Can a chef "bitter" his food? Well he can, but only for a handful of guest. Sweetness is usually the winner on a survey. Is bitter for connoisseurs? Maybe. I think that sweetness is a big part of the culture here. Who wants to drink coffee without sugar, or replace bib lettuce with a bowl of wild arugula, or bite into unsweetened dark chocolate? I appreciate the bitterness of an ingredient as part of my education and the food from where I grew up. In a sense it is a pure pleasure when acidity and aroma balance together well.
Bitters are a preparation of herbs and citrus dissolved in alcohol (grappa, white rum, etc.) with a bitter or bittersweet flavor. Used as medicine or digestif, bitters became more popular with the bar chefs and their dozens of small drop bottles lined up on the back shelf of the bar. Bitters make cocktails more diverse and way more interesting. Can you get one of those bitter recipes? Never. Can you find one in a cocktail book? You just wish.
Several weeks ago I was at a seminar organized by Francesco, a mixoloigist. He's slick and soignée, exactly what you want from a bartender chef. I was really impressed by the simplicity of most of the cocktails and the clarity of the different alcohols and flavors mixed together. Since then, out of curiosity, we have started making our own bitters. After several weeks of maturation we are now just tasting them. When you try something new, I think it is best to start with simple combinations and clear flavors to help to understand the process of it. We tried orange, lemon-lemon grass, and thyme black pepepr. The essential oils are absorbed by the alcohol and infuse a bittersweet taste. The fragrance, which tends to disappear over time, is wonderful when you first strain the alcohol from the herbs, spices or citrus. This wonderful taste goes into the cocktail. I like it even better when fresh egg white is added to the mix.
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