YT YouTube2Text

YouTube2Text → Transcripts → Alton Brown Cooks Food | Episode 33: Kentucky Fried Mint

Alton Brown Cooks Food | Episode 33: Kentucky Fried Mint — Transcript

by Alton Brown · 5,193 words · 741 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

Open in transcriber Summarize with AI Download SRT/VTT

Full transcript

0:05Summers
0:08intolerable hot about everywhere these
0:10days, but down here in the south,
0:12summer's always been a combo clatter of
0:15heat and humidity, which in tandem
0:18are particularly and continuously
0:21discomforts.
0:23Now, when it gets to be like Satan's
0:25steam bath down here, some folks pivot
0:28from highly proofed tipples down to
0:31lower proof libation, the likes of light
0:33beer and spritzes, whatever the hell
0:35that even is. Me, I put my trust in the
0:38refreshing comforts of mint.
0:42Mint, spearmint, uh, spearmint to be
0:46exact. Uh, mintis spicata. But even in
0:49that, uh, there's a lot of variation.
0:51Now, I've gone on record many times
0:53regarding my adoration of mint chip ice
0:55cream, mint flavored toothpaste. I've
0:57even been known to enjoy some mint tea
0:59from time to time. Um, when it comes to
1:01mitigating this here press of
1:03meteorological males, what I declare
1:07requires an ice cold downright minty
1:10cocktail.
1:11Now, um although uh spearmint does have
1:14some actual flavor, meaning substances
1:16that can be sensed by receptors on the
1:18tongue. Oh, as well as trigeminal
1:20inputs, meaning the cooling sensation
1:22produced by menthol. Um, the actual
1:25flavor that we think of as mint when we
1:27think of mint is mostly retronasal,
1:30meaning an aroma that we sense up here
1:31in our nose while we're eating or
1:33drinking something down here in our
1:35mouths. Now, in the case of mint, this
1:38magic is made possible by a tight-knit
1:40band of molecules called VOCC's or
1:45volatile organic compounds. Uh here's a
1:48picture of them uh performing. We've got
1:50lemonine, the aroma of citrus. That's on
1:52lee guitar. We've got 18 uh sine
1:55herbaceious fresh on bass. Um beta
1:58pinine bringing the piny punctuation on
2:01percussion. And on Lee vocals, our
2:03carvone, the very essence of mintiness.
2:08Interestingly, um our carbone has a twin
2:10s carvone. Exactly the same structure
2:13but backwards like a left hand to a
2:16right hand. Um, and that molecule
2:18delivers the aroma of caraway. Uh, the
2:20R, by the way, is from rectus, Latin for
2:22proper or correct. And the S is u from
2:25sinister, Latin for left. Sorry,
2:28lefties.
2:30It's just a shirt. Now, these molecules
2:33are chemically volatile because they
2:35tend to break off from whatever they're
2:37connected to and fly off into the
2:38atmosphere
2:42even at relatively low temperatures. Um
2:45and and sure. Oh yeah, that's mint. It's
2:50just that easy. And uh we'll get into
2:52why here in a minute. Now, this
2:54particular lineup, the uh the VOCC band,
2:57make it especially suited to alcohol,
3:00just like a real rock band. In fact, our
3:03carvone isn't really water soluble at
3:05all, but an alcohol. It spreads around
3:08quite readily. a chemical fact uh that
3:10eventually led to the development of
3:12several mint ccentric cocktails
3:14including but not limited to uh let's
3:16see the uh the mjito, the southside, the
3:18brandy smash, the gin smash, the whiskey
3:20smash, the queen's part swizzle, the old
3:23cubin, the chinchin mule, the fabulously
3:26named Missionaries Downfall, and of
3:29course my personal favorite, the mint
3:31jeulip, which I realize isn't
3:33technically a cocktail, but a heavily
3:35iced and perfumed sling. But let's not
3:38get to wrestling in the deep dura mud of
3:40semantics less we soil our sea sucker.
