Cooking with absinthe?

Question

Sure, it might be a bit cloying, but there is something fascinating about flirting with this liquor that has a bad boy reputation. 

In the current SF Chow Tour, there is a mention of absinthe biscotti
http://www.chow.com/blog/2010/07/green-fairy-in-the-biscotti/

In the comments eatzalot wrote "Absinthe in a cookie might sound “weird for the sake of being weird” if absinthe is relatively novel to you. But remember it’s basically a concentrated extract of mixed spices (anise predominates; the other flavorings, and resulting flavor nuances, vary). When absinthe was originally popular, it was found uniquely useful in certain recipes (especially with shellfish), and cookbooks have featured those recipes ever since, suggesting Pernod or other close relatives if absinthe itself was unavailable"

Does absinthe offer any particular pizzaz or are close flavor relatives such as Pernod just as good? Is any particular brand of absinthe better than another?

A recipe on the web is David Lebovitz's absinthe cake with pistachios
http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2006/07/absinthe_cake.html

Lebovitz writes of absinthe in that link "But it's also lovely with a compote made of fresh or dried apricots, or a Nectarine and Cherry Compote. During the winter, I plan to make a colorful fruit salad of navel and blood oranges with a few rounds of tangy kumquats to serve alongside"

A Chowhound posts mentions Oysters "A la Fille de Coeur" (Oysters well seasoned, and spiced with a touch of Absinthe) 

This site offers up a number of recipes such as: Oysters Rockefeller, Garlic and Absinthe butter, Sorbet à l'absinthe, Soufflé glacé à l'absinthe. 

A bonus is the fabulous photos of an Absinthe Dinner at La Licorne, in Fontevraud-l'Abbaye, France. Dishes included:
- foie gras with a blanket of Combier Blanchette absinthe-infused velouté
- escargots cooked in a crust (cromesqui), with Jade Absinthe Nouvelle-Orléans-infused saucroasted monkfish with wild mushrooms and a Nouvelle-Orléans sauce, confit of fennel infused with Blanchette and Blanchette beure blanc
- Blanchette soufflé (which exhaled vapors of fresh wormwood when pierced) with a side cup of strawberries and spices poached in Nouvelle-Orléans...

Absinthe in the Kitchen
http://www.absintheonline.com/acatalog/Recipes.html

It takes some searching but the Wormwood Society website forum has some recipes such as roast chicken with absinthe and absinthe cookies. My favorite though is Absinthe/Dill fish marinade which has to be the trailer trash use of abinthe (and I say that with awe and affection). It is a marinate of pickle juice and absinthe. It gets my vote for thinking outside the bottle. 
 http://wormwoodsociety.org/forums/index.php?showforum=54&prune_day=100&sort_by=Z-A&sort_key=last_post&topicfilter=all&st=0

Other absinthe recipes on the web

Absinthe and Fennel Soup
http://www.mutineermagazine.com/blog/2010/03/issue-10-extras-absinthe-and-fennel-soup/

Orange Absinthe Petits Fours
http://forfood.rezimo.com/?p=555

Oyster and Absinthe Dome
http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Oyster-and-Absinthe-Dome

Absinthe Ice Cream
http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2009/05/absinthe_ice_cream.html

Absinthe Macarons
http://www.bakerofbrighton.com/absinthe-macarons/

Huckleberry Absinthe Granita 
http://blog.traveloregon.com/2009/07/29/huckleberry-absinthe-granita/

Absinthe Bay Scallop Gratin
http://www.tinytestkitchen.com/2010/04/absinthe-bay-scallop-gratin/

Manhattan Bay Scallop Chowder with absinthe
http://www.foodgal.com/2009/01/absinthe-in-soup-say-what-part-2/

Absinthe Lolly Pops
http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/absinthe_lollys

Dark Chocolate Absinthe Frosting
http://www.bakespace.com/recipes/detail/Dark-Chocolate-Absinthe-Frosting/34491/

Here's a recipe for absinthe gelatin ... though starting with making your own gelatine with lime juice and Knox would be superior to lime jello
http://blogs.channel4.com/food/2009/03/03/feasting-on-absinthe-jelly/


Anyone have any other ideas or recipes?

