These Cocktails Are Kind of a Big Dill
With a distinctly grassy, bright herbal flavor profile, dill is becoming a cocktail go-to. [...] Read More... The post These Cocktails Are Kind of a Big Dill appeared first on Wine Enthusiast.
Mixologists have long reached into the crisper drawer for fresh herbs to utilize in cocktails.
Mint is a longtime favorite; it’s the foundation of many smash cocktails, which date back to the 1840s, and muddled mint juleps, which surge in popularity every year around a certain springtime horse race. Herbs like basil and cilantro also make frequent barroom cameos, especially as savory cocktails gain popularity.
More recently, another herb has entered the chat: dill. With a distinctly grassy, bright herbal flavor profile, it’s an iconic element in foods like pickles, matzo ball soup and many Greek dishes. However, the form it takes in cocktails can vary.
Some bartenders are taking cues from classic dill-forward cuisine. Consider the Tzatziki cocktail at La Otra in Aberdeen Township, New Jersey, which takes inspiration from the famous Greek dip. The gimlet-like concoction, which is clarified with Greek yogurt, features vodka, aquavit, yogurt, cucumber and, of course, dill.
Meanwhile, others are taking advantage of the herb’s adaptability to create even more inventive, dill-forward takes.
The Wide World of Dill
“Dill is pretty flexible,” says Logan Rodriguez, head bartender at Smithereens, a New England-inspired restaurant in New York City. He considers it “underused,” but that’s changing. “It’s an herb that has a meandering identity. With dill, you may think of Scandinavian food or the strong Greek culinary connections, but it can also be found in Thailand, Africa and other parts of the world.”
The herb stars in Smithereens’s Goblin cocktail, a bright green drink resembling a gimlet. It packs a dialed-up herbaceous flavor against a base of coconut fat-washed gin. Just like how a dill pickle cuts the richness of a greasy burger, the drink’s dill-infused simple syrup cuts through its fatty gin notes.
Dill also delivers a slight sweetness, which can be a great complement to spice. This plays out in a dill-infused cocktail called the Seabass at Indienne, a Michelin-starred Indian fine dining spot in Chicago. The drink—a blend of gin, lacto-fermented cucumber, dill and chili oil—is indicative of a cocktail program that “[doesn’t] just complement food but [becomes] an extension of it,” says head mixologist Akshar Chalwadi.
“Using dill in a cocktail at Indienne made a lot of sense given the restaurant’s focus on blending bold, aromatic flavors,” he says. “Dill offers a refreshing element that helps balance out rich, spicy dishes.”
Dill-igent Use of Technique
While heartier herbs are often muddled, dill is quite delicate and needs to be handled with care. With this in mind, many bartenders opt to incorporate it through a syrup or cordial to deliver dill flavor without having to worry about texture.
Such is the case at Sap Sua, a Vietnamese restaurant in Denver. Dill features in its Tiger’s Milk cocktail, an ocher-hued libation of gin, orange, onion and chili. Beverage director George Wright sous vides the gin with dill to extract a subtle presentation of the herb’s earthy flavor.
