Cachaça Caipirinha Cocktail
A whole pineapple hung over the coals and smoked with maple wood, pureed and stirred with a big measure of Brazilian cachaça, grilled lime and plenty of ice, then lengthened with elderflower tonic. IAN JONES discovered a caipirinha in Costa Rica, when attending the 2023 World BBQ Championships.
Ingredients
MAKES 4
THE MAPLE SMOKED PINEAPPLE
1 large ripe pineapple, skin on, crown removed
Butcher’s twine or a meat hook for hanging
2 or 3 chunks of fruit wood, apple or cherry
3 tablespoons maple syrup, for basting
60ml cachaça
1200ml maple smoked pineapple puree
½ lime, grilled on the plancha
Loads of ice
Fever-Tree Elderflower Tonic, to top up
2 tablespoons flaky sea salt
1 teaspoon chilli flakes
1 lime wedge, to wet the rims
Method
1. Build a small bed of coals off to one side and bring it to a low, steady smoulder. Add a chunk of fruit wood. Tie twine around the stalk end of the pineapple, or use a hook, and hang it above and slightly to the side of the coals so it sits in the smoke rather than the flame.
2. Leave it for 5 to 6 hours, turning every hour and topping up coals and wood. Brush with maple syrup for the final two hours so it builds a dark, sticky glaze.
3. Lift it down, cool, then peel, core and blitz the flesh to a thick puree. Chill it. It will keep for three days in the fridge.
4. Mix the salt and chilli flakes on a saucer. Run a lime wedge round the rim of each glass, dip and twist.
5. Cut the limes in half and press them cut side down on a hot plancha for about a minute, until blistered and caught at the edges.
6. Fill each glass with ice. Add the cachaça and the pineapple puree, squeeze in a grilled lime half and drop the shell in too. Stir well for a good 20 seconds. The puree is too thick to shake and strain, so stirring is the whole technique.
7. Top up with elderflower tonic, give it one more gentle stir, and serve with a straw and the smoked pineapple on the side for show.
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Method
1. Build a small bed of coals off to one side and bring it to a low, steady smoulder. Add a chunk of fruit wood. Tie twine around the stalk end of the pineapple, or use a hook, and hang it above and slightly to the side of the coals so it sits in the smoke rather than the flame.
2. Leave it for 5 to 6 hours, turning every hour and topping up coals and wood. Brush with maple syrup for the final two hours so it builds a dark, sticky glaze.
3. Lift it down, cool, then peel, core and blitz the flesh to a thick puree. Chill it. It will keep for three days in the fridge.
4. Mix the salt and chilli flakes on a saucer. Run a lime wedge round the rim of each glass, dip and twist.
5. Cut the limes in half and press them cut side down on a hot plancha for about a minute, until blistered and caught at the edges.
6. Fill each glass with ice. Add the cachaça and the pineapple puree, squeeze in a grilled lime half and drop the shell in too. Stir well for a good 20 seconds. The puree is too thick to shake and strain, so stirring is the whole technique.
7. Top up with elderflower tonic, give it one more gentle stir, and serve with a straw and the smoked pineapple on the side for show.
