Review of "Hot Drinks" Cookbook

My local newspaper has a feature every Wednesday in which they have a reader write a review of a cookbook. Here is a review I wrote and had published last fall.

(Note: the paper writes the headlines --- what a bunch of dorks!)

AAAAAaaaaaarrgh! Grab a glogg with gusto
By Eric Renger

The following review is by a reader who was given a cookbook from the Times. The included recipes were selected and prepared by the reader.

When I first saw the "Hot Drinks" title, I thought maybe this was a book of drinks that are "hot," as in "fashionable" or "currently popular." Picture an airhead holding a martini glass, saying "Ooooh! That is so hot!" But Paris Hilton had nothing to do with this book -- "hot" in this title refers to high temperature.

I was drawn to the book because I do enjoy a delicious toasty beverage during the chillier months, and I have a number of warm "medicinal" beverages that I take when I get a cough. I also often drink these medicinal beverages as a sort of inoculation or vaccine to prevent a cough from developing. You can't have too many medicinal beverages. I also spotted a recipe for Swedish Glogg, which I wanted to compare to my own recipe.

"Hot Drinks" is an attractive book, and it is filled with enticing photos that make you want to try everything right away. It has about 10 recipes each in five categories: chocolates and coffees; teas and tisanes; cocktails; punches; and dessertlike drinks. I wanted a diverse group of people to sample recipes from several of the different categories, so I glommed onto a dinner party hosted by my in-laws and prepared Rosy Cheeks, Swedish Glogg (both the recipe in the book and my own for a blind taste test), and Mayan Hot Chocolate with Chile and Orange.

I chose Rosy Cheeks because I wanted something from the teas and tisanes section, something without alcohol or caffeine, but when I really got into the recipes in that section, nothing grabbed me. So Rosy Cheeks was sort of a last resort. It is a combination of Ruby Red grapefruit juice, cranberry juice cocktail, guava juice and lime juice, served hot.

Rosy Cheeks is the sort of drink that makes your wife's face scrunch up into a grimace like she just bit into a lemon, makes her head wag back and forth, and makes her say, "Ugh! Tart!"

Just to be sure that it wasn't a false first impression, and also because it was sort of amusing the first time, I asked her to try another sip, and because she is such a good sport, she did. And even though the element of surprise had been lost, she still shuddered like she had swallowed an especially sour bug.

My own reaction was not quite as violent, so Kathy held out her glass to me and said, "Here. You can have the rest of mine," which I did accept, albeit not gratefully.

Everyone at the party who tried Rosy Cheeks agreed it is too tart and a bit bitter. Some suggested that it would be better if it were served on ice with a generous shot of vodka in it, which is a great idea, but directly contrary to the concept of a hot tisane. Others suggested that it needs to be sweeter if it is to be served warm. I tried slightly different proportions of the ingredients, adding a bit more cranberry cocktail to sweeten it up a bit, and the drink was improved slightly, but not enough to be worthwhile.

I also found the color of the drink to be less appetizing than the photo in the book. The book says, "The pink color virtually blushes with a rosy glow, hence the name." But when I made Rosy Cheeks, it seemed a bit murky and unappealing. If my cheeks were that color, I would see a doctor immediately. I suppose it would not be a very alluring name for a recipe, but it would have been more accurate to call this drink Grayish-Purple Pucker Face.

Next we performed the Glogg Challenge taste test of the two glogg recipes. Glogg is a potently fortified, sweetened, spiced and heated wine beverage of Scandinavia. There are millions of recipes for glogg, and everyone thinks their own is the one and only way to make it. This may be due to the dual nature of the Scandinavian culture itself. A thousand years ago, Viking barbarians swept out of the north to terrorize all of Europe. Now Scandinavians are mostly known for ultra-safe automobiles and stylish-yet-affordable furniture. Glogg recipes occupy the entire spectrum from Erik the Red to Ikea. My style of glogg is not the kind for sipping in the inglenook with your pinkie finger extended. It's the kind for guzzling out of tankards on a rocky shore after rowing the longboat from Iceland -- a fortifying drink before storming a hapless village. AAAAAaaaaaarrgh! Gloooooooooggg!

