THIS HOME holiday season, while many will embrace the concept of amusement—Comfortable Danish comfort module – Swedish moderate it may be more of the moment. It could also be the key to building a better drink.
Although there is no precise translation of lagom (pronounced log-ohm), it is generally interpreted as “not too little, not too much” – a state of mind in which all you have is the perfect amount.
“You’re happy with what you have and you don’t want it to be anything else,” said Selma Slabiak, owner of Selma’s Bar in Ridgewood, Queens, NY, and author of “Spirit of the North,” a cocktail book about Scandinavian drinking traditions. . Although Ms Slabiak is originally from Denmark, not Sweden, she understands lagom well, especially when it comes to making drinks.
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“You may not have a big cupboard for alcohol, but it’s late as it is. You have everything you need, “she said. Similarly, a drink can be lagom. “When I was a younger bartender, I thought you had to keep adding things to make your cocktail stand out and be special,” Ms. Slabiak recalled. “But a Negroni is a lagom. It has three ingredients. It is perfect as it is. ”
In her 2017 book “Live Lagom: Balanced Living, 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 passing around a mead horn,” writes Brones. “Laget man, or ‘around the team,’ meant that fear had to reach everyone’s lips, requiring every Viking to take just one proper sip so that there were a few for everyone.”
Lagom also encompasses environmental sustainability – taking what is needed from the ground, no more – minimizing waste and embracing seasonal food. And it’s about being moderate and attentive in your daily 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, always active greenhouse, at home, of pandemic life? Yes, Ms Slabiak insisted, if this is the mentality you choose. “You find yourself in a situation and you say, ‘It can’t be better, it’s perfect the way it is,'” she said.
If it sounds like a high order, Mrs. Slabiak’s Svalbard Sling will definitely help you. The embodiment of lagom, is an easy-to-drink highball, with only an ounce of aquavit (gin or vodka also works), flavored with a cordial of citrus without cooking, without waste, which uses the whole fruit, peel and all. Filled with festive bubbles, it is not too strong, not too weak, equal parts sweet and tart. Sufficient.
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ingredients
- ½ cup of fresh lemon juice, plus fruit peel with juice (about 4 lemons)
- ½ cup of fresh orange juice, plus fruit peel (about 2 medium oranges)
- ½ superfine sugar cup
Directions
- In a jar or bowl, mix the juices and sugar until the sugar is completely dissolved. Add the shells. Cover the container. Steep overnight or up to 2 days.
- Strain before use. Store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. To extend the shelf life by at least 1 week, fortify with ½ ounce of clear resistant spirit.
“I wanted to make a winter drink that is still refreshing and I thought about the Arctic beauty of Svalbard,” near the North Pole, said Ms. Slabiak from the homonymous archipelago of the drink. The cordial uses both the juice and the citrus peel at its seasonal tip. Resting the juice with the peels intensifies the aroma exponentially. If aquavit is not available, use gin. Or skip the alcohol for a lemonade-like drink.
ingredients
- 3 ounces seltzer
- ¾ ounce of cordial citrus
- 1 ounce Aquavit Line
- 1 whole star anise, for garnish
Directions
- In a tall glass filled with ice, pour seltzer, cordially and then aquavit.
- Garnish with star anise.
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