Hoosier Daddy (Original Recipe)

 

Now for something completely outside the box. I was making Hoosier stew, that midwest skillet dinner with green beans, Polish sausage and potatoes and onions. It's a salty, fatty winter treat. But it occurred to me that cocktails can often be an offshoot of soup recipes, that it is very realistic to make a broth-base drink that is savory and have it actually be good. 

It wasn't my immediate realization that MurLarkey Justice white whiskey, with it's corn spirit nose and vegetel finish (almost like green beans) would be perfect for a Hoosier stew cocktail. 

The drink had to be salty with just a little pepper spice. I got creative and salted the rim and added black pepper, paprika and a just a few dashes of chipotle Tabasco for smoke. But it needed a garnish to get the Hoosier stew concept across. Actual smoked sausage, a steamed green bean and cocktail onions (and the odd olive pictured) festoon this silly cocktail.

But it's not that silly. There's plenty of drinks like the Bull Shot and Steaming Bull. The Bloody Mary is the best example of a savory cocktail that is essentially out-of-control tomato soup. It's no Bloody Mary, but that's not what I was going for. It was more like the Borscht Belt or Gazpacho Cocktaill, a soup cocktail that knows what it is. Hoosier Stew is definitely that, and for those who love the dish, they should try the drink. I have to say, this is way better than a Chicken Shot.

• 2 oz. chicken stock
• 1 1/2 oz. MurLarkey Justice white whiskey
• 1/2 oz. vodka
• coarse salt rim
  
• pinch salt
• pinch pepper
• pinch paprika
• several dashes chipotle Tabasco
• Polish sausage, onion, and steamed green bean garnishes

Rim an Old Fashioned glass with coarse salt by wetting the rim and dipping it into a dish of salt. Combine liquid ingredients and seasoning in a shaker with ice. Shake and pour into the glass and garnish with stew morsels like smoked sausage, steamed bean and pickled onion.