The Swedish Glogg recipe in "Hot Drinks" calls for Aquavit, also called Akvavit, a clear distilled spirit that has a hint of caraway seed. Now I'm no mechanic, but I'm pretty sure Volvos can be tuned to run on Aquavit. The recipe also calls for Ceylon cinnamon sticks, which the book notes is the true cinnamon, not the cassia bark that is usually passed off as hard cinnamon sticks. Honestly, would a Viking care? The glogg in "Hot Drinks" uses candied orange peel instead of the fresh peel that I am used to, and it omits cloves, which I think are essential, and it uses less sugar, and it doesn't simmer as long -- the differences go on and on.

The results of the blind taste test were no surprise to me. Without knowing which recipe was which, everyone who sampled them felt that the "Hot Drinks" recipe was not adequately spiced, was a bit too dry, and was not complex enough. The lack of complexity is disappointing, considering the more exotic (and more expensive) ingredients called for in the "Hot Drinks" recipe. Many of the recipes in this book use unusual ingredients available only in specialty stores, which is fine when the added effort and expense adds something special to the recipe, but very irritating when it doesn't pay off.

Again, without knowing which recipe was which, everyone felt that the recipe I use was more complex and better balanced with respect to sweetness. I would attribute the better complexity in the recipe I use to the cloves, the fresh orange peel, and a caramelization process performed on the sugar that involves brandy, a fire extinguisher, and a 2-foot-tall blue flame.

I personally did not like the caraway flavor of the Aquavit, and I also felt that the "Hot Drinks" recipe resulted in a beverage with more of an alcoholic burn than the recipe I use, even though the two have about the same alcohol content. Even a Viking does not want to be burned by his glogg if he can help it.

As I mentioned before, glogg recipes vary widely. They often borrow from each other and are adapted according to taste. This recipe is not one I am going to try again or attempt to adapt. The recipe I use is one I developed based on a recipe I found on the Internet. If you enter the words "hero" and "glogg" into your search engine and poke around a bit, you will find the recipe I use as my jumping-off point. And any search for "glogg" will find plenty of other good recipes.

Next we tried the Mayan Hot Chocolate with Chile and Orange, which received mixed reviews. Almost everyone liked the complex bittersweet flavor. It was somewhat reminiscent of Mexican mole sauce, but with more of an emphasis on bittersweet chocolate. The chile flavor did not really pop out, but it did add to the richness of the overall flavor, and it added some heat. Not everyone liked the heat, and not everyone liked the bitterness, which is to be expected --- not everyone tolerates those flavors well, and it is really just a matter of taste.

One unanimous criticism of the Mayan Hot Chocolate was that the drink was not as creamy as you would expect. It looked nice and frothy, but the consistency was a bit thin, and the flavor was not as richly concentrated as you might want.

During the preparation, all the dry ingredients are mixed together, and then heavy cream is added to make a paste. The recipe does not call for it, but I added a lick-the-bowl step. That stuff was delicious! We knew the basic flavor was great, so a few days later, Kathy and I rescued this recipe by making the wonderful paste and just blending that with the liquid to taste. We also used milk as the liquid instead of water. That was the best hot chocolate we had ever had in our lives! If you make this recipe, I recommend using a little more cream to make the paste, and using 1 cup of milk instead of 1 1/2 cups of water.

After the party, I felt like the book had not delivered very well. We had two outright failures and one fixer-upper. But Kathy and I both felt we had to give it another chance. This book is like a rotten kitten that continuously shreds the upholstery, but he's so darn cute, you keep cutting him slack.

Kathy decided she wanted to try Paris After Dark, a coffee drink that would also make use of some of the leftover fancy-pants Dutch process cocoa powder I had purchased for the Mayan Hot Chocolate. We both liked Paris After Dark. It seemed a bit more sophisticated in flavor than some of the coffee and chocolate drinks you get at the chain espresso shops --- not overly sweet or rich. You could have this after dinner without feeling like you were going to make yourself feel overfull, as can happen with a richer mocha. It was very nice, and easy to make.

