Monkey Brains Cocktail

This delicious concoction brings together some unusual textures thanks to a little molecular gastronomy. The creepy look of the drink would be great for your next Halloween or Indiana Jones themed party!

For this cocktail, you'll need the following:

Banana Rum Caviar

• Crème de bananes
• Dark rum
• Brown sugar
• Agar Agar
• Vegetable oil
• Tall glass
• Sauce pan
• Syringe or eye dropper
• Strainer

Baileys Slush

• Irish cream
• Ice
• Blender

For the final presentation I use these cool 2.5 ounce skull glasses from thinkgeek.com

The molecular gastronomy element of this drink is loosely based on Mix That Drink's rum caviar. With agar agar you can transform the dark rum and banana liqueur into little jelly spheres that resemble fish eggs, or in this case, bits of monkey brains.

Fill a tall glass with cooking oil. Put the glass of oil in the freezer to get cold.

In a small sauce pan, stir together ¼ cup dark rum, ¼ cup creme de bananes and 2 grams of agar agar. Bring to a boil.

Add ¼ cup of brown sugar, stir to dissolve all the sugar and remove from heat.

Allow the rum mixture to cool for 3 minutes.

Remove the glass of oil from the freezer.

Suck up the rum mixture with a syringe and slowly add drops to the glass of oil. As the drops fall through the cold oil they turn into little jelly balls. This works best when the oil is really cold.

While you can use an eye dropper, a syringe makes the process much faster and you want to work quickly before the rum mixture in your sauce pan starts to solidify and form a skin.

Strain the rum caviar from the oil and rinse it under cold water.

You can reuse your oil for the next batch.

The amounts listed are enough for 3-4 drinks. Increase your batch size as needed. You can make the caviar in advance and store it in the fridge until just before serving.

In a blender or food processor, mix ice and Irish cream.

Blend until you have a nice slush, similar to a blended margarita.

Pour the Baileys slush into the glass.

Top with banana rum caviar.

Enjoy!