cheesecloth-lined chafing dish and freezes it.

2. Once it's frozen and drained, the juice that separates from the gelatin and the pulp will be crystal clear. Save this juice for your cocktail.

The cucumber garnish
1. Arnold crushes dill seeds and caraway seeds and makes a cheesecloth sachet with the dried herbs. He makes a second sachet with fresh dill.

2. Arnold places the herbs in a container with simple syrup, fresh cucumber spears and vodka, then chills the mix.

3. He then places the container in a vacuum machine, which will essentially infuse the cucumber with the herb flavors and alcohol; the cucumber will turn translucent.

At the bar
1. They pour one jigger of Hendrick's gin, one jigger of the clarified grapefruit juice and two large cubes of frozen clarified grapefruit juice, chopped, into a pint glass. They stir with a bar spoon to cool the mixture.

2. Noren strains the drink into an iced martini glass. He peels a ribbon of rind from a grapefruit and squeezes it, yellow side out, to spray grapefruit oil onto the surface of the drink and the rim of the glass, which gives the drink an extrajuicy flavor.

3. On a separate plate, Noren sprinkles the vodka-infused cucumber with Maldon sea salt and fresh chopped dill. He balances the cucumber on the rim of the glass and serves.