We also tried Spicy Mulled Cider. We often serve spiced cider at Thanksgiving and other cool-weather holiday parties, so we thought this recipe would be worth a try. I’ve never added star anise pods or slices of orange and lemon to my spiced cider before, so it was an interesting change. I think the lemon made it a bit tart for my taste, but it had a nice flavor overall. If you are going to make this recipe, be very sure to enunciate properly when you tell your spouse what you are making. I told Kathy, “I’m making a spiced spider.” She looked in the saucepan and saw the eight-legged star anis pods bubbling away and nearly jumped out of her skin.

All in all, I would not recommend the book. The gorgeous photography and tempting descriptions suck you in, but the recipes mostly do not deliver.

Want to be a critic? We'll give you a new cookbook to review. Contact nboer@bayareanewsgroup.com.

Paris After Dark

Serves 2

4 teaspoons sugar
4 teaspoons Dutch process cocoa powder
4 teaspoons heavy cream
1 1/2 cups strong, freshly brewed coffee
1/4 cup heavy cream, firmly whipped with 1 teaspoon sugar, for garnish
Pinch of fleur de sel (French sea salt) for garnish

In each of two mugs, mix 2 teaspoons of the sugar and 2 teaspoons of the cocoa until well-blended and lump-free. Add 2 teaspoons of the cream to each and stir until thoroughly combined into a light paste. Add 3/4 cup of the coffee to each and stir again until thoroughly mixed. Top each with a dollop of whipped cream. Roll the dollop over to stain it with the coffee, then sprinkle a few grains of fleur de sel atop the whipped cream.

-- Staff analysis

Per serving: 180 calories, 2 g protein, 11 g carbohydrates, 15 g total fat, 9 g saturated fat, 55 mg cholesterol, 90 mg sodium, 1 g fiber. Calories from fat: 78 percent.


Mayan Hot Chocolate with Chile and Orange

Serves 2

Eric Renger recommends using a little more cream to make the paste and using 1 cup of milk instead of 1 1/2 cups of water.

1 ounce bittersweet chocolate (72 percent cacao), coarsely chopped
4 teaspoons Dutch process cocoa powder
4 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground ancho or Chimayo chiles
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 teaspoons heavy cream
1 1/2 cups water
4 orange wedges
2 Ceylon cinnamon sticks for garnish

1. Melt the chocolate in a 4-cup glass measuring cup in a microwave for 90 seconds at 70 percent power.

2. Combine the cocoa powder, sugar, chiles and cinnamon in a small bowl. Blend together until thoroughly combined and lump-free. Add the cream and stir well to make a thick paste.

3. Add the paste to the melted chocolate, mix well, then add the water and stir until thoroughly combined. Heat in the microwave for 90 seconds at 70 percent power, stirring once after 45 seconds. Serve in 2 Mexican pottery mugs. Squeeze 1 orange wedge into each, divide the hot chocolate evenly between the mugs, and stir well. Garnish with the remaining orange wedges and the cinnamon sticks.

-- Staff analysis

Per serving: 140 calories, 2 g protein, 20 g carbohydrates, 8 g total fat, 4.5 g saturated fat, 15 mg cholesterol, 10 mg sodium, 1 g fiber. Calories from fat: 50 percent.


Spicy Mulled Cider

Serves 4

3 cups sweet apple cider
4 whole star anise pods
1/2 teaspoon whole allspice berries
1 teaspoon whole cloves
1 5-inch Ceylon cinnamon stick
4 white cardamom pods, cracked
2 slices of orange, quartered
2 slices of lemon, quartered

Combine all of the ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat and bring to a low simmer. Lower the heat and continue to simmer gently for 30 minutes. Ladle into four mugs and serve steaming hot.

-- Staff analysis

Per serving: 90 calories, 0 protein, 23 g carbohydrates, 0 total fat, 0 saturated fat, 0 cholesterol, 20 mg sodium, 0 fiber. Calories from fat: 0 percent.


BOOK: "Hot Drinks: Cider, Coffee, Hot Chocolate, Spiced Punch, Spirits" (Ten Speed Press, $16.95, 96 pages), 50 recipes

AUTHORS: Mary Lou Heiss is the author of "Green Tea," and Robert J. Heiss is the host of a weekly radio show about food. They operate a specialty food store and co-wrote "The Story of Tea."

REVIEWER: Eric Renger is a thirsty barbarian of the north.