yuzu shiso cocktail

This cocktail from En Japanese Brasserie incorporates shiso leaf, yuzu and grapefruit juice, and shochu. The ingredients are exotic and can be hard to track down, but they are all well worth the hunt.

Shochu is a distilled Japanese alcohol more or less analogous to vodka but weaker in alcoholic content and can usually be found alongside sake in liquor stores. My search for green shiso leaves (or perilla), a citrusy, herby-tasting Japanese leaf, led me to Sunrise Market in the East Village. The leaf has a subtle flavor, an intense color, and a beautiful decorative quality (it's frequently used as a kind of dish to display wasabi).

I came across yuzu juice at Chelsea Market Basket, oddly enough. The sour, fragrant juice is expensive but indescribably delicious, and a little goes a long way.

The recipe I used came from BlackBook and was everything I dreamed it would be.