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Bartending Home
01. Aperitif
02. Birth of Cocktail
03. Whiskey Drinks
04. Juleps
05. Absinthe Drinks
06. Gin Drinks
07. Rum Drinks
08. Pousse Cafes
09. Brandy Drinks
10. Cafe Brulot
11. Flips
12. Slings
13. Swizzle
14. Punches
15. Wassail Bowl
16. Eggsnogs
17. White Ribbon Punch
18. The Contradiction
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8. Pousse Cafe |
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There are two schools of thought regarding the naming and spelling of a Pousse Cafe, but only one regarding its goodness. Properly made it becomes a drink with more rings than an old-fashioned Barnum & Bailey circus. Here we have a post-prandial drink made of layers of variously colored cordials—the heaviest poured first into the serving glass and the following layers gently and skillfully achieved one ring at a time with the aid of a spoon. The lightest liqueur, usually cognac, is poured on last.
The name Pousse cafe is said to have been derived from chasse cafe, literally "chase coffee" or a coffee chaser," a potion of liquor taken after a meal ostensibly to remove the taste of coffee, tobacco, or what have you. The term, usually shortened to chasse, was applied as a rule to brandy, creme de menthe, or like cordials, but in time became definitely attached to the ringed drink of various cordials, now known as Pousse cafe.
For another (and probably more authentic) version: pouce, French for "inch" or "thumb," indicates that in the early days of the original concocting of the drink, an inch or pouce of red sirup was first poured in the glass; then a pouce of curagao, then a pouce of chartreuse, and so on to the final pouce of brandy that topped it. Thus it became a pouce caf4 or "inch" drink, until finally the word pouce was corrupted into pousse, a French word with an entirely different meaning
"So one glass of cognac neat, as a chasse (to more things than claret)." 1857.
Pousse Cafe
1/6 red raspberry sirup
1/6 pink maraschino sirup
1/6 green creme de menthe
1/6 orange Curasao
1/6 yellow chartreuse
1/6 topaz cognac brandy
Care and skill are essential in the making. Use a short, transparent round glass and put in each cordial separately, also very, very slowly so as to eliminate blending. The heaviest of the sirups is poured in first to form the bottom ring. Ease in with a spoon, so that the liquid will not fall with force enough to mix with the preceding ring. The last or top ring is of cognac. When completed the drink will be composed of six different rings, each complete in itself. Lovely!
Santini's Old New Orleans Pousse Cafe
¼, cognac brandy
¼ maraschino sirup
¼ Curasao
¼Cuban rum
Proceed as above, but watch your step. The main difficulty will come in gently layering a heavy sirup on top of the lower ring of brandy, which in usual recipes, is the top or finishing ring.
This is the drink that was vogue in New Orleans in 1852 when Joseph Santini opened his "The Jewel of the South" saloon in Gravier street opposite the side entrance of the old and fashionable Saint Charles Hotel. It is said to be the first pousse caf4 with both brandy and rum
Triple Pousse Cafe
1/3 curc.ao
1/3 chartreuse
1/3 cognac brandy
Easily made, so it is suggested that the amateur mixer try his hand on this one before experimenting with the multiple-ringed kinds. It has all the delights of the more intricate pousse cafes.
Cuban Rainbow Pousse Cafe
1/8 grenadine sirup
1/8 anisette
1/8 abricotine, apricot brandy, or apry
1/8 creme de menthe
1/8 orange Curasao
1/8 yellow chartreuse
1/8 green chartreuse
1/8 Cuban rum
The preparation of this pousse cafe is the same as given in the recipes. Note, however, that this rainbow of liqueurs calls for a ring of rum to top it (brandy may be substituted). Set afire with a match and the rainbow will be a blaze of color.
This is the Pousse cafe that Sloppy Joe of Havana, Cuba, serves customers at his famous bar, a rendezvous for convivial New Orleanians and other travelers.
Tchoupitoulas Street Guzzle
1 split ginger beer
1 jigger Cuban type rum
Ginger beer is not to be had these days, but ginger ale will doas well. Mix with ice.
Guzzle is a somewhat inelegant word meaning to drink immoderately or frequently. Prior to the Civil War days the Iron Horse tavern was famed for its guzzle. As it increased in popularity along a certain New Orleans street it acquired the name of that street and became known as the Tchoupitoulas Street Guzzle. Tchoupitoulas (pronounced Chop-a-too'las) was the name of an ancient Indian tribe that had its village in what is now the upper part of New Orleans. Just what sort of fire-water was their favorite guzzle history saith not.
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