Drink and a nosh: An Emerald, and Irish Stout fondue

For St. Patrick's Day, I decided to try two recipes that had at least one Irish ingredient. This obviously does not make them in anyway authentic Irish food. I don't care. It's better than green beer.

Emerald
From seriouseats.com

Ingredients

2 ounces Irish whiskey
1 ounce sweet vermouth
2 dashes orange bitters
Orange peel for garnish, optional

Method
Combine whiskey, vermouth and bitters in an ice-filled shaker. Stir and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with orange peel.

Rating: Boozy, but smooth. Worth trying, and possibly repeating. Certainly it was very drinkable. And it made preparation of the fondue very leisurely.



One of the reasons I picked this recipe is because I own a fondue pot.  I bought one for a gathering in 2001, and confess I haven't used it since, despite the recent resurgence in popularity of fondue. But I meant to use if for this recipe, and would have, but I realized I didn't know exactly where it is, which is an awful lot like not owning a fondue pot. I've got a suspicion it's in the buffet behind the door that won't open unless I take everything off the top of the buffet (that means roughly 50 zillion liquor bottles). And at this point I'd already consumed the Emerald cocktail and decided to heck with it.

Irish Cheddar and stout fondue
From Bon Appetit, March 2006

Ingredients
2 cups small potatoes, halved
2 cups cauliflower florets
1 pound Irish cheddar, grated

2½ flour

¾ cup Irish stout

6 tablespoons thawed apple juice concentrate

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

Method

Steam potatoes and cauliflower until just tender. Set aside. 

Toss cheddar with flour and set aside.

In a medium saucepan, combine stout, apple juice and mustard. Bring to a simmer and stir in cheese mixture, whisking until smooth. Add more stout if you need to thin it, and haven't already drunk the rest. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer fondue to bowl and place on a platter surrounded by potatoes and cauliflower.

Rating: Very tasty, fast and repeatable. But next time I'm going to plan ahead and find that blasted fondue pot, because the forks would really come in handy.

Play along: I suppose the obvious choice is the Chieftains. We've got that one on vinyl, a legacy from my odd teen years. Or if you prefer something more contemporary, Ed Sheeran's new release features "Galway Girl" and "Nancy Mulligan." Still lilting, but less relentlessly so.