Root Beer. and Birch Beer

Birch Beer, Root Beer, IBC, A&W

... I'm jumping in feet first to try to help those of us who remember real Root Beer.

As a food nut, I have looked far and wide for foods I like. Growing up in St. Louis, before 1960, I easily remember the flavor of IBC Root Beer. We even had a hamburger joint (Fitz's) that had root beer on "draft". It was soooo creamy. But IBC tasted better.

The Quest was on and my research brought me to: The Independent Liquorist by Leonard Monzert. (New York : Dick & Fitzgerald, 1866). Monzert gives a wonderful root beer recipe.

But before I go into the history of this beverage, I want to deal with the chemistry of birch and "sassafras" root. The chemical name for both wintergreen and sweet birch is: METHYL SALICYLATE. That should mean that both birch and root beer taste about the same, at least as to that one ingredient. So it must be the remaining ingredients that constitute the flavor you all remember.

Monzert's Recipe for 10 gallons of:

Root Beer:

1 ounce yellow dock

1 ounce wintergreen

1 ounce sassafras

1 ounce allspice

1/2 ounce coriander seed

1/2 ounce wild cherry bark

1/4 ounce hops

3 quarts molasses

8 fl. ozs. brewer's yeast.

10 gallons of Spring Water (that means soft water)

Pour boiling water over all the ingredients. Stand 24 hours. Filter and add 8 ounces brewer's yeast and it is ready for use 24 hours later.

Root Beer in lore and legend is supposedly a response to the amount of beer guzzling going on in mid 19th century America. The inventor, whose name is lost to time, wanted to make a drink that would taste good, but not inebriate. Unusually enough, the molasses and brewer's yeast do yield an alcoholic beverage, but the alcohol is about .5%. You would have to drink a six-pack of root beer to equal one Bud.

If you are going to bottle this batch, sterilize your bottles and have a quality capper on had. I give a slightly easier recipe below.

From The Standard Manual of Soda and Other Beverages by A. Emil Hiss (Chicago : G.P. Engelhard & Co., 1897) comes his recipe for:

Birch Beer

3 ounces Princess Pine leaves

1 1/2 ounces wintergreen

1 ounce ginger

1 gallon water

5 pounds sugar

4 fl. ounces birch or birch beer extract

Ferment or charge in a soda fountain. Hiss' instructions for making birch extract are somewhat "strange". He gives 4 differing recipes, of which, one I give here:

Birch Essence or Extract (I.)

Oil of wintergreen 5 fl. drams

Oil of lemon 2 fl. drams

Oil of cloves 1/2 fl. dram

Oil of sassafras 20 drops

Extract of vanilla 4 fl. ounces

Alcohol 16 fl. ounces.

Dissolve the oils in the alcohol and add the vanilla.

In 1958, the Federal gov't. passed the "Delaney Amendment" to the U.S. Food and Drug Act. It called for a "zero tolerance" policy for foods that could be suspected of causing cancer. Old fashioned root beer was one of the first "victims" of this Delaney act. It seems "reputable" scientists gave the equivalent of about 17,000 root beers a day to dogs and mice and they got cancer and died. I don't mean they force fed those animals that quantity. They gave the "safrol" oil, which is what sassafras bark has in it. So they used that concentrated oil, which is thousands of times "stronger" than ordinary. Who among us would consume 2 to 3 pounds of salt a day and believe it was a healthy idea? None the less, sassafras was made illegal for use in root beer. The soda pop industry reformulated about 1960 and root beer never tasted as good again. Curiously enough, mace, black pepper and nutmeg have small amounts of safrol in them, or safrol-like chemicals and the government never "zero-toleranced" them out of business.

Meanwhile, I've learned to make root beer extract with alcohol and the first recipes ingredients. It yields about 6 ounces of liquid to which I add hop essence (from the home beer making shop). That is then mixed with 96 ounces of simple syrup.

Approach it thusly:

Root Beer:

1 ounce yellow dock

1 ounce wintergreen

1 ounce sassafras

1 ounce allspice

1/2 ounce coriander seed

1/2 ounce wild cherry bark

1/4 ounce hops

Caramel coloring (Smart & Final, about $3 for a quart 2006 prices.)

From your local homebrewing shop obtain some hop extract.

Buy a bottle of vodka. If you don't regularly drink vodka, a pint will do fine. You need 6 to 9 fl. ozs. to start with. Grind the herbs or have your herbalist pulverise them for you. Herbs of Mexico, here in Los Angeles, charges 75¢ extra, but the herbs come out as a nice size particle. In to a mason or other, clean, jar, put the herbs, then 6 fl. ozs. of the vodka. Stir well. Put the lid on and shake for 30 seconds to a minute. Get the menstruum well mixed. Put the jar into a dark cupboard, the liquid becomes light sensitive and must be kept in the darkest spot available to you. In the morning, line a sieve with a Mr. Coffee filter or equivalent. Put the sieve and filter over a bowl to catch the liquid. Empty the jar. Next, allow it to stand until you collect at least 6 fl. Ozs. of extract. If you have a dark room, so much the better. It won't take more than an hour. Or at least it shouldn't. If you don't have 6 fl. Ozs. pour more vodka over the menstruum to obtain it. Wash the grounds out, so to speak.

Put the 6 fl. Ozs. into a sterilized (including lid) small bottle. Keep in a dark place. I use a hot sauce bottle, as this leaves little air space above the liquid.

Next, make your simple syrup. To 96 fl. Ozs. of water, add 96 ozs. of sugar. Bring to a strong boil, being careful not to let the sugar burn before it dissolves completely. Add the caramel coloring until you get a very dark color. Four to six ounces should be enough. Allow to cool and once the syrup is at room temperature, add the root beer extract. Decant into one gallon jar and a one quart jar. Keep the lid on tightly.