3:43The mid Julip is not my favorite simply
3:45because my personal DNA is spelled
3:47appalachia
3:50or because my family crest has cross
3:52banjos in a propane tank. No. Nor is it
3:54because I like sipping from a silver
3:56cup. though this particular jewel cup
3:58gifted to me by my beloved wife and she
4:01engraved upon it the the words of
4:03William Faulner supposedly civilization
4:05begins with distillation. It's one of my
4:07most prized possessions. But the truth
4:09is um Midsummer I love me a mint jeulip
4:12because maybe more than any other
4:14cocktail that's got gestalt baby and
4:17it's got ritual and gestaltian ritual
4:21just makes me all tingly inside. Um,
4:24I've got to say that uh that I also like
4:26the Jula because down here in the south,
4:27mint grows wherever you don't pull it
4:30like a freaking weed. You can put it in
4:31a window box, coffee can, your gutters,
4:33maybe a back pocket. Although clearly
4:37I'm not taking very good care of this
4:38little fella. Um, so there's no reason
4:42not to have an ample fresh supply. That
4:45said, um if you do have to uh procure it
4:47either from a market or your friend's
4:48yard, there are couple of uh methods for
4:51uh preserving its viability.
5:00Rinse the leaves or sprigs and cool
5:03running water. And then uh just kind of
5:06shake them dry, but not too dry. We want
5:08some some moisture there. And then lay
5:09them out on paper towels and roll so
5:11that the sprigs aren't actually touching
5:13each other. That's important.
5:17Place in a zip top bag. Squeeze as much
5:19air out as possible. Seal and
5:21refrigerate for up to a week. Now, if
5:24you happen to have long stocks, you
5:27know, like an actual bunch of men,
5:28simply trim the stems down by about an
5:31inch to get a fresh cut. Uh, and then
5:33place you a bouquet in just, you know,
5:34any old vessel. I'm using a cord deli
5:37container here. Um, add about an inch of
5:39water and then top uh with either a zip
5:42top bag left open or a disposable shower
5:45cap, which will slow respiration and
5:48drying while uh preventing interior
5:51moisture from squeezing up against the
5:52leaves. I don't actually use these cuz I
5:54don't have much, but I do take them from
5:57hotel rooms whenever I see them. Enough
6:00talk. We
6:02talk a bit more actually. Sorry, but we
6:06got to talk about bourbon. Now, bourbon
6:09was not the original Jewulip base. That
6:12was rum, and it wasn't even the second.
6:13That was brandy. But it is the standard
6:16today due in part greatly to the
6:18association of the bourbon jeulip with
6:20the Kentucky Derby horse race.
6:22Personally, I prefer rye um in my jewel,
6:26but I just don't want to deal with hate
6:28mail this week, so I'm going to stick
6:29with bourbon. The problem is bourbon can
6:31be tricky. So pull up a chair while I
6:34commence to clarificate.
6:36Bourbon like champagne in France or
6:39Scotch in Scotland um is protected by a
6:42bevy of rules and regulations enforced
6:44under federal law by the alcohol tobacco
6:46tax and trade bureau. These include
6:48location. To be legally labeled and sold
6:51as bourbon, said spirit must be
6:53distilled and aged entirely within the
6:56United States, not Kentucky as many
6:59might believe. The mash bill. Bourbon
7:02must be made from fermented mash of at
7:04least 51% corn. The rest of the mash
7:06bill very often determines the final
7:08character of the beverage though with uh
7:10wheat bringing softness, rye bringing
7:12spiciness, but corn first. Distillation.
7:15Bourbon must be distilled at no higher
7:17than 160 proof. That's 80% alcohol by
7:21volume. Okay. Uh barreling. Bourbon must
7:24um enter brand new charred oak barrels
7:28and no higher than 125 proof, though the
7:31legal definition of bourbon does not
7:33expressly set a minimum amount of time
7:35in that barrel. Uh purity. Okay. Bourbon
7:39must be bottled at 80 proof or higher,
7:43at least 40% alcohol by volume, and
7:44contain nothing but water, pure water as
7:47an additive. No flavorings, colorings,
7:50spirits can be added. So, minimally
7:52stated, a bottle of bourbon could just,
7:54you know, look like this and be bourbon.
