Long Island Iced Tea Sorbet

in , on Tuesday, July 10, 2012


Ahhhhh. Looks like a lovely glass of iced tea. Right?


Wrong. That's a glass of Long Island Iced Tea.  And there's not a speck of tea in this iced tea either, honey.
So what's up with that? 
In 1976, a bartender named Robert “Rosebud” Butt at the Oak Beach Inn of Hampton Bays, Long Island, N.Y., threw together equal parts vodka, gin, rum, tequila and triple sec, plus a little cola to give it a tea-like color and invented Long Island Iced Tea. By the mid-1980s, the popularity of Butt’s invention far outweighed that of his last name (poor man), and had become hugely popular, especially among college-age drinkers.....traditionally around the time of spring break. Supposedly, the beverage allows covert drinkers to imbibe with a concoction that still looks as though it were non-alcoholic, just in case family were to arrive and catch you sipping the thing. A warning from the experience of age: it may look innocuous, but trust me, Long Island Teas aren’t for the faint of heart or amateur drinkers. They're deadly. There are lots of versions but here's the recipe we used to use:

3 parts Triple Sec
1 part Light Rum
1 part Dark Myers Rum
1 part Vodka
1 part Gin
1 part Vermouth
3 parts Sweet & Sour Mixer 
6 parts Coca Cola (like Classic; do not use Pepsi!)
1/2 part Tequila 
Ice

Oh the memories.  I'd probably drop on the spot if I had one now. :)
So I was thumbing through Marcel Desaulniers' lovely book Desserts To Die For and was intrigued to find those memories in sorbet form. And here it is, in all its glory....Long Island Iced Tea....frozen. Definitely an apt sorbet in a book with that title. My oh my.

Long Island Iced Tea Sorbet
From Desserts To Die For by Marcel Desaulniers



Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup Myers dark rum
1 cup good quality tequila
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup Rose's lime juice
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon finely grated lime zest
12 ounces Coca Cola Classic
1 1/2 cups cold water
1/4 cup Kahlua


Method:

Heat the sugar, rum, tequila, lemon and lime juice and zests in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. Reduce heat a bit and allow to boil for 13 minutes. You should have about 2 1/4 cups syrupy spiked tea. (At this point, your entire house will smell as though you've had a very big party.)
Cool the mixture over an ice bath until it is 40 to 45 degrees. (About 15 minutes) When chilled add cola, water and Kahlua.
Freeze in your ice cream freezer. Place the semifrozen sorbet into a container and freeze for several hours before serving. It will never freeze completely hard. Serve with a mint sprig and a slice of lime. Serve within 24 hours.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 10, 2012 at 1:21 PM and is filed under , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response.

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