The Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Sixties Cookbook (32 page)

Cocktail (a.k.a. martini) glasses are used to serve drinks that are served straight up (that is, chilled but drunk without ice cubes). Today’s cocktail glass is huge, and can hold up to 10 ounces. However, the traditional cocktail glass has a much smaller capacity of around 5 ounces. Smaller is better here, because the drink will maintain its chill during drinking. The drinks in this book are designed for traditional glasses. If you insist on serving in oversized glasses (a sure way to overlubricate your guests), you will have to experiment with the measurements to fill the glass. A saucer-shaped champagne coupe can do double-duty as a cocktail glass. Always chill cocktail glasses before filling in the freezer or refrigerator. You can also chill them by filling the glasses with ice and a little water, but empty and dry the glasses well before using.

The single most important thing that you can do to make better drinks is to use a jigger for measuring the spirits. (You may see a bartender free-pour the liquor, but they do it for a living. Nonprofessionals should measure.)

A “jigger” is both a unit of measure for liquor (1½ ounces or 3 tablespoons) and the name of the small measuring tool used by bartenders. The latter comes in varying sizes, usually with two stainless steel cups conjoined at the bottom, although there are single glass jiggers with gradations marked on the side. The most useful size combination is 1½ ounce (1 jigger) and 1 ounce (1 “pony” or 2 tablespoons). When a recipe calls for ¾ or ½ ounce, just half fill
the appropriate size. While you may see old cocktail formulas that call for jiggers and ponies, contemporary recipes use ounces. For large measurements of mixers, just use a regular 1-cup glass measuring cup; a set of measuring spoons comes in handy for small amounts of flavorings.

Many cocktails include sugar, which was used by early bartenders to help smooth out the rough edges of rot-gut booze. Be sure to use superfine (also called bartenders’) sugar, readily available in supermarkets. This sugar’s fine crystallization easily dissolves in liquids. If you really want to improve your bartender skills, use simple syrup instead of sugar. Simple syrup is a liquid in which sugar is already dissolved, but requires twice as much volume as sugar. (One teaspoon of bartenders’ sugar equals two teaspoons of simple syrup.) You can buy simple syrup at most liquor stores, or make your own.

To make Simple Syrup, shake 1 cup each granulated sugar and water in a jar until the sugar is completely dissolved. Refrigerate for up to 1 month. Shake well before using.

Many classic cocktails are seasoned with a dash or two of bitters, an aromatic distillation of herbs, spices, and other botanicals. During Prohibition, when cocktail drinking was clandestine, bitters fell out of fashion. Now that mixology is flourishing again, so is the bitters industry; you can buy bitters based on lavender, fruits, and even tobacco. When making drinks at home, use Angostura or another all-purpose (sometimes labeled “aromatic” or “whiskey-barrel”) bitters.

The
rat-tat-tat
of a drink being shaken in a cocktail mixer is a siren’s call to liquor lovers. However, not all cocktails should be shaken;
many are better when the ingredients are stirred. Shaking effervesces the drink, a visual and textural effect that you may want for a Whiskey Sour, but would mar the crystalline look of a properly made Martini.

While there are no hard fast rules for when to shake and when to stir (many people find they have a preference after trying both), shaking is usually done to cocktails that include fruit juices, dairy, cream liqueurs, or other thick mixers. A shaken drink will appear cloudy in the glass at first, but will clear up. Stirring is usually reserved for spirits with light mixers to combine the flavors with a gentler dilution.

Professional bartenders usually favor a two-piece Boston shaker (a 1-pint mixing glass with a large metal canister that acts as a lid) because it’s easy to clean quickly between orders. The three-piece cocktail shaker (a glass or metal mixing glass with a lid and lid cover) is a better choice for a home bar for its sleek look and efficiency.

To shake a drink, fill the shaker halfway with ice. Add the ingredients (liquor first, then mixers and flavorings), cover, hold with both hands, and shake at shoulder level for about 8 seconds. Don’t shake much longer, or the ice will dilute the drink too much. Strain the drink through the lid spout into a chilled (or ice-filled) glass.

To stir a drink, fill the shaker halfway with ice. Add the ingredients (liquor first, then mixers and flavorings) and stir well with a long stir stick or bar spoon for about 10 seconds. Use a bar strainer (either a perforated julep strainer or a wired Hawthorne strainer) to hold back the ice and pour the cocktail into the chilled glass.

Shaken, Not Straight

Not all drinks that are mixed in a shaker are served straight up. Some are mixed with ice, then strained into an ice-filled glass–a seemingly redundant step that actually keeps the drink from diluting too quickly.

When hosting a party, unless you have an Onassis-size bank account and bar space, it’s best to keep the cocktail choices to a dull roar. Choose one or two drinks to offer your guests, memorize the recipes, and make those well. Some drinks, such as Bloody Marys, Tom Collins, and Mint Juleps, lend themselves to being made by the pitcher, which simplifies serving enormously. Leave the ice out of the pitcher and add the cubes to the serving glasses just before serving.

The right garnish, like a carefully chosen tie, will accessorize your cocktail with style. Be sure that citrus wedges and rounds are freshly prepared. For Polynesian-style drinks, stock up on little paper umbrellas and use ripe, fresh pineapple instead of canned. If you can, pass on the artificially flavored (and colored) Maraschino cherries and instead use imported Marasca cherries in syrup (easily available online). Choose plump stuffed olives for your Martinis, and top-quality jarred cocktail onions for your Gibsons.

BLOODY MARY

MAKES 1 DRINK

Just a couple of decades before Sixties businessmen elected the Bloody Mary as the morning drink of choice, this cocktail was known as a Red Snapper. Here is a great formula for a nicely seasoned Bloody–make it hotter or milder, as you wish.

2 ounces vodka

4 ounces tomato juice

½ ounce fresh lemon juice

½ teaspoon prepared horseradish

¼ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

3 shakes hot red pepper sauce

Freshly ground black pepper, for serving