Cold Buttered Rum
Photo by Andrew Cebulka

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yields

1 cocktail

    Ingredients
  • 2 ounces buttered rum mix (recipe follows)
  • 1 ½ ounces spice mixture (recipe below)
  • Ice (both for shaking and a large chunk for the drink)
  • Orange twist, garnish
  • Buttered Rum Mix
  • ½ pound unsalted butter
  • 1 liter spiced rum
  • Spice mixture
  • 1 quart water
  • ½ quart light brown sugar
  • 1½ star anise pods
  • 1 Mexican cinnamon stick
  • 5 cloves
  • 5 allspice pods
  • 5 cardamom pods
  • ¼ ounces grated nutmeg
  • The skin of 1 orange (no pith)
steps
  1. Pour all ingredients over ice in mixing glass or tin.
  2. Stir gently for 1 minute, strain into glass with a large piece of chunked ice, and garnish.

Buttered Rum Mix

  1. In a small saucepan, melt butter over low heat. Skim any foam off the top, then let stand for about 5 minutes; the solid white residue will settle to the bottom of the pan.
  2. Carefully pour the clear, clarified butter into another container, leaving the sediment in the pan.
  3. Put the pan back on low heat (make sure the butter is still liquid and no solids have started to form). Add spiced rum and take the pan off the heat right away and stir constantly for 4 minutes. Transfer mixture to a plastic container and put in the freezer overnight.
  4. When you take the container out the next day, the butter will have risen to the top of the container in a frozen solid mass. Scoop the frozen butter out and throw it away, then strain the remaining mixture through a fine sieve to get rid of any solids. Pour back in bottle and label accordingly.

Spice Mixture

  1. In a saucepan, bring water to a boil and add sugar. Whisk until sugar is dissolved, add remaining ingredients and reduce to a simmer. Simmer for one hour; it should reduce to about 3/4 quart of liquid.
  2. Remove from heat and refrigerate overnight; the next day, strain liquid through a fine sieve into a clean bottle.
  • by Todd Thrasher of PX in Alexandria, VA

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