“I ‘m not a fan,” said Wade McElroy, a partner in the forthcoming Sportsman’s Club, of truffle oil, his challenge courtesy of Lone Wolf bartender Austin Skiles. In McElroy’s view, it’s a desecration of one of the world’s great ingredients. Moreover, it’s so “incredibly savory, incredibly pungent” that it’s capable of overpowering just about everything. What he needed was a containment strategy.
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For that he turned to the pousse-cafe (literally, “coffee pusher”), an after-dinner layered drink traditionally served in a demure little tulip-shaped glass—all the better to confine the truffle oil’s telltale odor.
For his top layer McElroy turned to kümmel, a German liqueur flavored with cumin, caraway, and fennel, a combination he thought would complement the savory qualities of the truffle oil.
- Reduce four cups of pomegranate juice to two. Add two cups sugar, stir to dissolve, and let cool.