To serve: add 2 to 3 ounces of root beer syrup to a glass, ice and pour sparkling water over. I use Perrier.

Chinese Char Siu Barbecue

After studying a number of recipes for the barbecued pork dish Char Siu (my preferred spelling), I decided to try to make some. 

So, welcome to my politically correct, Chinese Cultural Revolution approved recipe.

My first thought was that recipes (in English) call for pork shoulder. The pork shoulder was too much a westernized idea. The Chinese would use firmer meat for this dish and that meant using pork belly. For some strange reason, here in the States, when a recipe (usually old ones) calls for pork belly they use either: uncured bacon or green bacon to signify raw pork belly. Whether those two expressions are "of commerce" or whether they were the only way the cookbook authors could think to describe pork belly that is uncured, un-smoked and raw is not within the scope of this article. Both always and confusingly using the word 'bacon', where 'pork belly' is more effectively descriptive. (e.g., scallions versus green onions versus spring onions)

I also saw a recipe that called for Moutai liquor as one of the ingredients. I must back track a little here. My favorite place in Chinatown is Sam Woo Barbecue. While shopping yesterday, I saw a San Woo Barbecue - not the same. Sam Woo's is pretty well known, and while I don't like a lot on their menu, the barbecued pork is delightful. And I'm certain they use the Moutai in their bbq, but I cannot prove that beyond a shadow of a doubt. They also have lop cheung . . .  a story for another day. 

I had to find the Moutai and guessed that the Wing Hop Fung supermarket would be my source for this stuff. They are at least 12 Chinese aunties working at any one time there and none speak English. So, when I incorrectly asked for Mai Tai, I was told they had none, Then, speaking with the only English speaking woman in the place, I asked for rose liquor. She pointed to the shelf where all the liquors are and corrected my pronounciation. I walked over to find that the words were all in Chinese. Another auntie walked by and I asked (this time pronouncing it correctly) MOW (rhymes with wow) TOY. She showed me a bottle. And at only $130 (US dollars) it looked like a bargain . . . Fortunately, they had a $10 and a $15 dollar bottle of it and that's more appropriate for cooking. Mind you, this is for a 375 mL bottle (half a fifth).

Like WOW!

So with all the ingredients in hand I made up the sauce-marinade.  Divided the sauce and kept half for dipping or using on the rice.

Ingredients:

1 ¾ lb pork belly
6 cloves garlic as mush
3 tablespoons cooked oil (see below for explanation)

Char Siu Sauce:
4 ½ tablespoons maltose
4 ½ tablespoons honey
4 ½ tablespoons hoisin sauce
4 ½ tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoon Moutai (贵州茅台酒)
9 dashes white pepper
9 drops red food coloring (Optional)
1 ½ teaspoon five-spice powder
1 ½ teaspoon sesame oil
[ Added November 23, 2015 — In continued research into this Chinese specialty dish, I have read another recipe that add the following:
1 tbs yellow bean paste
1 tbs red fermented tofu (hot or not, your choice)
1 tbs oyster sauce
the foregoing three ingredients are for 1 1/2 pounds of pork, adjust accordingly, please.]

I have never been able to buy pork belly in 16 ounce pieces. Almost without exception the slab I can buy in the markets is between 1 3/4 and 2 1/4 pounds. So I had to adjust the recipe accordingly. Also, my pal does not like to eat rice without a sauce and as many people like extra sauce for their pork and rice, I decided to triple the quantity. So the above list is how I made it. After adding the sauce ingredients and boiling them up three times, I removed the sauce pan from the heat. After a few minutes, the entire kitchen became fragrant with the Moutai. At 52% alcohol (or 104 proof) the stuff packs a wallop. It would have packed a wallop in my wallet if I'ld had any while in Chinatown. The $130 bottle of Moutai is about 80 years old. The minimum age is 15 years. The red food coloring, while optional is a real help and culturally, red is the symbol of good luck (lunch?) in Chinese.

I cut the belly into four pieces, trying to make the pieces as evenly shaped as possible. In the photograph, you can see that two slices are much bigger. That is how the belly comes. Thicker at one end.

Marinating

Above, pork having marinated overnight.

While the sauce was cooling I mushed the garlic, sliced the pork and rubbed the garlic onto the fatty side of the meat. After the sauce cools, add it to the meat. I used a stainless steel bowl. After adding the sauce I added the cooked oil. The cooked oil is a trick I learned about many years ago. When deep frying, allow the hot oil to cool (overnight?), and strain it into a jar or bottle. Cap tightly. The cooked oil has a delicious flavor. It may not be good for cooking again, but as part of the marinade it matters and I'm not throwing food out.

When ready, cook your rice. Even though I often add chicken bouillon powder to the boiling water, this time I left it plain.

Preheat your barbecue grill for 10 to 15 minutes and wipe the excess sauce/marinade off the meat into your bowl as you will baste the meat with the leftover sauce the meat sat in. Cook the meat for 7 ½ minutes on each side, flipping the meat once. Start with the fatty side up. As the heat warms it, the fat will melt and bath the meat to help keep it moist.

After the 15 minute total cooking time, cover the cooked meat and allow it to rest 10 minutes. Whence cut it into bit size cubes and serve over white rice. Extra sauce optional.

Cook's Note: some recipes cut the pork into mouthfuls before cooking. This is done by threading the meat cubes on skewers. It would cook the meat a little faster and is certainly more of a traditional way of serving this dish, the skewers being placed on top a mound of rice. I would like my bbq as bites to see on top of the rice. Minced scallions on top. There is no wrong way.