7:57Next up, we have what's called straight
8:00bourbon. Now, to add that word straight
8:02to the label means that the liquid thus
8:05interoured must spend a minimum of 2
8:07years in that barrel. Oddly, if the
8:11youngest whiskey in that bottle is less
8:13than four years of age, the label must
8:15carry an age statement, although federal
8:17law permits that statement to understate
8:20the actual age. Um, anyway, uh, lacking
8:23an age statement, you can assume that
8:24the whiskey inside is at least four
8:26years old. Most quality bourbons you
8:28encounter in American liquor stores
8:30today are indeed straight bourbons. Now,
8:34if your bottle says bonded or bottled in
8:38bond, then the bourbon inside is rested
8:40comfortably in wooden barrels, oak,
8:43charred oak, new chart oak barrels for a
8:45minimum of 4 years, and it has to have
8:48been created by one distiller at one
8:51distillery during one distilling season.
8:54Okay. Uh lastly, bonded bourbon has to
8:56be bottled at exactly 100 proof, 50%
9:00alcohol by volume. This means that as
9:02far as alcohol goes, all bonded bourbons
9:05are exactly precisely the same. Bonded
9:07rye whisies conform to this too, but
9:09that's another show. Now, personally, I
9:11considered bottled and bond to be kind
9:13of the kind of like pour over coffees,
9:16right? It's the most controlled
9:18offering, showing off what a particular
9:20maker does. It's it's very pure, not
9:22necessarily the best, but a pure, very
9:24sipworthy, but not necessarily cocktail
9:27fod. For that, I tend to go with
9:30straight bourbons. Um, and since Julip
9:33has to contend with a good bit of ice
9:35melt, I seek one in the 100 to maybe up
9:38to 120 proof range. Enough talk. We
9:42actually we're going to have to talk
9:44some more about ice. Actually, um, you
9:47know, there are two kinds of ice.
9:48There's wet ice and dry ice. I don't
9:50mean dry like CO2. I mean ice that is
9:52dry. Now, if you've got an ice maker,
9:54either built-in or countertop, odds are
9:56good you're familiar with wet ice.
9:58That's because the machines that make
10:00this stuff store it at a temperature
10:02just warm enough so that it is always
10:04slowly melting. So, it's always wet and
10:07the cubes never stick together, which is
10:09nice. Wet ice is easy to crush due to
10:12its higher temperature. Now, ice from an
10:15infreezer uh ice machine like most of us
10:18have at home, you know, uh the stuff
10:21that cranks out these uh these half
10:23moons, you know. Um this is really
10:26really difficult ice. I'm not home.
10:28That's actually what I've got at home.
10:29That's me and my eyes. Um it's hard as a
10:32freaking rock, okay? Uh and if you try
10:35to crush it uh straight from the the
10:37freezer bin and you could like crack
10:39your mallet, which you don't want to do.
10:41So, if you've h got to use this kind of
10:44ice, dry cubes, um you're going to want
10:47to put it in a in a large colander set
10:49in a bowl and just let it temper at room
10:52temperature for 5 to 10 minutes or until
10:55the outside of it is is kind of wet.
10:57That'll allow the ice to actually soften
10:59a little bit. Um if you're having a
11:01party, you might want to just uh buy
11:03yourself a 5 lb bag at the gas station
11:06and keep it in a cooler. It will be more
11:08like this, which of course is more like
11:10what um bartenders uh use them
11:12themselves in their bars. Okay, good
11:14talk.
11:16I forgot I actually need this stuff.
11:26Now, when it comes to uh crushing, I'm
11:28really picky uh because I want kind of a
11:30continuum from really small to
11:32incredibly small pieces so they melt at
11:34different rates. I really can't get that
11:36out of common kitchen appliances like
11:38blenders and uh food processors. They
11:41make so much really really tiny stuff
11:43that you end up more with, I don't know,
11:45puddles than piles.
