The mojito event at STIX last night was disappointing.

See, STIX is one of the restaurants in Boston that's doing the most with molecular mixology. And we'd heard that, at this free event sponsored by Bacardi (well, "free plus parking plus the fact that it was over dinner time so we ordered some food, ending up with something like sixty bucks for the free event"), they'd be playing with a few new ideas.

One worked, the other, eh.

The one that worked was the Pop-Rocks one. They did a gelatinous cube (not the 4 hit die one -- just a cube out of jelly) which was half rum and half raspberry puree, plus enough gelatin to make it gel, then squirted a mint sauce on top, and sprinkled it with Pop Rocks. It worked.

The mojitos that were being made were not very good. They tasted entirely artificial -- fake lime flavor, high fructose corn syrup, and not much mint flavor.

And the other drink -- the Smoking Mojito -- was the same stuff, just dropped in a little cup with dry ice.

Now, the cups were interesting. They were narrow cylinders, maybe two inches (5 cm) in diameter by 3 inches (7.5 cm) high. The bottom had a separate chamber, into which the dry ice was put. Then there was a cap over it, with several perforations, and then the rest of the cup. So it had a perforated but separate chamber for the dry ice, which kept the pellet from coming out and hitting you when you were drinking, and kept you from swallowing the pellet, which I imagine would have been very uncomfortable. (Internal frostbite, plus gas pressure as it sublimated. Not a good thing, I imagine.)

However: because the liquid just went through the perforations, the liquid as a whole didn't bubble, so the drink as a whole did not get cold, nor did it carbonate, which are two things which I expect from dry ice. And, like I said, the mojito itself wasn't very good.

I expect better quality ingredients.

And it occurred to me: right now, bartending is going forward in two directions: first, you have the people who are working on re-creating old, hand-crafting techniques, using fresh ingredients and high-quality infusions, liqueurs, and liquors. They are working for careful balance of flavor, elegant presentation, and personal attention.

Then you have people who are going for the "wow" factor -- things that are different, new, exciting, and creative in shocking, avant-garde ways.

What do you get when you cross the two?

Me.

At least, that's what I'm going for.

My margarita souffle seems to be turning out reasonably well.

Okay, it didn't turn out as a margarita soufflé. . .

Instead, it ended up looking like, and having the exact texture of, lemon meringue pie. Except that it tastes like a margarita.

I just have to make sure that it's repeatable.

Okay. Here's what I did, partially for you, and partially for my own memory.

1 oz Jose Quervo Tradicianal
1/2 oz Cointreau
Juice of 2 limes
Juice of 1 lemon
1 oz raw blue agave syrup, dark. (That's a syrup made from agave nectar; it's a sweetener. You can get it at Whole Foods, next to the honey.)
1 egg white
1 pinch of powdered agar agar

Shake in cocktail shaker, hard, to foam the white.

Pour into large ramekin (your ramekin may vary -- we've got two ramekin sizes, and this is the larger one.)

When I did this, the foam stayed on top.

Put in microwave, and nuke for two minutes. (Your microwave may vary. You probably want to do it for a shorter period of time. Our microwave is low-powered.)

Take out, and let cool to room temperature.

Right now, after a couple hours of cooling, it's perfect. It may get too solid later, so, for the record, it's probably about 2 and a half hours after I nuked it, and it's really good.