[2 - 2] I am a sucker for antiques oddities and
[2 - 4] old stuff that has a story and if you
[4 - 6] watched my show for a couple of episodes
[6 - 8] you know I'm kind of into science those
[9 - 11] two things rarely intersect but today
[11 - 14] they do because today is milk punch day
[22 - 22] okay so it's not technically a state or
[22 - 24] national holiday but it is the day that
[24 - 26] I'm gonna talk all about milk punch and
[26 - 28] that is no less exciting there are two
[28 - 29] kinds of milk punch in this world
[29 - 31] there's this one which is a creamy
[31 - 33] brandy based drink that hails from New
[33 - 34] Orleans that looks good and then there's
[34 - 37] this one a crystal-clear drink that owes
[37 - 39] it's crystal clearness entirely to
[39 - 41] curdle the milk and yep it's the latter
[41 - 42] that we're talking about today with the
[42 - 44] milk punch technique also known as milk
[44 - 46] washing or milk clarification we take a
[46 - 48] mixture that looks like this and turn it
[48 - 50] into one that looks like this we'll talk
[50 - 52] about texture flavor science and how-to
[52 - 54] in a minute but first a little history
[54 - 56] lesson if you rummaged around Charles
[56 - 58] Dickens wine cellar after he died in
[58 - 59] 1870 you probably would have gotten
[59 - 62] arrested but before you got cuffed you
[62 - 63] would have found bottles of the milk
[64 - 65] punch that's actually pretty recent in the
[65 - 67] that's actually pretty recent in the annals of milk punch did I just say
[67 - 69] annals anyway a hundred years before
[69 - 71] that Benjamin Franklin wrote a recipe
[71 - 74] for milk punch in a letter dated 1763
[74 - 76] think that's old the oldest known milk
[76 - 78] punch recipe as reported by David
[78 - 80] Wondrich in his book one punch comes a
[80 - 82] good 50 years earlier than that in 1711
[82 - 85] why did this technique become so popular
[85 - 86] back in ye oldie times
[86 - 88] well according to cocktail expert and
[88 - 90] writer camber English spirits and a 17
[90 - 92] and 1800's would have been much rough
[92 - 94] around the edges and the milk clarifying
[94 - 95] process would have softened them up
[95 - 97] considerably so why do it today
[97 - 99] well milk clarified cocktails are
[99 - 102] beautiful rich and body refined smooth
[102 - 104] easy drinking and easy for entertaining
[104 - 106] as you make them way ahead and they
[106 - 107] store beautifully so how does it all
[107 - 109] work if you've ever tried to make quick
[109 - 110] ricotta cheese at home or left a gallon
[110 - 112] of milk in the fridge for too long
[112 - 114] you've seen milk curdle in both of these
[114 - 116] instances is the result of casein
[116 - 118] proteins aggregating when the pH drops
[118 - 120] and the mixture becomes more acidic when
[120 - 121] milk is combined with an acidic cocktail
[121 - 123] the casein clumps in the exact same way
[123 - 125] and when they do a really cool thing
[126 - 128] happens they trap a lot of stuff or kind of
[128 - 130] they trap a lot of stuff or kind of stuff tannins and other polyphenols
[130 - 132] pigments and some flavor compounds to be
[132 - 135] clear milk clarification removes a lot
[135 - 136] from a cocktail and that might sound
[136 - 137] like a bad thing
[137 - 139] but when it's done well it's more like
[139 - 141] refining than deleting flavors mellow
[141 - 144] harsh edges disappear and drinks trunk
[144 - 147] crystal-clear and it also adds something
[147 - 149] in its own right whey protein rich water
[149 - 151] that contributes a luscious body to the
[151 - 153] drink and it significantly helps with
[153 - 154] foaming if you want to add an egg white
[154 - 156] and shake it up let's go to the kitchen
[156 - 158] and curdle some milk I'm gonna start
[158 - 160] with a drink inspired by a recipe called
[160 - 162] a Ruby punch that comes from Gerry
[162 - 164] Thomas's bartenders guide from 1862
[164 - 165] we're gonna start by whisking together
[165 - 168] some brewed black tea some Batavia Ark
[168 - 169] which is a rum like liqueur some ruby
[169 - 172] port some sugar and lemon juice and
[172 - 173] we'll whisk until the sugar is fully
[173 - 175] dissolved now we could drink this right
[175 - 177] now in fact I'm gonna drink some of this
[177 - 180] right now here at work it's delicious
[180 - 182] and pretty intense that black tea brings
