Food Challenge

A friend of mine challenged me to create a recipe using Pama Liqueur (http://www.pamaliqueur.com/), the world’s first true pomegranate liqueur. Pama’s ruby-red nectar highlights the sweet-tart flavor of the pomegranate fruit with an alcoholic kick.

My grandmother treated me to my first taste of the pomegranate’s juicy seeds that are squished together, side-by-side, like the audience at Jonas Brothers concert. I love tart/sour flavors tempered with sweet (lemonade, mojito) but I don’t like sweet and sour concoctions like a red barbecue sauce or sweet and sour chicken – too cloyingly sweet for my taste.

Like a matador challenging the bull with a red cape the bottle of Pama has been sitting on my counter, tempting and teasing me to get started. So I did.

Recipe Development

I wanted all the flavor profiles of the tongue to be engaged: sweet, salty, bitter and sour along with a fat that would enhance the longevity of the flavor on the tongue. My end goal was to come up with a glaze/sauce for chicken and pork. I created three recipes, similar but not the same.

Recipe One – Pama Dessert Syrup

1 cup Pama Liqueur
1 tsp honey
1 tsp Asian fish sauce
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
¼ tsp Dijon mustard
3 sprigs fresh thyme
½ Tbsp unsalted butter

Combine the Pama Liqueur, honey, Asian fish sauce, ground black pepper, Dijon mustard in a medium-small saucepan and mix so the honey and Dijon mustard evenly disperse. Add the fresh sprigs of thyme. Turn the burner up to high and let the mixture reduce to ¼ cup. Remove the thyme sprigs and stir in the butter. As the mixture cools it will thicken. Refrigerate once it comes to room temperature

In tasting the finished product I couldn’t help thinking this would delicious over vanilla ice cream or drizzled on pancakes/waffles. It would be good on chicken and pork as well but this still tends to be a bit tarter and the ice cream is a perfect foil.

Recipe Two – Pama Glaze and Sauce

1 cup Pama Liqueur
2 tsp honey
2 tsp Asian fish sauce
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 clove garlic, smashed
3 sprigs fresh thyme
½ Tbsp unsalted butter

Combine the Pama Liqueur, honey, Asian fish sauce, ground black pepper, Dijon mustard in a medium-small saucepan and mix so the honey and Dijon mustard evenly disperse. Add the smashed clove of garlic and fresh sprigs of thyme. Turn the burner up to high and let the mixture reduce to ¼ cup. Remove the garlic and thyme sprigs and stir in the butter. As the mixture cools it will thicken. Refrigerate once it comes to room temperature

The garlic and increase on a selection of other ingredients really added a depth of flavor, much more savory and ideal for saucing and glazing chicken, duck and pork.

Recipe Three – Pama Dressing Syrup

1 cup Pama Liqueur
2 tsp honey
2 tsp Asian fish sauce
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 clove garlic, smashed
3 sprigs fresh thyme


This is the same recipe as number two with 2 changes:

1. reduce to ½ a cup
2. eliminate the butter

Combine the Pama Liqueur, honey, Asian fish sauce, ground black pepper, Dijon mustard in a medium-small saucepan and mix so the honey and Dijon mustard evenly disperse. Add the smashed clove of garlic and fresh sprigs of thyme. Turn the burner up to high and let the mixture reduce to 1/2 cup. Remove the garlic and thyme sprigs and let it cool to room temperature. Refrigerate once it comes to room temperature.

Use this as a substitute for vinegar for a salad dressing. I would use two parts oil (extra virgin or canola oil) to one part Pama syrup. Think arugula or mesclun greens with goat cheese and nuts for your salad. You can also use this as a bread dipper by adding it to a dish of extra virgin olive oil. When the syrup separates from the oil, let it.

*****

In the end, I had about a shot of Pama left over, so I did what any pomegranate lover would do and enjoyed the Pama straight up.