Has anyone made their own absinthe? Here's a site with a few recipes
http://www.newspeakdictionary.com/pf-absinthe.html

You can even order a kit on line from Green Devil with packets of ... um ...absinthe helper
http://www.greendevil.com/

Of course there are a ton of absinthe cocktail recipes on the web. Chow has a few
[BROKEN LINK REMOVED] &type=Recipe&tag=search_results;search_nav

This site, with a few cockail recipes has the best name for one ... absinthe minded
http://blog.lib.umn.edu/rodr0069/myblog/2009/09/best-absinthe-recipe.html

Answer

Good topic, rwo. Some of what's written lately about absinthe catches me by surprise. I've seen recipes with absinthe, and heard about the drink in general, for about 40 years as well as (more recently) its scientific history: the early-1900s understanding and demystification that discredited the lurid reputation (developed in mid-1800s France). But absinthe remained widely unavailable, long after science refuted the reasons for banning it (this information has been in mainstream technical books since 1940 or so). Because the public lost contact with the drink, the discredited "bad-boy reputation" endured, and still informs the assumptions of many writers, even people purporting expertise. (It's also a useful, cynical marketing angle, exploited even in label graphics and product names -- Sirène Verte, Clandestine, Taboo.) I accumulated a collection of authoritative original sources (mostly decades old and like absinthe cooking recipes I've seen, they're print sources, not online). Therefore I'm sometimes surprised at what information people "discover" nowadays, and at obsolete notions retained even by some recent self-styled absinthe pundits who disdain past myths.
 
Absinthe recipes I've seen usually involve seafood (which makes sense, since popular anise-flavored "pastis" drinks, including absinthe, developed around the Mediterranean, especially Marseilles). A conspicuous example in the mainstream mid-century US _Gourmet Cookbook_ (1950, millions of copies sold, the leading high-end US cookbook for decades) is Lobster Absinthe Gourmet (p. 256, color photo p. 279), calling for "absinthe or Pernod." In US French restaurants (including the Bay Area bistro chain Left Bank) I've had delicious shellfish dishes like prawns or mussels steamed with Pernod and citrus zest -- these flavors work brilliantly with the mild seafood, enhancing rather than overwhelming.

Pernod, Absente, Granier, Ricard, or other non-absinthe Pastis or "absinthe substitute" liquors routinely replace absinthe in these recipes. Short of a thorough blind taste test, I'd expect little advantage (except for the bragging some people do that exploits obsolete mythos, of course) to using real absinthe. The reason is that the range of compositions and flavor profiles in pastis liquors varies considerably, though broadly similar. To many people, these flavors vary more widely than the difference that the formerly banned wormwood or "absinthe" ingredient contributes. In fact (a point often overlooked by absinthe-revival wags), even in modern France where absinthe was banned, some pastis liquors, while observing the letter of the wormwood ban, incorporated other members of the many herb species very similar to the forbidden ingredient, with similar flavors and chemistry.

In case anyone doesn't know this, the Pernod firm started the popularity of absinthe in France and Switzerland in the 1800s, and the name Pernod was originally associated only with absinthe. After the early-1900s multinational absinthe bans, Pernod produced a wormwood-free version, its 20th-century namesake. Recently with the relaxing of absinthe bans (obsolete, contradictory USFDA prohibitions on the once-stigmatized component thujone mean that the US relaxation is incomplete), Pernod again makes and sells in the US a true absinthe. I just sniffed a bottle and, like all of these products, its aroma is complex but the first impression is anise.

Oh, yes: "Making your own" absinthe or using "helpers" is inane (though again lucrative marketing). The only residual US restriction is on the herbal principle thujone. The USFDA food-safety database still restricts wormwood if the finished product contains thujone. Same database lists common cooking herbs like sage, tarragon, thyme and mint as completely safe and unregulated. What botanical science discovered after absinthe's ban (but has not yet propagated to young thrill-seekers or the USFDA) is that thujone occurs in "many essential oils" of plants, including cooking sage, tarragon, and some thymes and mints. Sage's thujone strength resembles wormwood's. An Italian pasta sauce of sage and brown butter, or a well-seasoned sausage, contain more natural thujone than a _bottle_ of US-illegal absinthe. And thujone is exactly as toxic (by standard LD50 measure) as caffeine (as you can learn in any public library reference room), which is consumed daily in far greater amounts. Anyone who mentions thujone as if it were an important health risk demonstrates their ignorance of this subject and their bizarre priorities, because if thujone were a practical hazard, caffeine, with its much higher consumption, would be 100 times more so and should concern them first.

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Cooking with absinthe?

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