Ruby Shakerato (non-alcoholic)
Come autumn, plum trees in Slovakia are loaded with their sweet fruit. Besides making plum butter (a thick jam, no actual butter involved), Slovaks traditionally distill the plums into spirits.
Ruby Shakerato infuses the traditional ingredient with modern methods and product. Plum pits provide a bitter element to vinegar; plum fruit, vermouth, and sherry are sous-pressed to make an agar gel; Nochino is a Slovak non-alcoholic aperitif that has received rave reviews for its depth and quality of flavour (read more about Nochino here, which is available in our shop).
There are a number of steps to make Ruby Shakerato, it is true. But it’s easier than looks at first glance, and the result is a taste of autumn - the sweetness of summer with a hint of bitterness of the coming winter.
This recipe is from The Cocktail Balance 2.0, a book that features many more recipes and detailed information about creating cocktails, such as the sous-pression process.
PLUM PIT VINEGAR
25 g Plum Pits
500 g Apple Cider Vinegar
Clean and dry the plum pits. Place the plum pits into a cream whipper and top with the vinegar. Do not overfill. Seal the flask and charge it with a N2O charger. Shake the cream whipper vigorously. Carefully release the pressure from the cream whipper.
Repeat the process with a second charger. Let the mixture sit for about 15 minutes. Release the pressure again and open the flask. Strain out the plum pits using a cheesecloth. Bottle and keep refrigerated.
PLUM & WINE MIX
50 ml Discarded Cascara Vermouth
50 ml Tio Pepe Fino Sherry
2.5 ml Plum Pit Vinegar
SOUS-PRESSED PLUM & WINE MIX
1700 ml Plum & Wine Mix
300 g Fresh Plums
Halve the plums and take out the pits, place the fresh fruit into a stainless steel 2 liter minikeg. Pour in the plum & wine mix. Make sure the keg is filled to the top and close it. Put it into a freezer set at around –25 °C and let the liquid with fruit completely freeze.
After 24 to 48 hours, depending on the desired level of infusion, take the keg out of freezer and let it defrost for a few hours. For safety reasons, open the mini-keg only when it has completely melted and is liquid again.
Strain the cocktail with a cheesecloth, bottle it and keep refrigerated. You can use the sous-pressed plums as a garnish; store ideally in the drink itself.
SOUS-PRESSED PLUM GEL
150 g Sous-Pressed Plums
100 g Sugar Syrup 1:1
3 g Agar
Mix the ingredients together in a pot. Bring to a boil and stir to dissolve and activate the agar. Boil for 5 minutes, stirring the whole time. Let the gel cool down and then refrigerate.
When it is completely cold and has set, transfer the gel into a blender and blend until smooth. Put the gel mixture into a vacuum bag and vacuum to remove any air in order to make the gel completely clear. Before serving, transfer the gel into a squeeze bottle.
RUBY SHAKERATO (non-alcoholic)
60 ml Nochino Ruby
10 ml Sous-Pressed Plum Gel
2.5 ml Plum Pit Vinegar
METHOD: Long shake or blender with 2 ice cubes
GARNISH: Sous-Pressed Plum Slice
GLASSWARE: Eva Polgary
