The Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Sixties Cookbook (35 page)

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Authors: Rick Rodgers

BOOK: The Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Sixties Cookbook

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2 ounces vodka

4 ounces orange juice

Fill a highball glass with ice. Add the vodka, and then pour in the orange juice. Stir well. Serve.

STINGER

MAKES 1 DRINK

You can make this bracing, minty drink with either vodka or brandy. When made with vodka, it’s sometimes called a White Spider. It makes a hell of a mouthwash.

1 ounce vodka or brandy

1 ounce white crème de menthe

Chill a cocktail glass. Half fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add the brandy or vodka to the shaker, and the crème de menthe. Shake well. Strain into the glass and serve.

TOM COLLINS

MAKES 1 DRINK

While you can buy prepared Collins mix with the other mixers at the supermarket, nothing beats a freshly made Collins with just-squeezed lemon juice. The drink was originally made with Old Tom gin, a sweetened gin. By the Sixties, vodka had replaced the gin. Try it with gin sometime (it doesn’t have to be Old Tom, which has just returned to the market after years of unavailability), as it goes beautifully with the tart lemon.

2 ounces vodka or gin

1 ounce fresh lemon juice

1½ teaspoons superfine sugar or ½ ounce Simple Syrup (see
page 180
)

Soda water, as needed

Lemon wedge, for garnish

Combine the vodka, lemon juice, and sugar or syrup in a highball glass. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Add ice, and then top off with enough soda water to fill the glass. Add the lemon wedge and serve.

VODKA GIMLET

MAKES 1 DRINK

The current vogue for making cocktails is to use fresh citrus juice, but we firmly believe that sweetened lime juice cordial, such as Rose’s, is essential for a proper Gimlet.

2½ ounces vodka

½ ounce sweetened lime juice cordial, such as Rose’s

Lime wedge, for garnish

Fill an old-fashioned glass with ice. Add the vodka and lime juice and stir well. Add the lime wedge and serve.

Gimlet, Straight Up:
Add the vodka and lime juice to an ice-filled cocktail shaker and stir well. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass, add the lime wedge, and serve.

WHISKEY SOUR

MAKES 1 DRINK

The best way to mess up a whiskey sour is to use sweet-and-sour mix, a dubious product that has ruined many a cocktail. Stick with fresh lemon juice and some sugar, the whiskey of your choice, and you are guaranteed a puckery pleasure in a glass.

2 ounces blended Canadian whiskey or bourbon

½ ounce fresh lemon juice

1½ teaspoons sugar or ½ ounce Simple Syrup (see
page 180
)

Maraschino cherry, for garnish

Chill a cocktail glass. Half fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add the whiskey, lemon juice, and sugar or syrup to the shaker. Shake well. Strain into the glass. Add the cherry and serve.

BON APPETIT!

T
he Sixties was a unique, almost magical period in American history: the bridge between old-fashioned glamour and modern technology, between traditional ideas and international influence. We would gladly return to the era of elegance when women wore pearls inside the house, men wore hats, and people got dressed up to get on airplanes.

There are so many things we love about it: the fashion, the feeling, the whole fabulousness of the decade. And hopefully now, everyone can add another item to their list: the food!

We hope you enjoyed our culinary trip down memory lane. As grand dame Julia Child, whom Rick had the distinct pleasure of knowing and Heather could only stalk from afar, would say in closing:
“Bon Appetit!”

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I
t was a wild ride creating THE MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD COOKBOOK. We would like to raise our martini glasses high to the following cast of characters: Susan Ginsburg, our intrepid agent, provided services that you will not fi nd in the official agent’s handbook. Susan, there is a Purple Heart with your name on it. Also, to Stacy Testa, Susan’s assistant, who kept us sane when things were at their most hectic.

The pitch-perfect photography is the work of photographer Ben Fink and food/prop stylist extraordinaire Libbie Summers. Both of these super-talents went out of their way to create the gorgeous photos. In fact, Ben went about 1,500 miles out of his way. We are forever grateful for your patience. And thanks to Brenda Anderson and Jessica Miller, Libbie’s invaluable kitchen assistants; Fred Baily, who graciously provided our photo location; Andrea Goto, for looking so great in an apron; and George Woods, for lending us his dad’s traveling bar kit. Many of the props were supplied by Habersham Antiques Market and Joel Snayd of ReThink Design Studio, both of Savannah, Georgia.

At Running Press, we are very happy to work with our editor, Jennifer Kasius. Thanks for keeping us on track with your customary grace and charm. We are indebted to our copyeditor, Susan Hom, and to Bill Jones and Melissa Gerber for the book’s jacket and design.

Rick would also like to thank his kitchen associate and dear friend, Diane Kniss, for saving his neck again; Patrick Fisher, for stirring the Rob Roys; and Martha Foose and Joel Ruark for graciously supplying their recipes.

Heather would like to thank her mother Pamela Beach-Reber and stepfather Bob Reber for forcing her to watch “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” on cable countless times when she was little, and making her love all things 60s . . . including them.

A NOTE ON TRADEMARKS:

The following products mentioned in this cookbook are registered trademarks ®, and their use in this book does not constitute an endorsement or authorization by the owners of these marks:

7Up

Andes Mints

Angostura

Betty Crocker

Campari

Campbell’s Soup

Cheerios

Cheez-Whiz

Chex

Coco Lopez

Creamsicle

Grand Marnier