We’ve Got A Live One Here!

This is my submission to the Home Bar Awards August Challenge, ‘It’s Alive’. The challenge this month is to add a living culture, yogurt, kefir, kombucha etc to your cocktail. My husband suggested miso, and I just ran with it. You might think that coming up with a concept for putting Miso in a cocktail would be a challenge, but this one just came to me.

This cocktail a bit of a salty-sweet moment, with a slight smokiness to add some depth. I used Ten to One's white rum, which has a pepperiness that I thought would work perfectly in this drink, and I was right!  Its the kind of thing that would pair perfectly with some small bites, and I immediately thought of making tiny cocktail sized spam masubi. This cocktail is dark and murky, perfectly fitting for something that’s alive.

Miso, It’s Alive!
2 oz. Ten to One White Rum
1/2 oz. Smoked Maple Miso syrup
1/4 oz. Scrappy Bitters Lime bitters
1/4 oz. lemon juice

Place all ingredients in a shaker with ice and shake until chilled and slightly diluted. Double strain into a coupe glass and garnish with mini masubi!


Smoked Maple Miso syrup
1 part Ohsawa Yamaki Soybean Miso
4 parts Runamok Pecan Smoked Maple Syrup

Whisk the miso into the maple syrup until combined. 
** note. I used a smoke flavored maple syrup, but you can always make this with a regular maple syrup and add a little liquid smoke.


Cocktail-sized Spam Masubi
1 can spam
2 cups uncooked sushi rice
1/4 cup smoked maple miso syrup
Nori

1. Wash rice until water is clear and drain thoroughly. Cook in a rice cooker or use a heavy bottomed pot. If you are cooking in a pot, put the rice and equal parts water into the pot and set on medium high until it comes to a boil. Turn the heat to low and cook covered for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and let sit for 15 minutes. 
2. Slice the spam, I cut the long side into thirds to make it cocktail sized. Marinate the slices in the maple miso syrup for at least 15 minutes. Once marinated fry the slices in a pan over medium heat until browned.
3. Cut nori strips to your preferred width, I used the existing perforations. Place the strip on a clean cutting board and put rice on top. I used a small biscuit cutter as a make shift mold, but a large spoon might also work well depending on the size of your spam slices. Place a spam slice on top of the rice and wrap the nori around it, use some water to help it stick if needed.

Cheers!