Author: John Fladd

She doesn’t come up in conversation very much — not today, anyway; 100 years ago it was a different story — but Mary Pickford was a deceptively powerful woman. She was by far the most popular actress of the silent movie era. She could adopt an innocent look that let her play boys and street urchins as easily as princesses or flappers. Adoring fans would freak out at the sight of her in a way Americans wouldn’t see until The Beatles. At a time when you could buy a very nice house for less than $500, she negotiated a salary of $10,000 a week. When studio heads tried to play tricks with her salary on the assumption that hey, she was just a girl, Pickford — along with her husband, Douglas Fairbanks, the biggest action star of the silent era, and Charlie Chaplin, the biggest star, period — started her own studio, United Artists.

Yes, Mary Pickford hit her peak during Prohibition, but it is still not much of a surprise that there is a classic cocktail called the Mary Pickford.

What is surprising is that it’s not a great cocktail.

A classic Mary Pickford consists of ½ ounce white rum, 1½ ounces pineapple juice, 1 teaspoon grenadine and 6 drops Luxardo maraschino liqueur.

There are any number of good cocktails that use white rum, but it is probably the least flavorful type of rum, and using half an ounce of it raises a number of questions: (a) Why bother? (b) Was this some sort of nod to her delicate beauty, or the fact that she often played children in the movies? (c) Was it some sort of sexist “girls-can’t-drink” attitude on the part of someone who had never met a flapper?

There are some exceptions, but generally I build a cocktail around a base of 2 ounces of spirits. Half an ounce is a little insulting to Ms. Pickford.

Moving on: Many — perhaps most — cocktails served in a stemmed glass, like a Mary Pickford, feature about half as much volume of fruit juice as they do spirits. There is three times as much pineapple juice in this drink as there is rum.

I’ll give you the teaspoon of grenadine. It adds a tiny bit of sweetness and a gentle pink color.

Luxardo? I don’t care for it. But I do agree that this combination could do with some added complexity.

So let’s reconfigure a Mary Pickford — not Mary Pickford herself; she was close to perfect as she was — but let’s build a drink that is more worthy of the name.

First, let’s bump the rum up to a more robust ounce and a half, and let’s make it a rum with some actual flavor — a golden, or possibly a spiced rum.

Then, let’s bring the pineapple-juice-to-rum ratio more into line. Because pineapple juice has a gentle flavor and isn’t as acidic as a citrus fruit, we can still use a bit more of it than the rum, but we’ll bring it closer to parity. Then, because it’s not acidic enough, let’s add some lime juice to give it a little bit of a backbone.

We’ll keep the grenadine. It’s been doing a good job and should be allowed to keep its job.

Finally, let’s add complexity in the form of rosewater. Normally, you have to be extremely careful to limit rosewater to a drop or two, but for some reason — perhaps known only to Mary Pickford herself — this cocktail will support a much larger amount of it than usual.

Let’s go with:

• 1 and 1/2 ounces golden rum
• 2 ounces pineapple juice
• Juice of 1/4 lime
• 1/3 teaspoon rosewater

Combine all ingredients over ice in a cocktail shaker, then shake until very cold. Ask your digital assistant to play “East St. Louis Toodle-Oo” by Duke Ellington.

Strain it into a stemmed cocktail glass.

Now this is a cocktail that Mary Pickford might get behind. The rum provides enough authority to make you take this seriously. The rosewater is feminine but not overwhelming, and the grenadine gives the whole enterprise a slightly pink color. Appropriately enough, two or three of these will give your face that same pink color.

Featured photo: A Mary Pickford. Photo by John Fladd.

A look at alcohol-free wines

According to Richard Jacob, one of the hottest trends in alcohol at the moment is no alcohol. “It’s a really rapidly growing industry,” he said. “There have been a lot of new businesses starting just mainly focused on producing non-alcoholic or zero ABV drinks. It’s really interesting.”

