Feeling Punchy was a feather in that big hat Alton Brown was wearing aboard his trading ship on the latest installment of Good Eats. I'd rate this as one of his best mixes of history, entertainment, food science, and recipe selections. He hit all the bases and had his prop guys working overtime. I had been expecting a more Caribbean theme after his exploits on the high seas to our south, so this was a pleasant surprise.
The opening scene is defintiely the picture that comes to my mind when I think of a bowl of punch. A stuffy, yet not fancy event, and a big bowl of 7UP, fruit juice, and some nasty blobs of sherbet floating around. The grandma dumping her own bottle of spirits into the bowl made the scene; though the follow up was even better.
Admiral Brown on this East India ship was hilarious! I love the way he hams it up; flicking his hair and yelling at his sailor, while still running through the usual history lesson and making a bowl of punch. Dunking his Dutch captive into the drink for ice was a great touch.
The lessons in spirits and mixing methods was very informative. I don't buy much straight alcohol, so it helps to know what to buy and differences in labeling. At first I was a bit put out because the punch looked so good, but I never have enough people over to enjoy such large batches. However, knowing the rule of fives will make it easy to convert the recipes into something smaller to fit my needs.
Awesome job Alton!
2 comments:
And BTW, Cape Fear refers to the area around and to the south of Wilmington, NC where the Cape Fear River empties into the Atlantic.
I thought it was a great episode too.
Surprised by the no Caribbean nod, but so so good anyway.
AB is such a ham... but in a good way ;)
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