This is the fifth installment in the Spirited Cuisine series from Sri Bala (Shaman) and me. Each round, I select a liquor or spirit, and Sri creates a dessert recipe incorporating it. Find Sri’s posts at his blog and mine here within the Lush Life category.
Spirited Cuisine has been on hiatus for a while — or rather, I’ve been on hiatus while Sri has carried the weight on his own, creating not just a dessert but also a cocktail for our current featured ingredient, Galliano. At last, here is my contribution to the party.
You’ve surely seen the distinctive Galliano bottle, a super-tall, taped bottle of bright yellow liqueur. It’s usually on a high shelf, for two reasons: First, it won’t fit anywhere else, and second, no one drinks anything that requires it.
Galliano tastes almost exactly like Good & Plenty candy — a Hershey’s brand confection made of black liquorice pink and white candy coating. (Fun fact: Good & Plenty is "the oldest branded candy in the United States.") The candy coating has a sugary vanilla flavor, just as Galliano does.
Most anise flavored liquors stand up for themselves in a mixed drink, but the subtle vanilla and other herbs of Galliano are easily overwhelmed. For instance, here’s the recipe for a Harvey Wallbanger, the best-known Galliano drink:
3 parts Vodka
1 part Liquore Galliano
orange juice to fillMix the vodka and orange juice in a highball glass, then float the Liquore Galliano on top. Garnish with orange slice and maraschino cherry, and serve.
Even though the Galliano is floated on top, I find it’s almost completely obscured by the orange juice — especially if you’re using fresh squeezed juice, which you should for best taste.
Other Galliano drinks are a little better at highlighting the subtle charms of its flavors: the Golden Cadillac is just Galliano, creme de cacao, and cream. But I think Galliano is best served straight, in a cordial glass, as an after-dinner digestive.
Sri has concocted a lovely dessert that plays perfectly with Galliano’s flavorings: Galliano marzipans with dark chocolate ganache. The recipe and photos are so tempting you’ll have to buy a bottle — even though it’s too tall to fit on any shelf in your house. Trust me, it’s worth it.
I can’t believe you passed up a chance to mention the Sloe Comfortable Screw Up Against the Wall.
You know, I don’t believe I’ve had one of those recently. (You may giggle now at the double-entendre.)
But anyway, that’s exactly the kind of drink in which Galliano is nearly completely lost. It’s whole reason for being in the drink is to allow us to add “Against the Wall” to the name. Poor Galliano.
We haven’t discussed Sloe Gin yet, so the opportunity to discuss the many Sloe Screw variants will come back to us.
It’s not that comfortable.