It is difficult to imagine modern life without alcohol. And now we are not talking about holidays or youth parties, which are rarely dispensed with. Alcohol is added to sauces and dressings, cakes, pastries and sweets. Usually these are the most refined types of alcohol, giving desserts a special note and expressiveness.
Sweetness and hops in one glass
Liqueurs are traditionally considered female strong drinks. Indeed, it is to the ladies who sometimes do not like the bitter and tart men's drinks like whiskey. However, you should not limit the area of liquor consumption to just a bachelorette party - it is the different varieties of liquor that contain the majority of sweets or desserts with alcohol.
The reason lies in the special combination of sweetness and strength in them, as well as the richness of taste, which give expressiveness to sweet dishes and emphasize the individuality of the dessert.
So, for example, coffee liqueur well emphasizes the taste of the famous tiramisu, cheesecake or plum cake will sparkle in a new way if you add egg liqueur to it, and a Christmas fruit cake is simply inconceivable without Cointreau liqueur.
Orange miracle hails from France
Liqueur "Cointreau" was invented in 1875 in France by confectioners Adolf and Edouard-Jean Cointreau. 26 years before the birth of the legendary drink, the brothers opened a distillery in a small French town where they produced wild cherry liqueur.
For a very long time, their enterprise was not successful until in 1875 they received a crystal clear orange liquor, made simultaneously from sweet and bitter citrus fruits. This literally revolutionized the world of alcohol - 10 years after the appearance of liquor, its sales grew to 800 thousand bottles a year.
Since 1989, the producer of Cointreau liquor has been the Remy Cointreau company, which owns unique rights to the recipe.
Taste of the Caribbean and Brazil in one bottle
The composition of Cointreau liqueur includes two varieties of oranges - bitter from the Antilles and sweet, cultivated in Brazil, Spain and France. They are manually collected and cleaned, the zest is carefully dried in the sun and only then sent to the factory.
At the factory, oranges are combined with alcohol obtained by distillation of beets. The product is distilled twice in copper cubes. The resulting tincture is diluted with spring water and sugar syrup in the proportions of the recipe. According to some reports, after distillation, herbs are added to the Cointreau liquor, but whether this is true is not known for certain, since the recipe is a corporate secret.
The whole variety of "Cointreau"
There are three types of Cointreau liquor. All of them are made of premium quality oranges, but differ in the ratio of "sweet-bitterness."
Classic liquor "Cointreau" has a rich citrus flavor and fruity aroma. It is he who is the ingredient for many popular cocktails.
Cointreau Blood Orange, or Cointreau Bloody Orange, has an even richer orange flavor than the classic version. It is made from the zest of red Corsican oranges.
Cointreau Noir has been produced since 2012, since the merger of the family-owned Cointreau & Cie and Remi Martin. This is a mixture of liqueur and brandy "Remy Martin".
Consumption culture
"Cointreau" is a classic liquor, and as such it is most often used as an aperitif and digestif - it is believed that a small amount of food whets the appetite, and after eating it enhances metabolism and improves digestion.
Very popular cocktails with Cointreau liqueur. It plays well in almost all citrus mixes - they emphasize the depth and richness of its taste.
A small amount of Cointreau will play well in an orange blanch or almond cake, and of course, the famous Crepe Suzette pancakes are inconceivable.
Greetings from Paris
Crepe Suzette pancakes are a Parisian dessert with an interesting legend. They say that the dish appeared due to the awkwardness of the young assistant waiter.
In 1895, in Monte Carlo, Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII, drove past Cafe De Paris. The young beautiful girl Suzette traveled with him. The visit was unplanned, and of course, the entire cafe staff was greatly alarmed. Before serving your favorite royal crepes, the young waiter's assistant Charpentier Henri accidentally knocked over orange liquor for dessert and they burst into flames from a burning stove.
There was no time to remake pancakes - the prince and his charming companion had already waited too long, and therefore they served the dessert as it is. Despite all the misfortunes, the royal people really liked the dish, and the pancakes were named after the young lady Suzette.