11:47That didn't sound good. Some people
11:49still use these u uh hand grinders that
11:51are uh completely manual. Kind of a
11:53beast to operate and they never really
11:56produce uh any of the uh pieces that are
11:58small enough uh for my liking. Um me, if
12:02I'm crushing for just say two jewelips
12:05or I'm going to need one pound of
12:07crushed ice for the two cups, um I uh I
12:10use this handy canvas bag. It's commonly
12:12referred to as a Lewis bag. Um which
12:15some say, and this is interesting, uh
12:17hearken back to the early 20th century
12:19when big city bartenders would bash up
12:22their ice in the canvas bags that banks
12:24used to transfer coins. True. Now,
12:28maybe. I just really hope they wash
12:30their coin sacks, you know, because
12:33coins pretty filthy little things. Um,
12:37you can also when you buy these, they
12:40usually come with a wooden mallet. And I
12:41have found the mallet to be the proper
12:44tool for the job. Nice and even uh
12:46rolling pins. Some people use uneven
12:48results. And certainly, you don't want
12:49to use one of these big Thor style meat
12:52tenderizers cuz let me tell you, this
12:54thing will tear your sack up in no time.
12:58do not want to use this on your coin
13:00sack or your Louiswis sack as far as I'm
13:02concerned.
13:04Okay, here we go. Uh the uh the ice my
13:08one pound, remember for two uh drinks.
13:10And I like this cuz the the Louiswis
13:11bag's got this little kind of flap
13:17which helps to keep things keep things
13:19in. Okay, this is serious business. Uh
13:23the other thing that that's good for is
13:24you can fold it under. So, the canvas,
13:26by the way, very important because it
13:27will wick away or soak away um excess
13:29water. Uh cuz this is going to
13:31definitely have a little bit of melt to
13:32it. And then all you have to do is
13:35gently, you don't That's not
13:40I mean, if you need to do that, do it.
13:45But not with good ice.
13:48Keep that tucked under. You're going to
13:50have some ice come out. It's okay.
13:55Don't hit your hand.
13:58Let's have a look, shall we?
14:03I would say that's uh that's fairly uh
14:05fairly delightful. I know that the
14:06smaller pieces are in the bottom, and I
14:08do want some bigger pieces. So, now
14:10we're absolutely ready to make Oh crap,
14:11I forgot to talk about something.
14:17A jeulip simply is not a jeulip without
14:20sugar. But regular table sugar, as you
14:23well know, dissolves poorly in cold
14:25liquids, which is why I always keep
14:27extra fine sugar around. Uh, not
14:30confectioners. That's different because
14:32it contains corn starch, which I do not
14:34want in my drink. No, I'm talking about
14:36good old sucrose
14:39uh dust form. Oh. Oh. Oh, here it is.
14:41Here it is. All right. Now, to produce,
14:43you just take a cup of sugar for a spin
14:45in your favorite food processor. you.
14:49Seems it's time to grind. All right,
14:52I'll show you how I really do it. I
14:54usually just grind a couple tablespoons
14:56at a time in a mortar and pestle. I like
15:00this method over electrical devices
15:02because I can really keep an eye on the
15:04process and make sure the texture uh is
15:06is right. I don't want just a dust
15:08that's going to fly around the room. Not
15:09really. It won't take more than a minute
15:11of grinding. And you're going to move
15:13that to airtight containment. And do
15:15include a desicant pack to ensure that
15:18it stays dry and doesn't clump, which
15:20sugar loves to do, especially in
15:22humidity.
