butter cup

early this week, i followed a recipe i found here in T, the new york times' style magazine, for hot-buttered rum, courtesy of PDT mixologist, jim meehan.

it's a two day process, but everything is really easy. the most time consuming part is the straining of the buttered rum on the 2nd day. the final product came out fantastic. the recipe leaves you with a solid amount of buttered rum left over, which i'm trying to find more creative ways to use. any ideas?

here is the recipe:


SERVES 6 (YOU’LL HAVE RUM LEFT OVER).
1 stick of butter
16 ounces Ron Zacapa Centenario rum
2 Madagascar vanilla beans
4 teaspoons loose English Breakfast tea
24 ounces water
6 teaspoons Demerara sugar
Ground nutmeg for garnish.

1. Add butter to a pan over medium heat. While the butter is melting, split two vanilla beans and scrape seeds into the pan. Stir until the butter begins to brown, about five minutes. As soon as butter smells nutty, remove from heat.

2. Pour rum into a nonreactive vessel, like a large measuring cup. Add browned butter while it is still hot, stir, and let stand about 10 minutes. Cover the measuring cup with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator overnight, for at least 18 hours.

3. The next day, place the rum mixture in the freezer for 30 minutes, then strain though a fine-mesh sieve into a clean bowl.

Straining part one: through a sieve

Strain again through a fine-mesh sieve lined with a coffee filter to remove all pieces of butter (you may need to replace the filter once or twice).

Straining part two: through a coffee filter

Brown-buttered rum will keep in a glass bottle in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

4. Bring water to boil, then let cool about one minute. Add tea, steep for two minutes and strain into a teapot.

5. Pour 4 ounces of hot tea and 1 1/2 ounces of brown-buttered rum into 6 heatproof toddy glasses, stir 1 teaspoon sugar into each glass, and garnish with nutmeg.