Jacob, who works for Vinilandia NH in Portsmouth, a wine importer specializing in small, estate-grown wines, says the buzz in the industry is that alcohol-free beverages are about to experience a huge growth in the beer and wine markets.

Jacob said, there is a lot of incentive for a beverage producer to make a zero-proof product. “For example,” he said, “Coca-Cola is non-alcoholic at the end of the day, right? It’s just a beverage and all you have to do is, you make it like a craft good beverage, then you can just slap the word non-alcoholic on it and it just becomes something a little special. With that, you don’t have to go through the TTB — the Trade and Tax Bureau or the Fed — as a producer, because you’re not actually producing an alcoholic drink. You’re producing something different, but [that] can be enjoyed in a similar manner. So that way, these businesses don’t have to go through the same kind of circuits that wineries or breweries or distilleries need to go through with the federal government in order to produce their product.”

There are essentially two ways to produce a non-alcoholic beverage, Jacob said. “The big difference in making an alcoholic product and removing the alcohol, and making a product that is just non-alcoholic at all, is an important one.” Because the investment in equipment to remove alcohol from beer or wine is substantial, he said, that is the route followed by big players in the industry. Smaller wineries and breweries generally take the other approach of not fermenting their product in the first place.

Emma Stetson, the owner of Wine on Main in Concord, also sees a growing trend of people looking for complex adult beverages without alcohol. She said that this is most evident after the holidays, when many of her customers observe “Dry January,” going without alcohol for the entire month.

“During January, definitely there was a focus on it,” she said. “And we sold a lot of non-alcoholic or de-alcoholized wine. It’s fallen off a little bit just because Dry January was such a focus, but we still sell a significant amount of it. It’s certainly a year-round thing now, and something that people reach for at any point even beyond Dry January.”

Stetson said some of her favorite alcohol-free wines at the moment are sparkling ones.

“I think with the sparkle and the bubble there’s so much going on on your palate already that you don’t miss the structure that alcohol provides, versus in a still wine. We have a delicious cabernet merlot de-alcoholized red wine and it tastes good. I drank a good amount of it in Dry January, but for a red wine you do miss the structure of the alcohol, the authority. The alcohol helps temper the boldness of the grapes. So you kind of miss that balance versus a sparkling wine. I feel like there’s enough else going on that you don’t notice that missing component quite so much.”

Genevieve Wolfe, the bar manager for Vine 32 Wine and Graze Bar (Bedford Square, 25 S River Road, Bedford, 935-8464, vinethirtytwo.com) sees non-alcoholic wines as a positive trend.

“I think it’s an essential addition to the market,” she said, “just to have those options so that anybody can come and participate and hang out with their friends and not feel ostracized by any means.”

Some of Wolfe’s favorites include, Prima Pavé, an Italian label that produces both a blanc de blanc white wine and a rosé and Lautus, a label out of South Africa that produces a line of white, rosé, and sparkling wines.

“At the bar right now we have Buzzkill,” she said. “The label has a little bee buzzing around, with really bright, fun colors.”

“[These wines aren’t] just for people who aren’t drinking,” Wolfe said. “They’re for pregnancy, for not wanting to have a drink that day. So I think it is just fantastic that as a whole, they’re getting better and better.”

Featured photo: Richard Jacob, Courtesy photo.

Barrel & Baskit finds reasons for fun

There are many reasons why businesses host fun events. For Beth Richards, the goal is to integrate her business, Barrel & Baskit in Hopkinton, into the culture of her town.

“It’s really about community here,” Richards said. “[Our events] are not add-on kinds of things; they are a basic foundation of the place. I mean, I’m probably not going to do goat yoga, but I have done yoga in the store. Sometimes the idea for an event comes from the community and the customers. Several folks wanted to do live music in here and were asking me about that for a while.and that’s how we created Community and Chords. They’re actually customers who come in or live in town and are very local, who play music here. And then we’ll have a tasting with that — a wine tasting or a beer tasting or a non-alcoholic tasting. Maybe we’ll serve some of our sourdough bread or we’ll bring out our soups for folks to taste.”

