When it comes to cocktails, we’re living in a golden age of the garnish: At many bars, a martini is now likely to come with a veritable salad of imported olives, orange peels carved into spirals and anchovies on toothpicks. In certain corners of New York City, your drink might even feature a plastic dinosaur bobbing above its rim. But at home, a rococo approach is not the only way to surprise and delight. “You have to read the room,” says Erika Flowers, 33, who runs the bar at Compère Lapin in New Orleans, where the drinks are topped with thoughtful accouterments like showers of grated nutmeg and pineapple fronds. In her mind, the purpose of a garnish is to turn the act of cocktail consumption into “a full sensory experience,” engaging the nose and the eyes as well as the taste buds. Here, three chefs and mixologists share their suggestions for embellishments that do just that — and are surprisingly easy to make, too.
Citrus-Peel Flowers With Sage
To dress up a margarita, tumbler of rum punch or another tropical drink, Flowers cuts one long strip of lemon rind with a metal citrus peeler and trims off any white pith with a paring knife. She then coils the peel into a roselike shape, threading a sprig of mint through the center for a fragrant addition. To serve, she either sets the peel flower atop a mound of pebble ice or pierces the base with a skewer and balances it on the rim of a coupe glass. As a finishing touch, Flowers uses an atomizer to spray the garnish with a sage tincture that she makes by filling an airtight glass jar with the chopped herb and then steeping it in a high-proof spirit (vodka, she says, is most neutral) for two to four weeks, giving it a shake once a day. The herbaceousness of the spritz will add depth to a fruit-forward cocktail.
Charred Vanilla Pods
The next time you scrape the seedy center out of a vanilla bean to make whipped cream or some other sweet, hold onto the pod. Fabián von Hauske, 34, a co-owner and a chef of the recently opened restaurant Matilda in Hensonville, N.Y., and of the forthcoming Bar Contra on New York’s Lower East Side, chars his emptied vanilla pods and uses them like swizzle sticks in his clarified citrus milk punch. The vanilla, he says, transmits its ultra-concentrated flavor to the cocktail, imparting a toasted-marshmallow note. To make the stirrers, place the pods directly on a sheet pan and leave them in the oven — set to the lowest possible temperature — overnight to dehydrate. They can then be stored in a dry, sealed container at room temperature for several weeks. “The whole idea of a milk punch is to bring flavors that are nostalgic to childhood,” he says. “Vanilla always helps [with] that.”
Crystallized Hibiscus Blooms
Mercedes Bernal, 35, a co-owner of the restaurant Meroma in Mexico City, developed her crunchy hibiscus blossom garnish as a nod to the many spicy candied snacks of her youth. She buys whole dried hibiscus flowers and simmers them briefly in water to rehydrate them. After thoroughly patting dry each flower, she uses a pastry brush to coat them lightly with simple syrup, then distributes them on a parchment-lined sheet pan, which she places in an oven heated to 270 degrees for about 15 to 20 minutes, until the sugar is crystallized. Before they’ve cooled, she sprinkles each flower with the chili-lime seasoning blend Tajín, or another blend that complements the cocktail. Bernal suggests adding ground fennel seed or citrus zest to the syrup coating to pair with a bright, acidic cocktail. The technique also works with fresh edible flowers: Just skip the rehydrating and brush the blooms with the simple syrup before dehydrating them until crunchy. They’ll last a few days at room temperature in an airtight container, but if they begin to go limp, Bernal says, you can simply redry them in a 270-degree oven. When the glass is empty, she points out, there’ll be something left to bite into: “You’re giving someone a snack with their drink,” she says.
