Photo: Brian Klutch • Food Styling: Jessie YuChen • Prop Styling: Paige Hicks. Photo: Brian Klutch • Food Styling: Jessie YuChen • Prop Styling: Paige Hicks
The beverage team at Cambridge, Massachusetts restaurant Sumiao Hunan Kitchen uses strong-aroma baijiu to make this refreshing baijiu smash cocktail recipe. This category of baijiu, which includes brands like Ming River and Mianzhu Daqu, lends a pineapple scent and hint of umami to this mixed drink, while blood orange purée lends a pleasantly bitter base note.
Featured in “Baijiu, the World’s Most Popular Spirit, Is Coming for Your Cocktail” by Megan Zhang.
Yield: 1 cocktail Cook Time: 5 minutes Ingredients Ingredients For the blood orange purée: 1 blood orange, peeled and quartered 2 Tbsp. simple syrup For the cocktail: 4 mint leaves, plus more for garnish 1 oz. strong-aroma baijiu 1 oz. St-Germain Instructions Make the blood orange purée: To a blender, add the blood orange, simple syrup, and ¼ cup of water and blend until smooth. Make the cocktail: To a rocks glass, add 1 or 2 large ice cubes. In a cocktail shaker, lightly muddle the mint, then add the baijiu, St-Germain, 1 ounce of the blood orange purée (reserve the rest for another use), and enough ice cubes to fill the shaker about halfway. Shake