[182 - 184] tannins and bitterness to the mix and
[184 - 186] the ruby port brings rich fruitiness now
[186 - 188] I want to clarify it with milk and you
[188 - 189] see a lot of methods out there and they
[189 - 192] raise two key questions first one give
[192 - 193] the milk to the punch or the punch to
[193 - 194] the milk this seems like a pretty
[194 - 196] trivial difference right it does it
[196 - 197] actually matter we'll check out this
[197 - 199] experiment in this measuring cup I'm
[199 - 201] gonna add milk to the punch and then
[201 - 202] this one I'm going to be opposite and
[202 - 204] then the punch to the milk and check
[204 - 206] this out it really does matter adding
[206 - 208] the milk to the punch invariably results
[208 - 210] in a twisted mass of curds suspended and
[210 - 212] regularly throughout the punch this
[212 - 213] happens because the milk comes in
[213 - 215] contact with a highly acidic punch and
[215 - 217] it curdles on impact the result is that
[217 - 219] only a portion of the punch actually
[219 - 221] gets clarified adding the punch to the
[221 - 223] milk slows the rate of acidification
[223 - 226] only once all of the punches in the milk
[226 - 228] is the pH low enough for the casein to
[228 - 229] aggregate at that point the milk and
[229 - 231] punch are evenly mixed so when the
[231 - 233] proteins do come together they trap
[233 - 235] impurities from the entire mass the next
[235 - 237] question use hot milk cold milk
[237 - 239] check out this experiment adding punch
[239 - 241] to milk in both instances I'm testing 40
[241 - 243] degrees straight out of the fridge milk
[243 - 244] versus a hundred and eighty degrees
[244 - 246] straight out of the saucepan milk with
[246 - 248] hot milk the curdling action happens
[248 - 250] more quickly and once again we end up
[250 - 252] with a large mass of curds and a less
[252 - 254] clarified drink on
[254 - 255] other hand the cold milk and the fine
[255 - 257] curds that form consistently clarified
[257 - 260] added bonus no need to heat up the milk
[260 - 262] okay so we finally properly curdled milk
[262 - 264] inside of a cocktail woohoo
[264 - 266] after this since for about 30 minutes we
[266 - 268] then strain out the curds the key here
[268 - 270] is to do that pretty slowly and with a
[270 - 272] really fine filter lots of layers of
[272 - 273] cheesecloth will do the trick
[273 - 275] as one of those big basket style coffee
[275 - 278] filters that graft of casein traps
[278 - 280] particles as the liquid filters through
[280 - 282] for the clearest results possible it
[282 - 283] helps to pass it once and then back
[283 - 285] through again to catch every little
[285 - 287] cloudy bit alright ready for the big
[287 - 289] reveal here's our black tea port milk
[289 - 292] punch before clarification and here it
[292 - 295] is afterwards is now smooth lush blush
[295 - 297] pink and clear as a glass of wine time
[297 - 299] for a couple more sips want to clarify a
[299 - 301] cocktail that doesn't have plentiful
[301 - 303] acidity in the form of citrus juice in
[303 - 305] his incredible book liquid intelligence
[305 - 306] Dave Arnold shows you how to clarify
[306 - 308] spirits cocktails you name it by mixing
[308 - 310] the booze and milk together and then
[310 - 312] adding a small amount of citric acid to
[312 - 313] facilitate the curling but let's get
[313 - 315] back to citrusy punches here's another
[315 - 317] one called Billy Dawson's milk punch for
[317 - 319] this one and metal citrus zest with
[319 - 321] sugar and then add boiling water to
[321 - 322] dissolve the sugar then goes in rum
[322 - 325] brandy stout lemon juice and a little
[325 - 328] butabi arc now that is a dark looking
[328 - 330] drink I mean it has stout in it but then
[330 - 333] we add milk strain and boom clear and
[333 - 335] beautiful this is the perfect drink to
[335 - 337] serve alongside leather-bound books and
[337 - 340] rich mahogany let's drive soon and check
[340 - 342] out this one called Mary Rockets citrus
[342 - 343] milk punch this one start out with
[343 - 346] brandy sugar tons of citrus zest and
[346 - 348] pulpy orange juice and now it could pass
[348 - 349] for apple juice that you drink at your
[367 - 367] wait what was this episode about thanks
[367 - 369] so much for watching now go make mo
[369 - 370] punch right away you'll have it for the
[370 - 374] holidays and way beyond