Sometimes Richards holds events to showcase a new product.

“We have a new farm nearby, Southern Charm farm, and they’re making their own cheeses, they’re making their own butters that we’re carrying,” she said. “And so April 26 is National Camembert Day, so they’ll be here and we’re going to have their items for a nut and a wine tasting on that Saturday.”

Richards said she looks for activities that she likes personally, and builds events around them.

“One of our wine brokers has her own gardens,” she gave as an example. “And so for the first year that we were in here, we did a wine and flower bar because we had beautiful wine and flowers. For the last nine years I’ve done tipsy tree making with boxwood trees at the holidays. That is an annual thing. I think that people would freak out if I didn’t do that. I look for things — things that I like. It’s not like I really want to host a Greek festival or something. These are things the community actually wants to do.”

Another tie to the community is Barrel & Baskit’s membership program, which lets customers run a tab.

“We brought back the tab for nostalgia,” Richards said. “It’s a benefit of membership to be able to have a tab. So you can let your kids ride a bike down and put their ice cream on the family tab.”

“In addition to that,” Richards continued, “a customer came and said, ‘Hey, do you know the Boards & Brews place down in Manchester? I would love that for my kids around here. Would you ever consider that? For my family, I would be a member if you had something like that.’ Now, we have a really great board game collection. People have asked us to be doing pizzas while they’re gaming, and so we started that. It’s a benefit of membership. You can come in once a month, get into my awesome stash of games and then do that, play games on Friday night, and we’ll stay open a little bit later. So again, it’s really super driven by community.”

From the beginning, one of Richards’ goals has been to use Barrel & Baskit to create a sense of tradition.

“My heritage is Pennsylvania Dutch,” she said. “And so my mom, if you bought a new house, would always have gifts for you: you’d have the salt, you’d have the bread, you’d have the wine. I’ve done that several times for customers here. And someone told someone and said, ‘You can come in and get Beth’s little thing.’ And so we’re creating that product for someone for a housewarming gift — a little town welcome”

Barrel & Baskit

377 Main St., Hopkinton, 746-1375, barrelandbaskit.com
Celebrating National Camembert Day with a wine and cheese tasting on Saturday, April 26, from 3 to 5 p.m.

Featured photo: Barrel & Baskit. Photo by John Fladd.

News from the local food scene

• Opened: There’s a new coffee bar on the north end of Manchester’s Elm Street. NXT Coffee Bar (1230 Elm St., Manchester, 413-239-5016, nxtcoffeebar.com) features coffee drinks, hot and iced non-caffeinated and tea beverages, locally sourced pastries and light breakfast options such as a variety of toasts and bagels. Gluten-free options are available.

• The power of fermentation: There will be a sauerkraut demonstration at the Concord Food Co-op (24 S. Main St., 225-6840, concordfoodcoop.com) Thursday, April 24, from 6 to 7 p.m. Join food historian Sam Pike for a sauerkraut-making demo. Learn step-by-step instructions and safety tips for a perfect batch. This is a free presentation. Visit eventbrite.com to reserve a spot.

• Wine 101: Join Vine 32 Wine and Graze Bar (Bedford Square, 25 S. River Road, Bedford, 935-8464, vinethirtytwo.com) Saturday, April 26, from 2 to 4 p.m. for an afternoon of wine exploration with Vine 32’s Wine Director, Genevieve Wolfe. This will be a fun and laid-back tasting experience for anyone looking to boost their wine game. Taste and learn about six wines from around the world. Tickets are $30 through eventbrite.com.