15:26Okay. Now, there is literally nothing to
15:28prevent me from finally manufacturing a
15:30proper julip. I have my fine sugar. Um,
15:34important if you're going to be making
15:35these one at a time. I have bourbon. I'm
15:38using a 100 proof Kentucky straight
15:41bourbon. uh perfect uh for this job. Um
15:44I have got ice standing by. I've got uh
15:47five uh mint leaves, nice and fresh, um
15:50all stacked up uh to go into the uh the
15:53cup there. Um this doesn't include the
15:55garnish. That's important. You're going
15:57to want to save a sprig or garnish mint
15:59at the end. We'll discuss shortly. Um
16:01and uh of course, I've got my beloved
16:05jewel cup. I know everybody doesn't have
16:07one of these, okay? And frankly, it's
16:09okay. It is, especially considering the
16:12the thermal characteristics of of of
16:15silver, pettor, the traditional
16:17materials. Honestly, you you're better
16:20off thermally just using a heavy rocks
16:23glass, okay? Because glass is an
16:24insulator. Silver is not. It's a
16:27conductor, right? It just go with this
16:29if you don't have this. It's just it
16:32this is the south, so it's simply not
16:34done. Besides, half the joy of a jeulip
16:37is when the outside I'm giving it away
16:39too soon. I I'm giving away. Never mind.
16:40Never mind. The last thing I want to
16:42mention that I have is a muddler. You
16:44may have seen one of these in the past.
16:46May have one. You may have seen a
16:48bartender uh use one of these to smash
16:50up the uh the leaves in the bottom of of
16:53a cup for a a jeulip or a mojito or
16:55whatever. It's easy to do because the
16:57jagged little nurls will tear up some
17:00leaves, which is not what we want to do.
17:03This is fine for smashing lemon or lime,
17:06but we do not want to tear the mint
17:08leaves because what we want is not
17:11inside the mint leaves. Behold,
17:15this may appear to be a green painted
17:17piece of cardboard with a bunch of
17:18semi-inflated balloons stuck to it, but
17:20it is in fact a stunningly accurate
17:23scientific model. The microscopic view
17:26of a mint leaf exterior.
17:29Exterior. These balloons represent
17:32structures called piltate glandular
17:34tricoms. Tiny external little oil glands
17:37that store the mint volatile organic
17:40compounds, the stuff we want. Inside the
17:43leaf is chlorophyll and a bunch of other
17:45bitter plant stuff that we don't want.
17:48So, our goal is to pop these
17:53without breaching this.
17:55Here's how I do it.
17:59We're ready to julip them. Really, I'm
18:00I'm not kidding around with this
18:01anymore. All right. Uh here is uh my
18:04cup. I'm going to put in the five nice
18:07juicy leaves right down in the bottom.
18:11Now, um a lot of uh recipes will tell
18:14you to add sugar and then muddle. Do not
18:16do that.
18:18All that the sugar does is is act as an
18:20abrasive to tear into the leaves. We're
18:22not doing that. But remember though, the
18:24carvone, the R. Carvone, lead singer of
18:27the uh the VOCC band, um is very very
18:30alcohol soluble. So, I'm just going to
18:31add a splash. I've got 3 oz total of my
18:35100p proof bourbon here. Yeah, it's a
18:37stiff drink. You sip it slow cuz if you
18:40don't, you're going to get ice cream
18:41headache anyway. So, I'm just going to
18:43pour in. It's maybe a teaspoon. All
18:45right. Now, we do have to u express uh
18:50the oil glands here. It's like something
18:53that would have to do with one of my dog
18:55we have to uh mash them a little bit.
18:57Now, what I'm going to use looks like a
18:59big tool, you know, and it is. It's a
19:01rolling pin. The reason I'm using it,
19:03though, is that the um the diameter of
19:05the bottom just about fills the bottom
19:07of the cup. And that's good because if I
19:09go in there with something small, like
19:12even this end of this um this muddler,
19:15it's really going to punch holes. It's
19:16going to be very aggressive. This is
19:17actually going to be fairly gentle. So
19:19here, I'm just going to place that right
19:21down on top of the leaves and just
19:23gently
19:25push and twist. Push and twist.
19:30Push and twist.
19:32Push and twist and walk away. That's it.
19:36Well, I mean, don't walk away. Walk away
19:38with this. You're going to look down.
19:39You're going to be like, "Those leaves
19:40don't even look bruised."
