Ratafia liqueur makes the most of California citrus
SPIRITS
In Southwest France, ratafia is brandy infused with fruit and spice. But that doesn't mean you can't make a version using vodka.
LOU AMDUR, owner of the wine bar Lou on Vine, sits back on his heels as he peers into the recesses of a low kitchen cupboard. Bottles clink against each other as he rummages in the dark. Finally standing up, he sets an unlabeled bottle on the kitchen counter. "Ratafia," he says.
The opaque elixir before us has the questionable, slightly brownish hue of oxidized dessert wine. Then Amdur pours a splash into a juice glass, releasing inviting citrus aromas. We take sips. Tart orange and clove flavors infuse the earthy warmth of brandy in a drink dancing with fresh fruit.
In Southwest France, ratafia is a fruit- and spice-
infused brandy made at home. Transplanting ratafia to his Southern California kitchen, Amdur marries rustic French traditions with our region's bountiful supply of backyard citrus. After plenty of kitchen experiments, he's decided that almost any citrus makes delicious ratafia, so he bottles a batch whenever a new citrus fruit comes into season.
"What's exciting is how you can capture the essence of fresh fruit in a cordial that will stay fresh for years," Amdur says. "We're so jaded about the abundance of the fruit growing all around us. Ratafia is a thrifty way to take advantage of it."
That's easy for him to say. A dedicated home cook and wine connoisseur who succumbed to his twin passions and became a restaurateur two years ago, Amdur has been making this stuff since shortly after he first tasted it at a farmhouse outside of Toulouse, France, in 2002.
I'm intrigued, but I'm too nervous to make my first ratafia by myself, so I offer him a Sunday brunch in exchange for a ratafia tutorial.
Amdur's interest in homemade ratafia started when a Los Angeles neighbor with a backyard bitter (or sour) variety of orange tree deposited a grocery bag of fruit at his door. The ratafia he'd enjoyed in France was made with oranges. "Once you taste ratafia, you realize how commercial liqueurs like Grand Marnier really are. They don't taste fresh," he says. "It totally changed my mind about orange-flavored liqueur."
A celebratory drink
THE name ratafia, according to some accounts, comes from the Latin phrase rata fiat, meaning "to ratify." At the close of a business deal or the signing of a treaty, ratafia -- originally made with unfermented or partially fermented wine-grape juice and distilled grape spirits -- was a celebratory libation. For his first batch of homemade ratafia, Amdur used a Paula Wolfert recipe. He carefully stripped the zest from the oranges, trimming away the last bit of the peel's white pith. He cut the zest into quarter-inch strips and tossed them into a Mason jar with an equal amount of the fresh squeezed bitter-orange juice and brandy, with half again as much simple syrup.