To prepare the Crepe Suzette dessert, you will need:
For the sauce:
- zest of one orange;
- freshly squeezed juice of 2 oranges;
- 1/2 lime zest;
- freshly squeezed juice of 1 lime;
- 4 oranges;
- 70 grams of sugar;
- 100 g unsalted butter;
- 20 grams of Cointreau liquor.
For the test:
- 1 tablespoon of sugar;
- 4 eggs;
- 500 grams of wheat flour;
- 50 milliliters of rum or beer;
- 400 ml of milk;
- 50 g of almond flour;
- 30 grams of melted butter.
Cooking:
- Place all the ingredients for the dough in the mixer bowl and beat until smooth at an average speed of 4-5 minutes.
- Set the dough aside for 20-30 minutes.
- Peel oranges from membranes, seeds and peels.
- In a stewpan mix zest and juice of oranges and lime, sugar and butter. Bring to a boil and leave to simmer on a minimum fire for 10-12 minutes.
- Bake thin pancakes from the dough, wrap orange slices in them and put in a pan.
- Pour the resulting orange sauce and leave it under a closed lid for 7-10 minutes.
- Add liquor to pancakes and set fire.
- When the “Cointreau” burns out, dessert can be served to the table, decorating it with a ball of vanilla ice cream.
Cocktails with Cointreau liqueur
Orange liquor is very popular for making all kinds of alcoholic and low alcohol cocktails. If a fun party is expected, you should stock up on a bottle of Cointreau and try yourself as a bartender.
The cocktail was invented in Miami in 1955 and named after the Boeing B-52 American bomber.
Ingredients:
- 15 grams of Calua coffee liqueur;
- 15 grams of "Irish cream";
- 15 grams of Cointreau liquor.
According to regular bar reviews, this cocktail should be drunk quickly, and intoxication will not take long. Pour “Kalua” into the bottom of the shot. Pour cream liquor with a second layer using a bar spoon. The last layer is orange liquor. Set fire and serve.
The second after the B-52 popular cocktail with orange liquor.
Ingredients:
- lime juice - 10 ml;
- cranberry juice - 50 ml;
- Cointreau - 20 ml;
- citrus vodka - 40 ml;
- 200 grams of ice;
- slice of orange.
Mix two types of juice, liquor and vodka and pour into a glass with ice. Garnish with a slice of orange.
Beat in a shaker:
- Cointreau liquor - 10 ml;
- mango juice - 30 ml;
- pineapple juice - 30 ml;
- gin and tonic - 20 ml;
- 1/2 peach;
- 1/2 banana
- 1/4 mango.
Serve in a chilled glass, garnish with fresh strawberries.
Another pretty popular cocktail. You will need:
- red wine - 120 ml;
- Cointreau liquor - 20 ml;
- orange juice - 40 ml;
- strawberries - 40 gr;
- orange - 100 gr;
- a pinch of ground cinnamon;
- sugar syrup - 10 ml;
- lemon juice - 10 ml.
Cool cocktail glass. Put an orange and strawberries in it. Mix the remaining ingredients in a shaker. Add crushed ice to the glass and pour a cocktail on it. Garnish with a cinnamon stick and a slice of lemon.
This cocktail completes the leaderboard. It is also worth a try connoisseurs of alcohol mixtures.
- 50 grams of Cointreau;
- 25 grams of cranberry juice;
- 25 grams of lemon juice;
- thin strip of orange zest.
Mix in a shaker, pour into a wide chilled glass and add the zest.
The liquor who conquered the world
“Cointreau” was born more than a hundred years ago and still does not lose its popularity. Its bitter-sweet orange flavor attracts both confectioners and bartenders. Almost every person, sometimes without even knowing it, in one form or another already tasted Cointreau liquor. According to reviews of lovers of quality alcohol, it is one of the first places in terms of taste.