Tea

When I am in Kentucky, there are two things that I drink a lot of: sweet tea and bourbon. So, when we were creating our cocktail menu for brunch, it only made sense that I would pair my two favorite southern specialties in one glass.

Those of us who grew up within spittin’ distance of Louisiana know that unsweetened iced tea is practically un-American. Furthermore, a family get-together in Texas just isn’t right without a big, fat, sweating pitcher of sweet iced tea. So here’s my latest, most favorite iced tea recipe, inspired (ironically) by a vendor at New York City’s biggest farmers’ market—the Union Square Greenmarket. I discovered it on a broiling August afternoon after buying a paper-cupful for one dollar. It was beyond refreshing, with a hint of mint, a kiss of citrus, and just the right touch of New England maple syrup. Naturally, I substitute Texas honey for my version. My mother always made iced tea the old-fashioned way, by boiling water, steeping the tea, and cooling it off with loads of ice. But my coauthor’s mother, Patricia Oresman, gave me a better idea. She used to make sun tea by leaving a pitcher full of water and tea bags in the sun for several hours. One day she put the tea bags in a pitcher full of water but never did get around to setting it out on her sunny backyard porch. She returned to the kitchen a few hours later to find perfectly brewed no-sun sun tea. Now she makes kitchen-counter iced tea year-round, no solar energy needed. How long does she let the tea bags steep? “I let it sit until it gets the color I think it should be,” she says.

We made this dessert because of our love for Thai tea sweetened just the way the Thai do, with sweetened condensed milk. We got so many compliments on it that we left it on the Ssäm Bar dessert menu for over a year, which we almost never do. To this day, we still get requests for it. While the ingredients here are off the beaten path of your average pantry, they can easily be found in Chinatown or a Latin market or at amazon.com.

This is our high-brow fudge sauce for the Earl Grey lovers out there (Mama Meehan, we’re looking at you).

Named after the golfer who declared his love for it decades ago, this libation is a classic and refreshing tea and lemonade combination with a special little Bubby’s twist: pink lemonade with rose hip and mint teas. Few beverages are more refreshing.

This refreshing drink needs just a hint of sweetener, as sassafras is naturally quite sweet.

There’s something about the slightly smoky, potent, and fruity flavor of black currant tea that makes it the perfect complement to chocolate (see Perfect Pairings, below). But if black currants aren’t your cup of tea, substitute another aromatic infusion, such as Earl Grey, scented with bergamot, or smoky oolong instead.

A few years back, I attended a class at a French pastry school that was, of course, taught by a French chef. If you’ve not worked with French chefs before, you quickly realize that to them, there’s one way to do things—and only one way. Our chef, for example, insisted on doing a cold infusion for tea, letting it steep in the refrigerator overnight. To prove his point, he steeped some tea in warm cream as well so we could later compare the results. The next day, when we had the tasting, there were muted murmurs amongst the students that we much preferred the warm infusion, but no one dared say anything to the chef. We just all nodded in agreement that the cold infusion tasted better. I still infuse tea in warm cream for custards because to me, the proof is in the pudding. Or, in this case, the crème brûlée.

I can’t remember where I first tasted apricots and chamomile together, only that it was in a tart. I loved the combination so much that I decided to make a paleta inspired by it. The natural sweetness of the apricots is enhanced by cooking, and their slight acidity complements the subtle, fragrant flavor of the chamomile. Perhaps it’s a combination that is meant to be, since they’re in season at farmers’ markets at the same time.

This cool, refreshing drink tastes wonderful, and can also help combat nausea.

Green tea is great for you—and many of its compounds are being studied for their anticancer benefits, but it can be astringent and bitter. Here I’ve added ginger and lemon with either honey or agave to really knock out the bitterness. The result is a refreshing lemonade that’s far healthier than the average store-bought blend. If you really want to amp up the sweetness, squeeze in a few oranges as well.

If I’m working, which is to say I’m not drinking anything strong because I’m focused on winning a competition, I don’t drink anything besides sweet tea. I love sweet tea, truly. It’s the drink of the South, the drink of my home. Here’s how we do it.

In the South, we mean it when we offer you a tall glass of sweet tea—it is sweet! This is the real thing, infused with help from the hot sun and sweet enough to put a smile on anyone’s face. Make sure to add the sugar right after you bring the warm tea in from the sun so it’ll dissolve completely. Once the sweet tea is mixed, keep it refrigerated and discard it if it appears at all cloudy.

Traditionally, Long Island Iced Tea is made with clear liquors and a splash of cola to give it an iced tea color. Instead, my version depends on a fabulous vodka that my friend Virginia from Alabama gave me: sweet-tea-infused vodka from a small distillery called Firefly.

If ever we cross paths, there’s a 99 percent chance you’ll find me sipping a yerba mate tea. The South American beverage quickly became part of my routine once I discovered that it lifts my energy level without the highs and lows of coffee. Come summer, I ice it, stir in some Agave Lemonade (page 133), and relax with the day’s saving grace: the BabyCakes NYC version of an Arnold Palmer. If you’re confined to the kitchen and have a blender handy, toss in the ingredients, add ice, pulse for a minute or so, and sip your way through the afternoon.

Chocolate and lemon make an age-old combination; the tartness of lemon enhances the acidity of the cacao bean and cuts the fatty mouth feel. Meyer lemons have a short window of availability, and they’re coveted for their lemony-orangey flavor—which is particularly good when paired with chocolate. They’re versatile, with as many uses in the savory kitchen as in the pastry kitchen.

Gina: You don’t think my whimsy ends with cocktails, do you? Sweet iced tea is the elixir of the South, so I decided that our Neely “house” tea needed to have a little pizzazz. Honey, I found it by combining fresh raspberries with hibiscus tea, which has a brilliant crimson color and beautiful fruit-and-floral flavors.

At all of India’s roadside stalls, Masala Chai is served already sweetened. I have added about 1 teaspoon sugar per cup in this recipe, which makes the tea just mildly sweet. You may double that amount, if you prefer.