THIS FREE START holiday season, while many will adopt the concept of fun“The Danish form of cozy comfort – Swedish.” moderate it may be more of the moment. It could also be the key to building a better drink.
While there is no accurate translation of lagom (pronounced log-ohm), it is generally interpreted as “not too little, not too much,” a state of mind in which what you have is the perfect amount.
“He’s happy with what he has and doesn’t want it to be anything else,” said Selma Slabiak, owner of Selma’s Bar in Queens ’Ridgewood neighborhood of New York, and author of“ Spirit of the North, ”a cocktail-focused book around the traditions of Scandinavian drinking. Although Mrs. Slabiak is a native of Denmark, not Sweden, she understands lagom well, especially when it comes to making drinks.
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“You may not have a big liquor cabinet, but that’s the way it is. You have everything you need, “she said. Similarly, a drink can be lagom.” When I was a younger bartender, I thought I needed to add things to make the cocktail stand out and be special, “Ms. “But a Negroni is lagom. It has three ingredients. It’s perfect as it is.”
In her 2017 book “Live Lagom: Balanced Life, The Swedish Way,” author and Swedish-American Anna Brones describes the popular etymology of the word. “It’s a romanticized version of Lagom’s roots, a story of Vikings going through a mead horn,” Ms. Brones. “Laget om, or ‘around the team,’ meant that the mead had to reach everyone’s lips, which required each Viking to just take a proper sip so that there was one for everyone.”
Lagom also includes environmental sustainability, taking from the land what is needed, no more, minimizing waste and embracing food during the season. And it’s about being moderate and attentive to everyday life, writes Mrs. Brones, taking what you need, but leaving enough for others to be happy.
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Is it possible to find this balance in the current pandemic greenhouse, always worked from home? Yes, Mrs. Slabiak insisted, if that is the mindset you choose. “You’re in a situation and you say,‘ It can’t get any better, it’s perfect as it is, ’” he said.
If this seems a high order, surely the help of Mrs. Slabiak’s Svalbard Sling. The incarnation of the lagom, is an easy-to-drink alcohol ball with just an ounce of brandy (gin or vodka also works), flavored with a cordial uncooked and waste-free citrus that uses all fruit, skin and everything. Completed with festive bubbles, it is not too strong, nor too weak, it has equally sweet and steely parts. Enough.
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Ingredients
- ½ cup of fresh lemon juice, more fruit skins with juice (about 4 lemons)
- ½ cup of fresh orange juice, plus fruit peel with juice (about 2 medium oranges)
- ½ cup of surface sugar
Directions
- In a jar or bowl, mix juices and sugar until the sugar is completely dissolved. Add hairs. Cover the container. Strong overnight or up to 2 days.
- Strain before use. It will be kept, refrigerated, for up to 1 week. To extend the shelf life by at least 1 week, strengthen it with a i ounce of clear and durable spirit.
“I wanted to make a winter drink that would still cool and I thought about the Arctic beauty of Svalbard,” near the North Pole, Ms. Slabiak, from the homonymous archipelago of this drink. The cordial uses both the juice and the citrus peel in its seasonal season. Replacing the juice with the skins intensifies the flavor exponentially. If aquavit is not available, use gin. Or omit alcohol to have a fizzy drink like lemonade.
Ingredients
- 3 ounces of seltzer
- One ounce of cordial citrus
- 1 ounce Aquavit Line
- 1 whole star anise, to garnish
Directions
- In a tall glass filled with ice, pour seltzer, cordial and then aquavit.
- Garnish with star anise.
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