I can’t believe it, but I’m now doing a Turkish cooking/cocktail mixology show on www.atnc.tv. Last Saturday morning, the producers asked me to create some new Turkish-themed cocktails and then make them on camera, speaking entirely in Turkish. The show’s called “Brian Karistiriyor” (a pun for “Brian mixes it up” / “Mixed-up Brian”). In just 2 hours, I created the recipes and shot the episodes. (My Turkish is not very good, and I forgot how to say basic words like “strain” and “pour,” so at times I had to use gestures to explain what I was doing! I was nervous, but sipping my creations helped relax me.)
Here’s the recipe I did for the first episode – I made the drink with tahini and pekmez.
Hamam’in gulu: (“Rose of the Hamam”)
3 parts rum
1 part sherry (or brandy)
1 part tahini/pekmez mix (heavy on the pekmez)
1/2 egg white
Shake all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Strain into a cocktail glass.
Pekmez is grape molasses which goes wonderfully mixed with tahini and served on bread as an important part of a balanced Turkish breakfast. Normally, I prefer a 2:1 tahini-pekmez mix, but for this drink, you need considerably more pekmez for sweetening.