Rick Makes a Hibiscus Cocktail

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Today I'm making a hibiscus, pineapple cocktail.

I've got this beautiful pineapple.

It reminds me the Yucatan and tropical flavors.

I'm gonna make a shrub to intensify

the flavor of the pineapple.

I've got this amazing hibiscus flower petal.

I'm gonna make a little tea with this

to give both a really nice sour note

but also a gorgeous color.

Jalapeño for heat.

Lime because everything in Mexico has lime in it.

And tequila for that really earthy agave flavor that I love.

So it wouldn't be a pineapple hibiscus cocktail

without a pineapple.

So the first thing we're gonna do is

we're just gonna trim this off.

I usually trim both sides of the pineapple first,

gives you a nice flat surface

and then you can just easily take the outside off.

I am going to go ahead and leave the core in

because we're not actually eating the pineapple

we're just going to use the flavor.

So the jalapeño and the lime

are actually going to be used as garnish.

So I'm just just gonna do some simple little rings,

[knife chops]

plus it's just fun.

[knife chops]

So now we are going to make our shrub.

So a shrub is basically

an acidulated syrup.

What that means, it's a simple syrup that's,

it can be infused with fruit,

it can be infused with herbs, spices,

really whatever you like.

We're gonna throw in some sugar.

So I have a cup of water in this pot

and a cup of just plain granulated sugar.

You can use organic, you can use raw.

But I love shrub so much,

like if you have off season fruit

or fruit that's not really that good

the sugar and the acid

actually bring out all of the fruity flavors.

So you might have a plum or a peach that has no flavor

that might be rock hard especially if it's you know

in winter or slightly off season.

This is a great way to actually pull out some of the flavor,

some of the sweetness and brighten it up a little bit.

These are Día de los Muertos socks

because it's October and almost Día de los Muertos

so, obviously.

And then I mean, I have a slight apron fetish

so this is one of my aprons.

A lot of my aprons I get in Mexico,

this is I got in the Yucatan.

I was just outside of Tulum and I saw this apron

and just had to have it.

I love Luchadores, I love lucha libre.

It's just really fun, it makes me happy.

Alright my sugar is dissolved and it's coming to a boil.

So I'm gonna add the pineapple,

I don't want to cook the pineapple,

I just want to really bring it up to temp.

And then we're gonna let it steep for about 30 minutes,

just to infuse flavor.

You're basically making a tea,

you're infusing the simple syrup

with all the pineapple flavor.

So as it sits, the sugar is gonna draw out

a lot of the juices from the pineapple

and just pull out that essence.

So just let this sit at least 30 minutes, up to an hour.

I wouldn't, you're not gonna get anything

really beyond that, so 30 minutes is kind of like the

optimal time to let it sit.

So I have some beautiful hibiscus.

So these are actually the petals of the hibiscus flower

which grow all over Mexico,

particularly in the south.

They have a beautiful color

which is honestly the main reason

that I wanted them in this cocktail.

But they also have like a really, really tart flavor.

It's almost like a sour patch,

it will definitely make you pucker.

But you can also use them in savory applications as well.

So you can grind this up and use it as a spice,

the way that you would a sumac.

Putting it on chicken, putting it with cumin and coriander

and doing a really beautiful sort of

grilled chicken situation.

So I love hibiscus a lot and you will see as I pour this.

[water pours]

that color is really amazing.

So hibiscus actually in Mexico

are also used for natural dies

and you'll see why in a second.

This is really going to bloom and

turn this really beautiful, intense red color.

So we're gonna let this sit for 10 minutes

just to steep, we're basically just making a hibiscus tea

but we're gonna use this to add both flavor

and color to the cocktail.

So this has been sitting for about 30 minutes

the pineapple is nice and softened.

We've extracted a lot of that delicious pineapple flavor

so I think I'm gonna go ahead and strain this.

You can see it's pretty clear,

if you wanted to go a little longer

you might get a little more flavor out of it.

The thing about shrubs is they always are finished with acid

so it's a, it's a simple syrup that is

hit with acid at the end to brighten up the flavors.

In this case I'm just using white distilled vinegar

I just want it to be really clean.

All I really want to do is

really intensify the flavor of the pineapple.

I'm gonna go ahead and give this a little taste.

[smacks]

It's really good.

I really like the vinegar bite at the end.

So this is one of those things you know,

for shrubs I feel like you definitely need to taste

to make sure that the sugar and the vinegar

are in balance and feel free to add a little more

one way or the other.

'Cause a lot of it's gonna depend on

the fruit that you're using.

If I was using a super ripe pineapple,

that was very, very sweet and maybe not as acidic,

I might need to adjust the sugar or up the acid at the end.

