The Secret To The Perfect Mocktail? We Say Chilli

Share on Facebook Tweet on Twitter Share by Email Pin on Pinterest

You can't beat a touch of chilli in a cocktail. I've suspected this for some time, but then a chance tasting at David Chang's Ma Peche cocktail bar in New York confirmed it. The bartender mixed the most beautiful yuzu juice cocktail - sharp, sweet, floral, and a slight kick at the back of the throat.

You'll know what I mean if you have ever enjoyed a hot charlotte: a fine blend of gin, St Germain (elderflower liqueur), cucumber, lemon juice, with just a touch of Tabasco hot sauce. We wouldn't leave until he gave me the recipe.

The magical drink was shichimi togarashi infused sake (2 parts), yuzu juice (1/4 part), lemon juice (3/4 part), and sugar syrup (1 part). Stunning as an alcoholic cocktail, I suspected it might well work as a yuzu juice cocktail. The warmth brings everything together and sensitises your taste buds for more.

Flavours tend to be far less complex in non-alcoholic cocktails, and in these, a hint of chilli really makes the difference. We've adapted the Ma Peche version a little to make the gloriously refreshing summer drink - the spiced yuzu juice mocktail. Serve it at your next party to great delight.

For the cocktail Serves: 4

45ml yuzu juice
135ml lemon juice
180ml shichimi togarashi sugar syrup (see below)
450ml sparkling water
Ice

For the shichimi togarashi sugar syrup

100g sugar
100g water
1/4 tsp shichimi togarashi spice mix

Method

Begin by making the shichimi togarashi sugar syrup. In a pan bring the sugar, water and shichimi togarashi to the boil. Stir until all the sugar has dissolved. Set aside to cool and then refrigerate.
Once the syrup is cool mix together the yuzu juice, lemon juice, syrup and sparkling water in a large jug.
Fill four tumblers with ice and pour over the mocktail.

About the author

Nicola Lando is the co-founder and CEO of Sous Chef, where she has spent more than a decade sourcing, tasting and selecting specialist ingredients, cookware and tableware from producers around the world.

She trained at Leiths and later completed a stage at a Michelin-starred London restaurant, experiences that helped shape Sous Chef’s original mission: to give home cooks access to the same exceptional ingredients used by professional chefs.

Today, Nicola leads much of Sous Chef’s product sourcing and ingredient selection, working directly with producers and travelling internationally to food fairs, farms, mills and manufacturers. She tastes thousands of products each year and has built deep expertise across storecupboard ingredients, olive oil, condiments, spices, preserved foods and specialist cooking ingredients.

She holds an olive oil sommelier certification from ESAO in Spain, Imperial Executive Education’s Certificate in Nutrition for Health: Evidence-Based Tools and Strategies certificate; as well as studying Food Safety and Control at University of Greenwich.

Nicola also writes recipes and ingredient guides for Sous Chef, combining practical cooking experience with first-hand knowledge from producers, suppliers and specialist food makers. Her work focuses on helping cooks understand how to choose better ingredients, use them well, and get more flavour from their cooking.