Posted by Trott

All three plugged fruit recipes were interesting to me. However, there seemed to be something wrong with each one. None of the recipes in this section were bad, but they were all peculiar and perhaps inadequately explained.

The Coconut Extravaganza calls for a coconut which you are to drain and then fill with the milk from a second coconut. They don't explain why you wouldn't just leave the coconut with its own milk. They also don't explain how you are to add rum, apricot liqueur, cream of coconut, and 3/4 cup (!!!) finely crushed ice if you've just filled up the coconut with the milk of a second coconut. I siphoned off enough liquid to accommodate the other items at each step. The result was fairly enjoyable, but I was left wondering if the recipe was insufficiently detailed or if I was just stupid.

The Pineapple Tropic (pictured) worked a bit better. Still, there was no explanation as to how one creates "a cavity about the size of a highball glass" in the pineapple. I used a small knife initially and finished excavating with a melon baller. I've since been informed by Humuhumu that there is a tool that removes the core of the pineapple in a perfect circle. The resulting pineapple cocktail was tasty enough. It also, much like the Coconut Extravaganza, had an appealing presentation.

Plugged Watermelon was easier but frustrating to make. I followed the instructions, but the watermelon refused to absorb much vodka no matter how much time I gave it. In the end, I had watermelon balls covered with a little fresh lime juice. It turns out that watermelon balls covered with a little fresh lime juice taste completely awesome. I didn't miss the vodka.

In summary, all three recipes worked out well enough but I found the the instructions to be lacking. I suspect each one would have come out a bit better had I had a recipe written by a detail-oriented engineer or a tech writer. That would have also spared me exposure to annoying content-free phrases like "delightfully refreshing."

Labels: joy of cooking