Challenged by Vie bartender Mike Page with canned tuna (“Sorry Charlie!!” Page joked), Ronnie Higgins of Bangers & Lace and Bar DeVille looked to the tropics for inspiration, adapting a mule (a cocktail made with ginger beer) for the occasion and using mango to complement the salty “tuna juice.”
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Higgins has challenged Manny Sofios of Gilt Bar with natto, fermented soybeans, a choice previously encountered by Brian Enyart, then chef at Topolobampo, in an installment of Key Ingredient. Said Enyart at the time, “It’s got this really weird mucilaginous texture. . . . Having to swat the slime away from your face, that’s always awesome. It’s a great date food.”
The Seaside Mule
1½ oz Matusalem Platino rum ¾ oz juice drained from can of tuna packed in salt water ½ oz lime juice dash of simple syrup bar spoon of Crofter’s mango spread ginger beer sea salt
Ronnie Higgins makes the Seaside Mule
Challenged with canned tuna, Ronnie Higgins (Bangers & Lace, Bar DeVille) makes a tropical mule with white rum, mango, and “tuna juice.”
In the bottom of a shaker combine the mango spread, lime juice, simple syrup, tuna juice, and rum. Add ice, cap, and shake. Strain into a collins glass rimmed with tuna juice and sea salt. Top with a splash of ginger beer, and garnish with a wedge of lime.
