Rice, yeast and Japanese virgins

What is sake – rice vodka or wine?

For most Westerners, it remains an outlandish drink, strange and incomprehensible.

In general, sake is not what you think. So in Japan they call any alcohol. A rice drink is correctly called “nihonshu”. If you see this word somewhere in the menu, be sure that this institution knows a lot about Japanese cuisine!

Nihonshu is not vodka or wine. The strength is only 15 degrees and the production technology has nothing to do with vodka or wine.

For the first time, Japanese monks bothered with preparing a drink from rice, as usual. And they called it “kuchikamizake”. This unpronounceable word, which has no analogues in other languages, is understood as chewing rice with the addition of saliva. The ancestors of the samurai spit out an unappetizing and absolutely unsanitary substance in special containers, where the resulting liquid fermented and gained strength.

They say that the production of alcohol did not look completely disgusting, chewing rice was entrusted to beautiful virgins! (Interesting thought…)

Modern sake-nihonshu production is nothing like the oral manipulation of Japanese monks. Saliva was replaced by a special moldy fungus – koji, and beautiful virgins who agree to chew rice all day long, you will not gain)))

How to drink it correctly? Would you say we need to warm it up? No way! Know that true samurai drink only high-quality sake, cooled to a certain temperature. Only cheap table sake (75% of the total world production) is consumed heated.

Today in bars in the USA and Europe it is fashionable to prepare cocktails based on sake. It goes well with rum, almonds, honey, lime juice, spicy greens, citrus. You can try to mix with vodka, bourbon and various liqueurs.

By the way, we have a new Moscow bar on Restodar, where you can also try such cocktails.

“Tebura: Sika” opened despite all the current problems in June this year and is a must-visit for true connoisseurs of the culinary traditions of the Nippon Country!

Recipe for a cocktail based on sake “Thai Me Up Thai Me Down”:

You’ll need:

45 ml of vodka (or gin, which you like more);

45 ml of sake, infused on Thai basil (Thai basil has the aroma of anise and is more spicy than the usual sweet basil);

30 ml lime juice;

30 ml of sugar syrup infused on kaffir lime leaves;

a couple of drops of citrus bitter (it is better if you find Yuzu bitter);

flowers to decorate the cocktail.

Pour everything into a shaker with a little ice (a lot of ice will give the effect of dilation, which will “kill” the aroma and taste of the drink), shake it thoroughly for 15-20 seconds and pour through the strainer into your favorite glass. It can be highball or old fashion. Decorate with flowers.

Santé !!!

 

 

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