This is going to sound really weird but stay with me. We made a drink out of milk, vodka and oranges. It is a very old drink. Possibly Eastern European. Possibly made by a very desperate alcoholic who had nothing but vodka, milk and an old orange in the house. And time. But not a lot of time. Sound familiar. This may jog a memory from one of you and we can trace it a little further.
Our John found this recipe in Gizmodo/Gadget Guide/David Leite. It might be called Pieninis Krupnikas or something very close to that. Anyway even with its origins unknown we thought we would give this a try. John forbade me from blogging it then as he was convinced that is would be hideous and possibly life threatening even blinding but there you are. You gotta do what ya gotta do! (Who said that anyway? Was that Whatsisname the guy with the hat and the gun?)
OK. Pay attention. Trust the Milk!
- 2 cups milk
- 2 cups vodka (the good part)
- 1 cup sugar (the recipe called for 2 cups but NO)
- 2 unpeeled oranges roughly chopped
- 1 unpeeled lemon roughly chopped
Panicking yet? I have to say that as Our John read the recipe and I chopped and poured and stirred I had misgivings. Now the recipe said that this will go all kinds of nasty. But ours did not. Maybe because the milk was freshly milked. But it did not curdle.
Tightly seal. Store in a cool dark cupboard. Shake every day for ten days. 
On the tenth day, (above) it still looked and smelt fresh and good, we strained the fruit out through a colander. (I debated about giving the leftover fruit to the chooks, just for the entertainment, but they missed out, as I did not want drunk eggs!). Then I strained it through a cheesecloth that then dripped through a coffee filter. 
Then we bottled the clear liquid. Later we poured a little over ice. Clink. Hope you don’t go blind. Oh well. And wow. It is OK and I can still see. 
I will give you the Scent Bar Codes: Thick (Big Hits): fresh oranges, cream. Thin (Slim Hints): lemon, the white of a boiled egg (well you asked), and something green, I cannot put my finger on it, maybe cucumber leaves or borage flowers. It is a little reminiscent of limoncello. Summery. Anyway it is really good. But a new taste. No blindness.( Always a bonus.)
Next time I am making it with honey, just to see if that will add a zing. Soon the fresh milk supply will be gone, as the cow down the road dries up for the winter. The next fresh milk we will get will be Daisy’s if all goes well. So I will make another batch then.
This morning is just below freezing, so it is not too bad outside at all. The dawn is almost here, time for me to get busy. Have a great day.
Maybe we will do a walkabout on the Farmy tomorrow. Have a catch up!
c
The Kitchen's Garden 
91 responses to “The Drink with the Unpronounceable Name”
Glad you could still see to type 🙂
I might give it a try, but the milk won’t be as fresh as yours. Thanks for sharing.
Yes I was relieved, actually it is quite mild as it is a slow drinking drink, as opposed to limoncello which is a drink I LOVE to drink.. c
This might be just the ticket for getting you through the upcoming cold, blustery days of winter. Chug-a-lug some before going out to water the animals and scrape the ice, and your breath alone will melt the cold particles away!
Ronnie
Ronnie you do come up with some of the best reasons for a chug a lug! c
Thanks for doing all the testing on our behalf and no blindness is always a bonus! We love trying something different and new so I may give this peculiar drink a whirl.
🙂 Mandy
It IS peculiar.. and one wee glass seems to be enough at a time.. c
Having no kind of a head for alcohol, I think I’ll give this one a miss! But it made for a fun post
Tt was easy to make too. c
Pretty daring! I like the way the oranges look with the milk.
It is pretty while it is working, the end result does not look orangy unfortunately. have a lovely evening rosemary.. c
From a past experience, I have to avoid vodka for it is deadly to me now. But that is one wild combination of a drinkie. t
That happens sometimes.. My no no is gin! .. c
Well, well, well…another fabulous way to use up the ENORMOUS stock of oranges which is currently constant in my house until about Feb. And marmalade making is quite tiring, so this would perk the whole experience up no end. Especially as I won´t be blind while doing it!
Exactly. it does not take long to make either! Marmalade what was I thinking? i have all kinds of citrus hanging about..have you posted your recipe? I must go and look for it! I love marmalade! that will keep the scurvy at bay! c
How can you live without marmalade? I actually had to buy a pot this week, last year’s marm having met its doom. I’m hanging on until the seville oranges come in.
I cannot find the sevilles out here (sigh) so we are going to make one with grapefruit, lemons and oranges. In fact I had better get onto that, as this is my other task for today!! c
I’ll trust you on this one. You are one daring woman when it comes to trying something new. Full of surprises, you are.
You can trust me!! I’ll do the tasting for you! Have a great day. c
Hey! That sounds just like a drunk’s version of an Orange Julius! I discovered Buck’s Fizz during the Christmas hols. I may never be tea-total again. Ever.
p.s. Does the House of Representatives have a gift shop? Is that where you bought those glasses?
Hmm, I must look up this orange Julius. The glasses were given to The Matriarch by some fellow who was in The House of Reps years ago, I am sure they are supposed to be kept for good but they are my favourite glasses for nice drinkies! c
Here’s the recipe:
http://www.food.com/recipe/orange-julius-8589
Hey…! This recipe left out the whole egg, but this reader understands why. Drank my share back in the day, egg and all! LOL!
AHA.. are we getting closer to the origins of this drink? an egg!! Or was the egg the hangover treatment? hmm. the plot thickens! c
Well, Celi, this is a new one on me. Vodka, OJ, and milk? Never in a million years would I have thought to not only combine them but to let them ferment together. Must’ve been one very bored, vodka-loving dairy farmer/citrus grower who came up with this idea. Bless him.
Exactly, .. who would have thought of that combination. It did not curdle either! weird.. It is evidently a very old drink, .. great to see more sun today John.. c
it does make you wonder what prompted someone to create such a drink…..
Hmm. On paper it makes no sense, but there you are I have a bottle of it in my fridge. Hope you all are having a great day.. c
“Unpronounceable” name…. made me smile… You are amazing as always. I should say I don’t have any idea about this one, BUT but your photographs are amazing, so beautiful… fascinated my eyes… Thank you dear Cecilia, have a nice day, with my love, nia
Well it does not come from Turkey then, oh well, maybe my russian connections might know something about it! Thanks Nia.. c
Dear Cecilia, actually this reminds me the oldest Turkish fermented drink is “kımız”, but I don’t have any idea about it… Origin was the Huns. And a drink that has been present in all the Turkish tribes since the Huns, and its production, consumption and effects constitute a culture in themselves. As I know, kımız is made from milk. But I don’t know more about this, I should search. Thank you, with my love, nia
AHA the huns! that sounds likely! thank you Nia.. c
Interesting science experiment 😛 My father is a chemist, he told me in college he took pure alcohol from the lab at school to a party – he’s lucky they didn’t go blind!
Good God! That is terrible! Or dead. Tell him VERY NAUGHTY BOY!! That is a story he should NOT tell his grandchildren! c
You don’t have to worry about alcohol making you blind unless you distill it 😉
It sounds like a nice drink to perk you up on cold day and much nicer than a vodka infusion a friend of mine made, with vodka and mars bars!
Distill IT! Should we try that? Now lets talk about that voddie and mars bars, THAT sounds interesting! c
I think there must be a history of milk based libations. A few years back in Siena, my husband and I bought a bottle of milk liqueur. Yummy. I’d like to try this. I think it looks good.
It is interesting and with all the milk we hope to be getting in the spring, I bet we will be looking at milk liqueurs.. good idea!