• Five courses, with spies: Dinner parties return to Chunky’s Cinema Pub (707 Huse Road, Manchester, 206-3888, chunkys.com) Sunday, April 27, at 6:30 p.m. Chef Keith Sarasin and his team will present a five-course meal to accompany a screening of 1995’s James Bond movie, Golden Eye with Pierce Brosnan. The dinner will feature a theme inspired by the movie. VIP ticket purchasers arrive at 5:30 p.m. for a secret chef appetizer and beer or wine. Tickets start at $75 through Chunky’s website.

• Get ready for growing season: The New Hampshire Farm, Forest & Garden Expo will offer workshops, demonstrations, a Dark Horse Lumber Jack Show and more on Friday, May 2, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday, May 3, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the Deerfield Fairgrounds (34 Stage Road in Deerfield). Tickets cost $10. See nhfarmandforestexpo.org.

There’s a word that rhymes with “shmeegan” that we’re not going to say, because it makes some people nervous. It brings up memories of judgmental relatives who might — or might not — have lectured them at some point about the ambiguous ethics of eating animals. Or milk. Or honey. The shmeegan-shy might think of a time in college when a very cute shmeegan fed them some cookies or beet-loaf that was allegedly “just as good as the real thing.”

Don’t worry. This Bundt cake is very good on its own merits, without comparing it to anything else.

Cake

A large spoonful of shortening and ¼ cup (about 25 g) almond flour to grease and coat your Bundt pan

1 cup (227 g) butter-flavored shortening or margarine

2 cups (397 g) sugar

1 teaspoon kosher or coarse sea salt

4 eggs’ worth of egg replacer, prepared according to instructions – I like one by Bob’s Red Mill

2 teaspoons baking powder

3 cups (360 g) all-purpose flour

1 cup (227 g) almond milk

zest of 2 lemons

1/3 cup (45 g) chopped, candied lemon peel – this is theoretically available in candy stores but is easier to find online

Glaze

1/3 cup (75 g) fresh squeezed lemon juice
¾ cup (150 g) sugar

1 Tablespoon dehydrated lemon juice powder – again, this is probably easiest to find online

Heat oven to 350°F.

Thoroughly grease your Bundt pan with shortening. Really slather it on. If it looks like you’ve used too much, it’s probably just about right. Dust the shortening with almond flour. In an hour or so, when you are able to pop your cake right out of the pan, you’ll be pleased with your foresight.

In your mixer, beat the rest of your shortening or margarine, the sugar and the salt until it is light and fluffy-looking.

Mix in the egg replacer, one half at a time, then the baking powder and flour. When you add the dry ingredients, mix them in with your lowest speed at first, or you’ll cover yourself and the kitchen with flour.

Mix in the almond milk, lemon zest and candied lemon peel, then beat on high speed for about 30 seconds.

Transfer the batter to your Bundt pan and smooth out the top with a wet spoon or silicone spatula, then put the pan in the oven. Bake for about an hour, or until it reaches an internal temperature of 200°F. Or you can do the toothpick thing.

As soon as it is cool enough to handle, depan the cake onto a large plate.

Heat the glaze ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat, whisking occasionally, until the mixture just barely comes to a boil. You don’t actually want to cook the lemon juice; you just want to make sure that the sugar has dissolved completely.

At this point, you might ask yourself why you added lemon juice powder to the glaze, and not just squeeze another half a lemon or so. Good question. The lemon juice powder allows you to make the mixture extra lemony, without making it too liquidy.

Use a pastry brush to brush the hot glaze onto the still-hot cake. Keep brushing until it has all been absorbed. Remember to look in the bottom of the hole in the middle, where some of the glaze will have collected.

Cover the Bundt cake with a large mixing bowl to make sure your cat doesn’t get to it, and let it sit for an hour or so to completely absorb all the syrup. Slice and serve with, er, I was going to say whipped cream or ice cream, but that would sort of defeat the purpose of making this shmeegan.

Regardless, this is lemony and tender, with a slightly crunchy, sugary crust. This will really score points with the shmeegan in your life.

Featured photo: “Shmeegan” Lemon Bundt Cake. Photo by John Fladd.