19:44Leave them alone. It's okay. Now, sugar.
19:47You can go the fine sugar uh with up to
19:50a teaspoon if you like your drinks on
19:51the sweet side. I like to taste the
19:54liquor. So, I'm going with half a
19:58teaspoon. Again, this is completely up
20:00to you. Don't go more than a teaspoon.
20:02That's going to get nasty. It's not a
20:03slurpee. There we go. Now, um 100 proof
20:08of um bourbon. That's probably not
20:10enough actual water in there to dissolve
20:12all that. So, what we want to do is add
20:13a little bit of the ice um and stir
20:15until we've got a thoroughly uh
20:18dissolved bunch of sugar. We don't want
20:19granules floating around in there. So,
20:21I'm just going to add enough to come up
20:24about halfway.
20:26That's all.
20:27And stir. This is Peter, not silver. Do
20:30whatever. And just stir and make small
20:35talk. Sir, did you bring your jeulip
20:38cup? Excellent. Excellent. Madam, yo,
20:41hoops. Good. Looks
20:44there. Now, time to make a chunky snow
20:47cone. Literally, what we're doing, this
20:48is why I use half a cup um per and I
20:52very often do this in kind of a wide
20:54basin to catch all the ice that I'm
20:56about to spill that I'm not going to be
20:57able to now because I didn't bring a
20:58basin.
21:01Observe. I kind of like the flap for
21:03this. I am literally
21:07piling that up. Yes, there's going to be
21:09ice. It's going to be left over. Look,
21:10that's the pile I want. I know I'm
21:11wearing a light shirt, so you can't see
21:13that. That's what we want. Okay, now the
21:16rest of the bourbon. Slowly. Slowly. If
21:19you go fast, it's going to pour over the
21:21sides of the bowl of the of the cup.
21:25So, just slowly take your time. This is
21:27not a speedy drink. Nothing about this
21:30drink is speedy, including how you're
21:32going to drink it. Slowly. There you go.
21:36Don't worry, it's going to fit. You'll
21:38think it's not, but it is
21:41delightful.
21:42Garnish in this case is very important
21:45because we want to smell the aroma of
21:48the mint before the drink gets to our
21:50mouth. And so the sprig, the top sprig,
21:52a tiny little precious sprig. But in
21:55order to open up its flavors, it's got
21:57to be span. Well, not it's flavors, it's
21:59aromas. It's got to be spanked.
22:02Bad mint sprit.
22:05Oh yeah, that's the stuff. Park this off
22:06to the side.
22:09You do spank your mat, right? I mean,
22:11it's a standard thing.
22:14Now, I like a straw and I just And I
22:17like a straw um that's uh biodegradable.
22:20And I I go with these uh these straws
22:23are made actually out of um uh leftover
22:26sugar cane pulp. I don't know how they
22:27do it, but I like it. It's
22:28biodegradable. It's sugary, so I get it.
22:31And um so I go the opposite side of the
22:33sprig, right? All the way to the bottom.
22:34And then I cut cuz let's face it, this
22:36looks like a milkshake. I want something
22:38a little more gental.
22:43Perfection.
22:45And that is a proper
22:49julip. But before we drink it, before we
22:52experience the perfection that's here,
22:53let's just talk about what's going on
22:55inside, shall we? Look at this. Remember
22:58the whole four member mint band, the Vox
23:02uh band? That band is now synchronizing
23:04with another band, the bourbon band.
