Lunchbox
aka
the Peebeeber + Jeeber

I’ve had the urge to make sandwiches into cocktails for about two years now. This one is a testament to the power of creativity being fueled by environment. After celebrating just over a year of living together, Charlie Landsman (who I have known since I went to pre-school with his sister) and my brother, Cal Froikin and I were sitting on our tiny balcony. Lucky to live with both of them for many reasons - they just so happen to be talented bartenders and artists in their own right. Full of fried and smoked fish from Calumet Fisheries, we were talking cocktails while sipping on some. Some of these are still to come but the one that needed to be made was a clarified milk punch that was essentially putting a PB&J (Cal calls it a “peebeeber & jeeber”) into a Sidecar. You know… for nostalgia’s sake.

This recipe makes one bottle of punch, meant to be shared between friends 

16 oz Roasted Peanut Brandy (you can use any aged, grape-based brandy you want)
6 oz Acid-adjusted Orange Juice
4 oz Ryebread orange liqueur (any triple-sec or dry curaçao will do, I prefer Merlet Trois Citrus due to it’s flavor, dryness, and most importantly colorlessness)
2 oz Orange Marmalade 1:1 Simple Syrup
16 oz Local Whole Milk (Mine was from Kalona SuperNatural in Iowa)
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4 oz Lustau San Emilio PX Sherry
4 oz Local Strawberry Wine (Mine was from Lynfred Winery in Roselle, Illinois)
PB&J Garnish

Making the milk punch

1. Combine the Roasted Peanut brandy, the Acid-adjusted Orange Juice, the Ryebread orange liqueur, and the Orange Marmalade Simple Syrup.

2. Add this to the Whole Milk and stir to combine. Allow the broken milk mixture to sit for at least 12 and not more than 24 hours in the fridge.

3. Strain through a cloth, ideally a superbag/100-micron mesh straining bag (can also be 8 layers of cheesecloth, or a clean linen sheet).

4. Pour the entire mixture through the bag into a container to catch the strained liquid below. As the mixture begins to strain, the milk solids will start to form a screen layer on the bag. You’ll notice the mixture will start to run clear instead of cloudy.

5. Take a fresh container and replace the current one. Slowly and without going above the line of milk solids and without disturbing the screen, pour the cloudy initial filtered liquid through the straining bag for a second time. Now all the filtered liquid will be clarified. The solids can be saved used in other applications.

6. Chill the filtered liquid.

Drink Assembly

Add 3.5 oz of the milk punch to as many Nick & Nora glasses as you have people drinking. Combine the PX sherry and strawberry wine to a small pitcher. Take a bar spoon, with the convex side facing up, and touch the meniscus of the cocktail at the far side of the glass. Slowly pour ½ oz of the mixture over the bar spoon so it runs down the inside of the glass and settles in a layer at the bottom. Repeat for each cocktail. Take one mini PB&J garnish and place it on the rim, resting the rear of the mini-sandwich on the rim of the glass furthest from the guest with the crust facing up.