Words by Julia Momosé and Emma Janzen. Photo by Kevin Miyazaki.
Citrus comes into season in the wintertime and my favorite variety is the mikan, a small relative of the mandarin orange, also called satsuma. I used to eat so many my hands would turn a deep orange color from all the snacking sessions. Other times, I’d save them for my favorite wintertime game. When heavy snow hit the mountains, we’d play in the deepest drifts, throwing mikans into fluffy banks of fresh powder and fishing them out the next day to eat frozen. The way the juicy segments snapped with frigid cold felt like tiny fireworks with each bite. To re-create that memory in a cocktail, I bury satsuma juice beneath a chilly layer of crushed ice and absinthe. As the absinthe seeps into the juice, it louches, creating a cloudy white layer that looks like snow. The first sip is bracingly cold, prickling waves of anisette, with relief from the satsuma juice below offering a sweet contrast. This cocktail brings me joy with each sip when mikan come into season, reminding me of another time and place.
The Way of the Cocktail: Japanese Traditions, Techniques, and Recipes by Julia Momosé and Emma Janzen is now available.
Frosty Mikan
Ingredients
- 1 ounce satsuma juice, see note
- ¼ ounce simple syrup
- 1 ounce absinthe
- club soda to top
- garnish with satsuma wheel
- ¼ ounce absinthe
Instructions
- In a highball glass, combine the satsuma juice, simple syrup, and 1 ounce
- absinthe. Stir lightly and fill the glass with crushed ice. Top with club soda.
- Garnish with a satsuma wheel, and ¼ ounce more of absinthe.
Notes
regular oranges, but any mandarin orange juice would work in place of satsuma if that is
what you have handy.
Reprinted from The Way of the Cocktail: Japanese Traditions, Techniques, and Recipes by Julia Momosé and Emma Janzen. Copyright © 2021 by Julia Momosé. Published by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.