Cocktails – Old Style

 


 

Brandy Alexander

BRANDY ALEXANDER

Ingredients:

  • 1 oz Fresh cream
  • 1 oz Cognac
  • 1 oz Crème de cacao

Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Sprinkle with fresh ground nutmeg.

There’s a kid’s version that my father used to make for his grand children – use a little more cream, a little less Crème de Cacao and a lot less Cognac.


The following drinks were adapted from a 1932 recipe book called The Art of Mixing by James A. Wiley and Helene M. Griffth.

 

Milk Punch

milk punch 

milk punch

Shake with ice, pour in a rocks glass with no ice and float a tablespoon of dark rum on top.


Jack Rose

jack rose

jack rose xxx

Shake with ice and strain into cocktail glass.


Clover Club

clover club

clover club xxx

Shake and strain into a cocktail glass.


Night Cap

night cap

night cap xxx

Shake thoroughly and strain into cocktail glass.


Elk’s Own Cocktail

elks own

elk

Shake with egg white & a little bit of simple syrup.


Simple Syrup = 1 cup sugar & 1 cup water, heat until sugar dissolves and mixture is clear.

 

 

Fabbrica Restaurant & Bar

Fabbrica Restaurant & Bar

Fabbrica back bar

We were on our way to the Williamsburg Flea Market yesterday when we came across Fabbrica Restaurant & Bar.  We were hungry and it was the first restaurant we came to when we got off the ferry (N. 6th St. and Kent Ave.) It was a fortuitous find, crowded but with room at the bar.

Fabbrica bar

Their menu changes throughout the day – breakfast, brunch, lunch, late-lunch, etc. I was lucky to get there when Purgatorio was on it. That’s not Dante’s poem but eggs cooked in tomato sauce. It was the first time I’d ever seen it in a restaurant. My mother made it as a standard Monday lunch, using left over Sunday gravy. She called it Eggs in Purgatory.

Purgatorio

I looked at the dinner menu and will definitely go back – hearty Italian food, interesting industrial décor, friendly service and pet-friendly too (dogs at the bar and outdoor tables).

Williamsburg 004a

Pier A Harbor House

 

Pier A Harbor House
Pier A Harbor House

 

It’s been vacant for a very long time and now it’s a bar & restaurant with great views.It’s the 1st pier on the Hudson River, at the western end of Battery Park on the foot of West Street.

Specializing in sea food, they have an extensive raw bar.

menuprocess

They also serve standard, well-presented pub grub.

Lots of hi-quality beers on tap and a well-stocked bar.

Pier A bar

1970s
In the late 1970s when fire boats were moored at Pier A

 

 

Southern Cocktails

Mint Julep Nothing like it in summer. Try it in a silver cup if you have one. Originally made with Cognac, the standard is now Bourbon although some prefer rye.

mint julep

Ingredients:

  • Mint leaves
  • 1/2 teaspoon of sugar
  • Bourbon

In a rocks glass or silver cup, muddle a good size bunch of mint leaves with the sugar and a few drops of Bourbon. Pack the cup with cracked ice and mix the mint with the ice. Add the Bourbon and then add more ice and a sprig of mint.


Magnolia

magnolia

Ingredients:

  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1 tbsp Cointreau (or 4 drops of orange flower water)
  • 1 ½ oz brandy
  • 1 egg yolk

Shake and strain into flute and fill with sparkling hard cider or Champagne.


Golden Fizz

golden fizz

Ingredients:

  • 1 shot of gin
  • Juice of ¼ lemon
  • 1 tspn sugar
  • 1 egg yolk
  • Club soda

Shake thoroughly and strain into small highball glass without ice and top with some club soda.


Two other traditional Southern specialties,  the Sazerac and Ramos Gin Fizz got their own posts.

Sazerac
Sazerac
Ramos Gin Fizz
Ramos Gin Fizz

Hot Springs, AR

We recently spent a long weekend in Hot Springs, Arkansas. It’s been a resort for a long time thanks to the mineral water spring and spas. Until about the time Las Vegas came of age in the 1950s, Hot Springs was also a gambling mecca attracting Hollywood celebrities and gangsters. They even have a gangster museum 

I’ve always appreciated Southern cuisine and Hot Springs has some great restaurants. We started every morning with grits and eggs (and donuts) at our hotel restaurant (The Arlington Resort Hotel & Spa). Grits aren’t too common in NYC so I look forward to them whenever I’m in the South.

An Arlington Hotel breakfast
An Arlington Hotel breakfast

We had a great dinner at KJs Grill – chicken fried steak, French fries and local draft beer surrounded by paintings and photos of Marilyn.  

Marilyn

It wasn’t all Southern American food, there was some Southern Italian too. We had a terrific meal at Luna Bella that included arancini as good as any that I’ve ever had in New York. The same owners as KJ’s and more pictures of Marilyn.

Mineral water public fountain
Mineral water public fountain

Utensils – Part II

utensils

UTINSILS – Part II


Small Mandolin mandolinSlices garlic as thinly as Paul Scovino did in Good Fellas and it’s cheap enough to throw away when it gets dull.  Get one in a housewares store for $5 or $10. Watch your fingers, it’s sharp.


Hanging Basket hanging basket

Good for handy storage of root vegetables and perfect for drying peppers.


Mushroom Brush mushroom brush

For getting that ugly brown stuff off mushrooms.


Egg Beater egg beater

 Quicker than a whisk for fluffy omelets and zabaglione.


Fish Gripper & Scaler  fish griper & scaler

This gripper was my father’s and is over 50 years old – Delty’s Fish Gripper, Lancaster PA.


Masher masher

Use it to make a lumpy sauce smooth – squashes tomatoes, onions, etc. as they’re cooking.


Shrimp Deveiner

 shrimp deveiner

A great design by Lamson Sharp.


Pepper Roaster pepper roaster

Really a grater but it doubles as a grill for roasting peppers on a gas burner – about 2 or 3 jalapenos or 1 bell at a time.


Processor processor

This one only holds about 2 ½ cups. I use it for making a trinity or any other fine chopping.


Herb baggie

herb baggie

To keep parsley, rosemary, etc. fresh put them in water in a rocks glass, cover with a baggie and refrigerate.  Works with basil too but don’t refrigerate.  Rather than a bowl or tray, use baggies for marinating meat and fish