But I feel like this is pretty good.

And these pineapple I'm actually going to save for garnish.

I'm going to cover this and chill it

so that we can make our cocktail

and we're not gonna melt the ice.

Also it'll help the flavors to come together

as it sits in the fridge.

So we'll just gonna like put that in for,

oh and there you go.

[Man] I'll take this, thank you.

[laughs] Yay and I'm gonna eat some pineapple.

Check this out, like that color is just beautiful.

It's kind of amazing to me,

like this is only a quarter cup of hibiscus

and you get this really, really gorgeous color.

Alright we're gonna go ahead and strain this out.

[liquid pours]

Because we're making a cocktail

we're gonna go ahead and cover and chill this as well.

We want everything to be like super, super cold

so that when we put everything together

it's not gonna melt the ice and water down the drink.

But luckily I have some swabs already made and chilled.

I'm gonna grab those, we'll build this cocktail.

So what I'm gonna do is take some of the pineapple

that we used to make the shrub,

throw that in there.

As it sits it's just gonna like infuse

and get more pineappley which is great.

We've got some beautiful fresh mint,

throw all of that in there.

We're gonna throw in all of this lime,

the lime is gonna add flavor.

You're gonna get the essence from the zest

which is gonna be really beautiful.

I'm gonna throw in some jalapeño to give some heat.

You're also get some vegetable notes.

I'm gonna save a little bit for garnish at the end.

I'm gonna put in my shrub.

One of the other things that people do with shrubs,

if you were gonna keep this over a longer period of time,

let's say that you made a huge batch of shrub,

you might want to throw like a tablespoon or two

of either vodka or a really clear sort of neutral spirit.

That will help preserve the flavor.

If you were just going to let this sit in the fridge,

after about a week,

the pineapple's gonna start to get some off flavors.

So definitely you want to put a little bit of alcohol in it

to preserve the shelf life.

So we're gonna throw our shrub in,

the lime juice,

and then our gorgeous hibiscus tea.

[liquid pours]

You want a tequila that is really crisp

and is very agave forward.

You want something that's young,

so definitely silver.

You're just gonna get the flavors of Mexico

much more intensely.

The agave has a very distinctive flavor,

do not Jose Cuervo for the love of god.

[liquid pours]

So I'm gonna give this a little bit of stir.

All of these flavors are gonna come together,

we're gonna put it in the fridge to chill.

The pineapple, the mint, the lime, the jalapeño,

all these flavors are gonna come together.

It's gonna get ice cold,

so when we serve it over ice it's not gonna melt the ice

and water down the drink.

Alright I've got my chilled glasses,

put some ice in 'em.

This is nice and ice cold,

it is serving time.

Look at that color, oh my god, so beautiful.

And

we're gonna garnish with a little bit of pineapple

and more jalapeños.

If you have more of mint go ahead and do that as well.

I think I'm gonna have a little sip.

Oh that's go good, oh yeah.

It's got such a nice kick at the end,

you can really taste the pineapple and the tequila

and then that, the jalapeño just finishes it off.

It's really, really good.

I think,

hey Molly.

Yeah.

I think you need some tequila in your life.

Oh yeah I definitely, on a Monday at 11 AM,

I need some tequila. Yeah.

What did you make?

A little bit of a pineapple hibiscus cocktail.

Oh my god. I know.

Who needs coffee?

[Man] Does gabby want to try some too?

Gabriela.

All the flavors of Mexico in one--

The jalapeño smells so good.

I know it's good right.

It's got a little bit of a kick

Delicioso.

Delicioso.

Yeah I'm gonna go finish this.

Yeah I bet you will.

Find me on the couch nextdoor, bye.

Bye.

This is one of my favorite cocktails,

I make this all the time,

especially when I'm doing a taco party

or if I want to do something slightly Mexican themed.

Cinco de Mayo or a,

you know, just want friends to come over and hang out

and pretend we're in Mexico City.

It's beautiful, the hibiscus, the pineapple,

it's actually also great even without the tequila

or the mezcal.

For my friends that don't drink alcohol,

sometimes I just put a splash of club soda

and maybe a little bit more of the shrub.

And it's great for them as well.

So hope you enjoy it.

Andy is cooking something that looks really delicious.

It's like, it's actually kind of gross.

It's like a hungry man's breakfast,

it's like potatoes-- Do I get to have some?

You can have some.

It's like bacon eggs, potatoes Aww, thanks.

[pots clanks]

What are you talking about?

[Man] 18 wheeler. No, what is that?

[Man] You don't know an 18 wheeler?

No, what's an 18 wheelers?

That's an 18 wheeler, a car--

Ah.

Like Andy's ever been to one of those places.

Yeah, seriously.