12 courses, 12 cocktails, 12 hours

Saturday was spent indulging in the things Y and I, and our fabulous friends Melody and Matt, love most. Cooking, mixing cocktails, eating and drinking. We planned an extravaganza, but, having learnt from an epic over-eating exercise at Thanksgiving, we decided to try and pace ourselves - lots of smallish courses, with one matched cocktail/wine per course, stretched out over half a day. As Y described it, the result was a 12 hour gastronomical orgasm.


Here's our menu:
Champagne cocktail with Matt's spicy nuts.

Lynchburg lemonade with sliders with gruyere, sweet potato fries and red pickled cabbage. Of course, Matt and Melody made the brioche buns and hamburgers themselves, and pickled the cabbage.

Garden of Eden (a beautifully fresh cocktail with cucumber infused vodka, raspberries and thyme sugar syrup) and salt baked beetroot and goats cheese salad.

Red wine with Ginger Pig lamb cutlets, mint buttered greens and glazed Jerusalem artichokes ("sunchokes" according to Melody).

Y's tabasco margarita with vodka malfadine (aka gorgeous home made pasta).

Bangkok zinger (an explosive cocktail of chilli infused vodka, kaffir lime sugar syrup, ginger beer, coriander and mint) with slow cooked Thai style pork belly.

Marmalade cocktail (made by Matt from the Hawksmoor cookbook) with pickled mushroom salad.

Red wine with seared Ginger Pig sirloin.

Pomegranate, blood orange and vanilla sorbet, and coconut milk, kaffir lime and lemongrass sorbet.

Espresso martini with gooey chocolate cheesecake, mascarpone and figs.

Daiquiri (made with homemade pimento dram) with steamed marmalade pudding and cinnamon ice cream.

Port (we skipped the port!) with home made rosemary crackers and La Fromagerie cheeses (Saint Marcellin and Napoleon Brebis Laitier).

We started cooking and ate from 12pm til 12am. , We had planned everything meticulously, which involved a lot of preparation in the lead up, not just on the food front but in making our own syrups and infusing liquor for our cocktails. We tried to make each course look gorgeous too. We were well rewarded for our efforts and felt super chuffed with ourselves!


We slept well and, I am proud to admit, dipped the leftover brioche buns in eggs and cream, and enjoyed French toast, topped with mascarpone and maple syrup for breakfast.