Gin game

“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” notes Peter Smith, chef at the upscale PS 7’s restaurant in Washington, D.C. His “treasure” is the spent botanical mash leftover from the gin-making process otherwise destined for the trash bin. Smith uses the highly aromatic blend of spices, herbs and fruits in housemade charcuterie for “Ginola,” a play off of bresaola, and “Ginbelly,” pork belly carpaccio cured with the botanical mash (left). “It’s a unique flavor profile,” he says. The innovative chef has also poached fish in infused oil, created gin-scented salt and used the mash for smoking foods.

Smith gets the spent botanical mixture free from Philadelphia’s Bluecoat Gin and from local distillery Catoctin Creek. Each is different, says Smith: Bluecoat is floral, with citrus and coriander; Catoctin Creek is heavy on the juniper with cinnamon and rosemary. The always-experimenting chef is now expanding beyond gin distilling—he’s baking bread with leftover grain mash from Catoctin Creek’s rye whiskey.