23:06Bourbon is complex stuff. Not so much
23:08because of the distillate, but because
23:10of the time inside those new charred oak
23:13barrels. All right, that barrel brings
23:15its own set of aromatic compounds,
23:17including, let's see, we've got vanilla
23:18on piano. We've got cis, whiskey,
23:21lactone on upright bass. We've got
23:23fruity esters blowing tener sacks,
23:26eugenol, and phenols on trumpet. E,
23:29beta, damasinone on trombone. Um, delta
23:34lactone and something decolactone on
23:36baritone saxs. Um, threemethyl
23:39butinol on guitar and good old ethanol
23:42um on on drums. Wow, what a lineup. And
23:45they're really jibing, you know, jamming
23:47with these together because believe me,
23:50up in the old factory switchboard that
23:52is your brain, they're coming together
23:54in a conversation. and the spearmints
23:56bright, clean, cool smell of carbone is
24:00cutting through the vanilla caramel
24:02toasted oak and dark fruit of the
24:04bourbon. And as the ice slowly melts and
24:07you sip, that relationship changes until
24:10you're left just sucking memories and
24:13mint leaves.
24:16Absolutely delicious. Oh, and you see
24:18that frost. Let's talk about that frost.
24:21You have to remember that back in the
24:23day, ice was an agricultural product cut
24:27off of ponds and rivers in winter and
24:29then stored in ice houses. Um, as late
24:32as October, um, George Washington,
24:35Thomas Jefferson both had ice houses at
24:37home. Jefferson dug what he called an
24:39ice uh, well at the White House, so when
24:42he was president, he could impress
24:43dignitaries with chilled wine and ice
24:46cream. The point is for a lot of the
24:49Jew's history, ice was a status symbol
24:52as was of course owning silver cups. And
24:54although you know you can't see the ice
24:56inside the silver cup, you can see the
24:58frost formed on the outside due to the
25:01high thermal conductivity of the cup
25:04itself. So there you are strolling with
25:06your jewel frosty. Huh? And it's it's
25:09like you're proclaiming ice, baby. I got
25:12ice, so I got money. Not to mention a
25:15silver cup. So honestly, the jeulip was
25:18the OG stat bev. Today ice is common,
25:23which is kind of a shame because we tend
25:24to take it for granted, but not today.
25:28Of course, I have to say sometimes I
25:29make um jeulips in mass and when I do, I
25:32skip the muddling all together. So
25:34finally I can say enough drinking. We
25:36cook.
25:43Fetch down a heavy but relatively small
25:45saucepan and combine 223 gram of water.
25:48That's a cup with 350 gram of sugar. Put
25:53that over medium low heat. Uh stirring
25:56often with a just a whisk uh until the
25:59sugar is fully dissolved and bubbles
26:01just start to break around the edges. Do
26:03not bring it to a boil. All right, kill
26:05the heat and just let it sit until it
26:07cools to 170°.
26:10All right, that's close enough. Then
26:12move to uh the carffe of your blender.
26:15Meanwhile, bring several cups of water
26:17to a boil. I just like an electric
26:19kettle for this. And then uh dunk a
26:22bouquet of about 10 sprigs of spearmint
26:25uh into the water and hold for 15
26:28seconds. I tied them together to make
26:30this easier. Does get stainy though.
26:33Then immediately transfer to an ice
26:36bath. This will help to set the color of
26:38the mint and will keep the syrup bright
26:40later on down the line. After about a
26:43minute in the ice bath, pick off as many
26:46of the leaves as you can salvage. And
26:48then just give them a good squeeze and
26:50add to the blender. Blend on medium high
26:53until those mint pieces are obliterated
26:56into tiny insy dots.
27:04Then strain your syrup through a fine
27:06sie. I run it through usually twice. And
27:09if you don't have a fine sie, you might
27:10want to use some cheesecloth and
27:13transfer to a clean squeeze bottle.
27:14Easily obtained online or at your local
27:16restaurant supply store. So now that we
27:19have uh that syrup made, we can make um
27:22jeulips in mass without having to do any
27:25crunching, spinning, or you know, any of
27:26that kind of uh thing. Um, of course, if
27:28we're really going to have a full out
27:30julib shind dig, um, I'm going to be
27:33making at least four at a time, right?
