Play word association and the name Jacques Torres immediately conjures chocolate. When the famed chef offered to create a signature cocktail for the Premier Cares Foundation's Annual Celebrity Chef Dinner just one week before the event, Solbeso's Culinary Ambassador Clay Gordon needed little persuasion.
"I wanted a drink that connected the cocktail to the chocolate theme of the dinner menu and also allowed the unique qualities of Solbeso to shine through," said Clay. "And it was important to me that the drink not be sweet.”
Based on Chef Torres’ wildly popular Wicked Hot Chocolate, Clay teamed with Torres to concoct the ultimate cacao fruit-meets-chocolate wintery drink. "Over the summer I experimented with Solbeso cocktails featuring horchata, which often has the same spices as the chef’s hot chocolate, minus the heat. From experience, I knew Solbeso would go well with the spices, but it was still necessary to find the perfect ratios. That's some of my favorite kind of research!” says Clay.
The Wicked Hotchata hit the spot, agreed Premier Cares Foundation dinner coordinator Julie Goldfischer: "Your Solbeso creation, the wonderful Wicked Hotchata, was the perfect festive drink with ‘wow’ factor to serve guests at our chocolate-inspired fundraising dinner."
Wicked Hotchata Way
3 oz Whole Milk
4 oz Unsweetened/Unflavored Almond Milk
2 oz Solbeso
1 oz Jacques Torres Wicked Hot Chocolate
0.5 oz Orgeat Syrup
Warm both types of milks on the stovetop. Add additional ingredients together into the milk. Make sure the mixture doesn’t come to a boil. Serve hot in a mug. For the cold version, mix ingredient in a shaker and strain ice, serve in a coupe. Yields 2 servings. The Wicked Hotchata is equally delicious served cold or hot.
