Rapid Infused Liquors and Cocktails: Turmeric, Lemongrass, Coffee, Jalapeno and Chocolate

Before you start

All recipes are written for a half-litre whipper, and the volumes cannot be changed without changing the results. In a litre whipper you can double a recipe and add an extra charger, shaking between chargers; the result is not identical but still good, and if you like it, make it that way every time. If an infusion is too strong, shorten the time or leave out the extra charger, and if too weak, lengthen it. The technique is in the article on rapid nitrous infusion.

Turmeric Gin and the Glo-Sour

Fresh turmeric, a rhizome like a small, juicy orange ginger root, is sold in shops for an Indian clientele. Slow turmeric infusions are funky with odd aftertastes, while rapid iSi infusion gives a balanced, bright orange spirit. Turmeric stains everything for good: wear gloves, do not peel it, wash it under running water, cover the cutting board with plastic and store the gin in glass, since plastic is ruined. Kept in the fridge it is best within about a week, after which the flavour goes flat and the colour dulls.

• Turmeric Gin: 500 ml of Plymouth gin and 100 grams of fresh turmeric sliced into 1.6 mm discs, with two 7.5-gram nitrous chargers (shake between them). Infuse for 2 minutes 30 seconds, vent and listen, let the bubbling mellow for a couple of minutes, then strain and press the turmeric. Rest 10 minutes.
• Glo-Sour: 2 ounces of Turmeric Gin, three-quarters of an ounce of strained lime juice, a flat three-quarter ounce (20 ml) of simple syrup, 3 drops of saline or a generous pinch of salt and 1 to 2 dashes of Rapid Orange Bitters. Shake with ice and strain into a chilled coupe. In the light the drink almost glows, hence the name.

Lemongrass Vodka and the Lemon Pepper Fizz

Long lemongrass infusions bring out a detergent-like flavour, which the rapid method avoids; it takes a lot of lemongrass, nearly filling the whipper, to get the balance Arnold likes. Use the infusion within a day or two, or keep it in the freezer for about a week.

• Lemongrass Vodka: 300 ml of 40 percent vodka and 180 grams of fresh lemongrass sliced into discs in a half-litre whipper. Charge with one charger, shake, add the second and shake, for 2 minutes in total. Vent, let the bubbling stop, strain and press hard on the lemongrass. Rest 10 minutes.
• Lemon Pepper Fizz: 58.5 ml of Lemongrass Vodka, 12 ml of clarified lemon juice (or regular lemon juice added at the end), 18.75 ml of simple syrup, a dash of Rapid Black Pepper Tincture, 2 drops of saline and 76 ml of filtered water. Chill to minus 10 degrees C, carbonate and serve in a chilled champagne flute. If the clarified juice and tincture are too much trouble, carbonate the base and add ordinary lemon juice and a couple of grinds of black pepper.

Coffee Zacapa and Cafe Touba

The cocktail is based on Cafe Touba, the Senegalese hot coffee of the Mouride brotherhood, sweetened, frothy and spiked with djer (grains of Selim, the peppery spice of Xylopia aethiopica). Without djer, use cardamom and cubebs, though the flavour changes. The real drink has no alcohol; this one is cold and boozy.

Rapid coffee infusions are fantastic but tricky, because the grind changes the result. An espresso grind gave inconsistent results, and when others ground the coffee, too fine a grind made the liquor far too bitter and clogged the filters. He now uses a grind slightly finer than drip, ground just minutes before. The base is an aged rum with a clean, unfunky nose, Ron Zacapa 23 Solera. He overinfuses so that the liquor tastes too much of coffee, then dilutes it with plain rum, which lets him make a full 750 ml batch in a 500 ml whipper and adjust the flavour to taste.

• Coffee Zacapa: grind 100 grams of fresh, darker-roasted coffee beans slightly finer than drip. Put 500 ml of the rum and the coffee in a half-litre whipper, charge, shake, add the second charger and shake 30 seconds more, for a total of 1 minute 15 seconds. Vent. Do not wait for the bubbling to stop, or it overinfuses; rest 1 minute, then pour through a fine cloth into a coffee filter, which should drain within 2 minutes, or your grind was too fine. Sparge the grounds with 100 ml of water to replace rum trapped in them; roughly 100 ml of liquid is lost to the grounds, about half water and half rum, so the strength drops slightly. Taste: if strong, which is good, add the other 250 ml of rum. If it cannot be toned down without losing the coffee flavour, the grind was too coarse, so add no more rum.
• Milk washing (optional): add the liquor to 185 ml of whole milk while stirring, never the milk to the liquor, or it curdles instantly. Stop stirring and let it curdle in about 30 seconds, adding a little citric acid solution or lemon juice if it does not. Gently move the curds without breaking them, leave overnight in the fridge in a round container and pour off the clear liquor, or spin in a centrifuge at 4,000 g for 10 minutes. This removes some of the coffee’s harshness and the whey protein gives the cocktail its froth; without it, add half an ounce of cream before shaking.
• Djer Syrup: blend 400 grams of water, 400 grams of sugar and 15 grams of djer (or 9 grams of green cardamom pods and 5 grams of black pepper) on high until the sugar dissolves, strain through a fine strainer and then a moist paper towel or strainer bag, not a coffee filter, which takes forever.
• Cafe Touba: 2 ounces of Coffee Zacapa, half an ounce of Djer Syrup, 3 drops of saline and, if the rum was not milk-washed, half an ounce of cream. Shake with ice and strain into a chilled coupe; it should be creamy and frothy.

Jalapeno Tequila

Most hot-pepper infusions are high in spice and low in pepper flavour, and rapid iSi infusion brings out more pepper flavour. Arnold removes the seeds and veins, where the capsaicin is concentrated, and uses more peppers. Combine 45 grams of very thinly sliced, seeded and deveined green jalapeno with 500 ml of blanco tequila in a half-litre whipper, add one charger and shake, add the second and shake, for a total of 1 minute 30 seconds. Vent, rest 1 minute, strain and press on the pepper, and rest 10 minutes before use.

Chocolate Vodka and the Schokozitrone

Cocoa nibs are porous and infuse well, but most are poor quality, so never use off-brand nibs: taste them, because sour and acrid nibs give a sour and acrid infusion. Arnold uses only Valrhona. Nibs are a better choice than cocoa powder, which is messy and hard to strain, or solid chocolate, which is not porous. This vodka has a strong chocolate flavour with very little bitterness, so little sugar is needed.

• Chocolate Vodka: 500 ml of neutral 40 percent vodka and 75 grams of Valrhona cocoa nibs in a half-litre whipper. Charge, swirl for a few seconds, add the second charger and agitate for a full minute. Rest 20 seconds, vent, open the whipper and leave the liquor there a minute or so, until the bubbling subsides. Strain out the nibs, pass the vodka through a coffee filter and rest a few minutes. Throw the nibs away; all that is left in them is bitterness.
• Schokozitrone: 2 ounces of Chocolate Vodka, half an ounce of strained lemon juice, half an ounce of simple syrup, 2 dashes of Rapid Chocolate Bitters, 2 drops of saline and candied ginger. Stir briefly with ice, strain into an old-fashioned glass and garnish with the ginger. The idea of lemon with chocolate comes from his wife, who enjoyed chocolate ice cream with lemon sorbet as a teenager in Frankfurt; the drink is polarising, and a commercial chocolate or mole bitters can replace the homemade one.