Panda & Sons founder, Iain McPherson, has debuted his latest technique, a highly efficient alternative to traditional fat-washing.

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While also drawing from McPherson’s knowledge of ice cream making, Densing is essentially a heating process, a contrast to his Switching and Sous Pression techniques, which rely on harnessing sub-zero temperatures to unlock possibilities in flavour.    

He told Class: “We’re guilty of it at Panda, but I think we've all become too obsessed with a one-dimensional type of cocktail where everything has to be clear, clarified, clean and light.

“Initially, I wasn’t trying to create a new technique; I was playing around with texture in cocktails like Garibaldis, and I started using the vacuum blender, something we’ve had for a long time, but didn’t appreciate its potential.”

Densing allows bartenders to create liquids with the richness, texture and length provided by a stable fat content.

“Imagine what happens with balsamic vinegar and olive oil, it’s always separated unless you keep stirring it,” continued McPherson. “We’ve found a technique that can integrate oil into a liquid and keep it there.

“We make sure the oils are at their most liquid state, which is generally between 40°C and 60 °C. I generally keep an immersion circulator at 55°C and keep the fat and the liquid, let’s say tequila or gin, in there as well.

“Then we do one cycle of the vacuum blender, and it’s ready. We’ve got experiments from more than two months ago that still haven’t separated.”

At its core, Densing is a highly efficient alternative to fat-washing, completed in a fraction of the time.

“We're using a lot less oil, and we're not having to throw any away, unlike traditional fat-washing. Then what might take a day to prep, with the marrying followed by freezing, we can do in minutes. It takes 10-minutes to get the fat and liquid to the same temperature and then 90-seconds in the vacuum blender.

“For a fat-washed character, we use about 2.5% of fat by total weight, at 0.5% or less, we can add aroma. We can integrate things like citrus oils, and the result will be initially clear, but once it’s mixed will louche, so that’s a really cool aesthetic.”

Panda & Sons will be unveiling the technique in a reduced three-drink menu from Sunday, ahead of a full new menu launch in July.

“We’re going to have an Old Fashioned, which shows how to use it like a fat-washing that we’re calling full-fat-washing and a coconut oil Tommy’s Margarita to showcase it in a shaken drink. Down the line, we’ll have it in a warm drink, and a warm drink. Something like a Hot Buttered Rum would work really well, usually the butter floats to the top, but now we can integrate that butter into the liquid, and then you have consistent oil to the lips from the first sip to the last.”