Serious Eats: Recipes
Vandaag's V.O.C. Grog
Photos: Alice Gao
Martim Smith-Mattsson of Vandaag wanted the richness of a hot buttered rum, but went a totally different direction by making use of coconut, pumpkin, and garam masala. That blended spice mixture, mixed together with butter to form the base of drink, contributes cardamom, cloves, mace, cinnamon, cumin, and more, for a balance of earthy, warming flavors. "When I think of rum, I think of coconut," said Smith-Mattsson. "So I thought I could make those flavors work in a way that wasn't a piña colada."
Coconut milk serves as the structure, while the butter creates a rich canvas for spice, pumpkin, and rhum agricole; the result is something like a pumpkin spice muffin, but in rich, comforting drinkable form.