27:35And this bag, although useful, um, it
27:40doesn't doesn't cut it, and I don't want
27:41to have to work in batches. So, uh, what
27:43I've done, um, is that this this is a,
27:46uh, canvas, natural canvas, uh, book bag
27:49that I picked up at some bookstore. All
27:51it has on it in one side, it's got kind
27:52of like an ironon. I don't care about
27:54that. Uh the inside, as you can see, is
27:56uh just lily white. This is pure is
28:00driven snow. So I cut off handles, you
28:02know, because it used to
28:04hold handles. Um and I use this now as
28:06my my party bag. So um I've got twice as
28:10much ice as would go in there. 2 lb
28:13um in my bag. And u since this is a big
28:16old big old sack, um I want to uh to
28:19make sure that I keep it closed. So,
28:21what I do, um, is I just use, uh, these
28:23these binder clips. I just put one there
28:26and, uh, one here, right? And then, uh,
28:32well, I go to town.
28:49Let's have a look, shall we?
29:00I think we've got a little more pounding
29:02to do, don't you?
29:10That looks good. That's what I want to
29:11see. Um, and what I'm going to do is
29:13while I build the drinks, I'm just going
29:14to stash this in the, uh, in the freezer
29:16for just a moment.
29:18Cut.
29:22To assemble, uh, gather your four
29:24matching julip cups or whatever glasses
29:26that you want to use and into each
29:28squirt about two teaspoons to a
29:31tablespoon of the, uh, of the syrup. And
29:33then follow with about an ounce of the
29:36bourbon. uh add enough ice to come
29:38halfway up the cup and then stir to
29:40bring that all together into a nice
29:42solution. That's going to help the uh
29:44the syrup to not just sit on the bottom
29:45cuz remember it is more viscous. Um then
29:48go ahead and pile on the rest of the
29:51ice. We want to have full mounds here.
29:53And I usually go ahead and slide the uh
29:56the straw in because if the ice starts
29:57to freeze against the glass, it's the
29:59cup. It's going to be hard to get in
30:01there. Then top with bourbon, however
30:04much it takes. In this case, it's going
30:05to be a total of 4 ounces in each cup.
30:07Yes, it is a strong drink. Garnish and
30:10serve.
30:15My oh my. But that is delicious. Now, I
30:18know some of you purists out there are
30:20saying, "Syup, that's cheating. Unclutch
30:24your pearls." Okay? Because I can tell
30:26you right now that for hundreds of
30:28years, the word jeulip or julap or gulap
30:31even meant a medicinal syrup. originally
30:34made with rose water in Persia. And we
30:36also know that uh by uh 1764
30:40in St. Thomas Hospital in London, they
30:43were concocting and prescribing mint
30:45jeulaps medically. Right, there's the uh
30:48the recipe there given in large
30:51spoonfuls taken frequently are of great
30:54service in removing nauseas and
30:56wretchings to vomit.
30:59Of course, you drink enough of these and
31:01you will be wretching and vomiting. you
31:03know, be responsible and sensible, won't
31:06you? Um, we also know that the 1870s,
31:10specifically in Virginia, jeulips with a
31:13considerable amount of spirits added rum
31:15originally, then brandy, and then
31:17bourbon, uh, were being embedded by
31:20country gentlemen as morning eyeopeners,
31:23no less. Um, and of course, uh, by the
31:26early 1800s, ice was being added, and
31:28the rest is, you know, I'm not about to
31:32tell you to suffer such a tipple first
31:34thing in the morning, but
31:44see you next time on

About this transcript

This page contains the full transcript of Alton Brown Cooks Food | Episode 33: Kentucky Fried Mint by Alton Brown, generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 5,193 words across 741 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.

What you can do with it

Use the transcript to take notes, quote the speaker, build a study guide, generate a summary with ChatGPT or Claude via the YouTube Summary tool, or export it as a timed subtitle file with YouTube to SRT. You can also re-open it in the transcriber to translate the transcript into 100+ languages.

Free YouTube transcript tool

YouTube2Text is a free YouTube transcript generator — no signup, no daily limit. Paste any YouTube link and get the full transcript instantly, with timestamps, click-to-jump, translation to 100+ languages, AI prompts for ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, and exports to TXT, SRT, VTT, or Markdown.