So, you have made your beautiful quince pie and have a cup or two of poaching liquid left over (I ended up with 1 3/4 cups). It would be unforgivable for you to pour it down the drain. What to do? Have a drink! The poaching liquid was too beautiful and fragrant for me to ignore, so I decided to invent a cocktail. This is a good idea for any future leftover poaching liquid (pear tarts?). All you need to do is strain the liquid into a jar and keep it in the refrigerator until ready to use.
The Poacher (as I’ve named my creation) is an absolutely delicious drink for autumn, combining the flavors of quince, maple and vanilla with rye. This alone will convince some of you to make the quince biscuit pie (you know who you are). It makes me want to poach more fruit and invent more drinks.
The Poacher
- 2 ounces poaching liquid from the Quince Biscuit Pie recipe
- 3 ounces rye
- 1 dash of bitters
Place a few cubes of ice in a cocktail shaker. Add poaching liquid, rye, and dash of bitters and shake vigorously for a few seconds. Strain into a cocktail coupe.
Of course you can try this with different proportions and even different alcohols. This is a little sweeter than I normally like my drinks, but I think it works perfectly. Have fun.
Kimberley says:
November 10th, 2010 at 11:28 am
Genius.
linda says:
November 10th, 2010 at 12:29 pm
tim,
exceptional creativity…pure genius!
keep poaching & inventing…OMG!
i would try vodka…with the poaching liquid…would you use a splash of ginger ale??
Tim says:
November 10th, 2010 at 12:45 pm
Hey Linda,
Yes, I was actually thinking that ginger beer (or ale) could be nice with the syrup for a non-alcoholic drink. You might have to play around with the vodka, since it lacks flavor (especially compared to whiskey) but totally worth a try!
Caroline Shields @ carolineskitchentable says:
November 10th, 2010 at 1:00 pm
The sign of a true chef. I love bonus recipes. Nice work.
Lisa (dinner party) says:
November 10th, 2010 at 2:10 pm
ooh, sounds lovely! great photo too.
Good to Think and Eat says:
November 10th, 2010 at 2:20 pm
Do you think the syrup would also be good over vanilla ice cream or would it be too sweet?
Tim says:
November 10th, 2010 at 2:51 pm
I think the syrup would be good in any application. You could reduce it even further for a more concentrated syrup and drizzle over vanilla ice cream. You could use it as a soda syrup and mix with sparkling water. All sorts of possibilities!
Eva says:
November 10th, 2010 at 4:50 pm
That stuff is totally the best! I love it over whole wheat pancakes (reduced down a bit) with some greek yogurt. And that pie yesterday looked so so good…man I love cornmeal in crusts.
Donna says:
November 14th, 2010 at 7:21 am
We have made cocktails with the poaching liquid from our peaches. Makes a lovely Bellini.
linda says:
November 14th, 2010 at 6:12 pm
tim,
thanks for the speedy reply…i am going to play around with the vodka…maybe flavored vodka…
steph (whisk/spoon) says:
November 17th, 2010 at 10:01 am
mmmm! i always save fruit poaching liquid…that stuff is gold. usually i make sodas or champagne drinks from them (or reduce to ice cream syrup), but this sounds downright good, and i love the name!
Tiffany says:
November 22nd, 2010 at 4:23 am
Love you how don’t wast anything
XOXO,
http://outfitidentifier.com/
Sarah says:
May 13th, 2011 at 8:11 am
Tim—I’m looking back through some of your old posts and found this. Funny how it’s exactly the same situation as my spring rhubarb poaching-liquid cocktail! Great minds…