Granita for Grown-Ups: Beer-Based Icy Desserts
Sloshed Slushies (and Non-Alcholic Versions) Delight Year-round
Oct 14, 2009
Thanks to the chemistry of the sugar (in the ginger beer or lemonade) and alcohol (in the beer), the result is a spoonable slush, with ice crystals similar to those in an Italian granita made from espresso or fresh squeezed citrus with added sugar. As in the sort of shandy you might sip in a pub, the result is complex, lively, and beguiling, with sweetness offsetting the bitterness of the beer. Caution: This isn't kid stuff: It's alcohol, no matter that ounce for ounce it's cut in half by the mixer.
Aside from being delicious, refreshing, and amusing, it may be the easiest dessert to make. There are two--count 'em--ingredients, two tools (aside from your freezer), and the basic instructions are 1-2-3:
Granita Recipe
- a 12-ounce bottle of beer
- a 12 or 13-ounce bottle of ginger beer or sparkling lemonade
- a quart or liter lidded sturdy plastic container
- a fork
- Open your bottles, preferably chilled, over the plastic container;
- Pour one from each hand to make a mingled stream--ignore the head, which will settle;
- Cap the container and stick it in the freezer, with its bottom on a shelf.
For folks who work at home, it's a nice excuse to get up and stretch. Otherwise, it's a perfect project for a weekend morning when you want to hang around in your jammies and read the papers end to end.
Say you make the mixture at 10 a.m. The 11 a.m. stir will reveal nothing but a cold amber liquid--have no fear, this is normal, you haven't done anything wrong. At noon, eureka! you'll see crystals beading the rim of the container. Stir them in. At one p.m., you will likely have a layer of slush; resist the temptation to taste, and stir the crystals into the liquid, agitating them enough to make a smooth amalgam. At two, slush will predominate, but you're not yet ready to party. Stir, stir, stir, and contain yourself until three. At this point, you're likely close to perfection--depending, of course, on the vagaries of your freezer. Stir really, really well, and stir again.
If stirring the shandy slush has become your favorite thing, no harm done in continuing the hourly visit to freezer. Or leave it as is until service time, stirring once before spooning the crystals into chilled goblets
Once you've mastered the basic technique, you'll probably want to experiment with flavor combos. Here are some tested favorites: oatmeal stout and ultra-spicy Jamaican-style ginger beer; apricot-flavored beer with natural apricot soda; raspberry lager with raspberry sparkler.
So-called non-alcoholic beer has enough alcohol--usually .05 percent--to prevent the chosen mixer from freezing solid. It's still very much a grown-up granita, as perfect after a winter stew as it is at a summer barbecue.
Proportions given yield about four cups, serving four to eight people. In the unlikely event of leftovers, keep frozen and use within two weeks,
