The Appetizing Counter Beet Shrub & Fresh Squeezed OJ
Chapter 5 — Sides, Sweets & Drinks: The Peripheral Experience
You have spent twenty-four hours cold-proofing dough, sourced the finest diastatic malt, and meticulously layered your lox. Do not insult this transcendent moment by washing it down with generic, carton juice. The iconic appetizing experience demands a beverage engineered to cut through the glorious, dense fat of smoked fish and cream cheese. Born from a Lower East Side deli accident and rooted in the ancient Ashkenazi tradition of rosl—fermented sour beet juice—this brilliantly magenta shrub is earthy, violently tart, and necessary. Alongside proper, fresh-squeezed Valencia orange juice, it elevates your weekend bake from mere breakfast to a true appetizing counter event.
Ingredients
- raw red beets300 g
- organic cane sugar300 g
- raw apple cider vinegar225 g
- fresh lemon juice75 g
- unflavored seltzer10 oz
- Valencia oranges3 med
- lemon1 med
- clear ice cubes2 cup
Method
- 01
Massage the sugar into the shredded beets.
In a large, non-reactive glass bowl, combine the grated beets and cane sugar, using your hands to thoroughly work the sugar into the root to begin the osmotic extraction.
- 02
Cold-macerate the mixture for twenty-four hours.
Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate it; just like the slow retardation of your bagel dough, this unheated extraction develops complex, earthy flavors that cooking would obliterate.
- 03
Introduce the apple cider vinegar.
After twenty-four hours, pour the vinegar into the thick, magenta beet syrup, stirring vigorously to dissolve any residual sugar at the bottom.
- 04
Refrigerate for another twenty-four hours.
Cover the bowl and return it to the fridge, allowing the acetic acid to meld with the syrup and mellow the harsh edges of the vinegar.
- 05
Strain the shrub with clinical force.
Pour the mixture through a cheesecloth-lined fine-mesh strainer, twisting and squeezing the cloth tightly to extract every last drop of liquid before discarding the spent beet pulp.
- 06
Whisk in the fresh lemon juice.
Stir the strained lemon juice into the beet-vinegar syrup and transfer it to a clean glass bottle, where it will keep refrigerated for up to a month.
- 07
Assemble the shrub soda like a counter professional.
Fill a tall glass entirely with clear ice, pour exactly one and a half ounces of the beet syrup over the ice, top heavily with seltzer, and pull the syrup up from the bottom with a single twisting motion of a bar spoon before garnishing with a lemon wheel.
Notes
Never use Navel oranges for juicing.
Navel oranges contain limonin, an organic compound in their cellular walls that turns the juice incredibly bitter within an hour of squeezing.
Stick exclusively to Valencia oranges.
They yield a sweeter, perfectly balanced juice that holds its flavor, requiring a proper mechanical press to express the essential oils from the skin directly into the glass. Serve immediately alongside your sandwich.