Andreas Viestad's Mock Aquavit
"It’s often difficult to find aquavit here in the liquor stores of the United States. So if you have a hankering for that potent liquor, here’s a substitute for you. :) You can experiment with all sorts of flavors, not just caraway. Recipe adapted from "Kitchen of Light: New Scandinavian Cooking with Andreas Viestad" by Andres Viestad. Prep time includes infusion."
photo by Bergy
- Ready In:
- 336hrs
- Ingredients:
- 9
- Yields:
-
1 liter
ingredients
- 2 teaspoons caraway seeds
- 1 teaspoon fennel seed
- 2 teaspoons dill seeds
- 2 star anise
- 1 tablespoon coriander seed
- 1 whole clove
- 1 cinnamon stick, 1-inch long (optional)
- 2 teaspoons cumin seeds (optional)
- 1 liter potato vodka
directions
- Open the vodka bottle, add all the remaining ingredients, and cover tightly.
- Let stand in a cool, dark place for 2 to 3 weeks, shaking every 3 or 4 days – how long you let it sit depends on how strong you want it, so taste it after 2 weeks to see if you want to let it go longer.
- When it’s as strong as you’d like, strain the solids through a sieve and discard them, then transfer the aquavit back into the bottle.
- To serve: place your aquavit in the freezer until chilled and you can also place your 1 ounce tall glasses in the refrigerator until chilled – then serve (ask your Scandinavian friends about toasting practices with aquavit, as it can be rather complicated).
- Note: some people prefer non-potato vodka – use whatever you like.
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Reviews
-
As close as it gets to the real aquavit - I used a polish vodka and left out the star anise - I made this last year and felt the anise took over. I just made it today for this year's Christmas Eve Thanks and Glade Jul 30 Nov - this year's batch is excellent 25 Dec 08 Once again your Aquavit has graced our Christmas Eve table - This is left over from last year and it ages well -
i had only rarely tasted this marvelous elixir...it is being served this year at my house with rave reviews! thank you
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Thank you! In my Swedish tradition you toast a person entering your house with aquavit fresh from the freezer. I know I will not be able to get it in Mexico Tak!!! Thank you for this recipe for the water of life!!! T.J. -
I made the recipe and included even the optional ingredients. I was able to get aquavit in the store a long time ago and this reminds me of exactly the same recipe. Can't wait to try it!
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
Julesong
Tukwila, 87
<p>It's simply this: I love to cook! :) <br /><br />I've been hanging out on the internet since the early days and have collected loads of recipes. I've tried to keep the best of them (and often the more unusual) and look forward to sharing them with you, here. <br /><br />I am proud to say that I have several family members who are also on RecipeZaar! <br /><br />My husband, here as <a href=http://www.recipezaar.com/member/39857>Steingrim</a>, is an excellent cook. He rarely uses recipes, though, so often after he's made dinner I sit down at the computer and talk him through how he made the dishes so that I can get it down on paper. Some of these recipes are in his account, some of them in mine - he rarely uses his account, though, so we'll probably usually post them to mine in the future. <br /><br />My sister <a href=http://www.recipezaar.com/member/65957>Cathy is here as cxstitcher</a> and <a href=http://www.recipezaar.com/member/62727>my mom is Juliesmom</a> - say hi to them, eh? <br /><br />Our <a href=http://www.recipezaar.com/member/379862>friend Darrell is here as Uncle Dobo</a>, too! I've been typing in his recipes for him and entering them on R'Zaar. We're hoping that his sisters will soon show up with their own accounts, as well. :) <br /><br />I collect cookbooks (to slow myself down I've limited myself to purchasing them at thrift stores, although I occasionally buy an especially good one at full price), and - yes, I admit it - I love FoodTV. My favorite chefs on the Food Network are Alton Brown, Rachel Ray, Mario Batali, and Giada De Laurentiis. I'm not fond over fakey, over-enthusiastic performance chefs... Emeril drives me up the wall. I appreciate honesty. Of non-celebrity chefs, I've gotta say that that the greatest influences on my cooking have been my mother, Julia Child, and my cooking instructor Chef Gabriel Claycamp at Seattle's Culinary Communion. <br /><br />In the last couple of years I've been typing up all the recipes my grandparents and my mother collected over the years, and am posting them here. Some of them are quite nostalgic and are higher in fat and processed ingredients than recipes I normally collect, but it's really neat to see the different kinds of foods they were interested in... to see them either typewritten oh-so-carefully by my grandfather, in my grandmother's spidery handwriting, or - in some cases - written by my mother years ago in fountain pen ink. It's like time travel. <br /><br />Cooking peeve: food/cooking snobbery. <br /><br />Regarding my black and white icon (which may or may not be the one I'm currently using): it the sea-dragon tattoo that is on the inside of my right ankle. It's also my personal logo.</p>
