Category Archives: Drinks

Drinks

Mojito

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Mojito

One theory about the invention of the Mojito is that it came about as a cure for scurvy by English sailors in the New World. Another is that it was concocted by African slaves in the Caribbean to make their aguardiente a little more palatable and the name mojito came from mojo, a magic spell or charm.

Mojito

Ingredients:

  • 6 mint leaves
  • ½ oz. simple syrup
  • 2 oz. white rum
  • ¾ oz. lime juice
  • Club soda (optional)
  • Garnish: mint sprig
  • Garnish: lime wheel
Muddle the mint with the simple syrup in a shaker. Add the rum, lime juice and ice, and shake. Strain into a highball glass over fresh ice. Top with a splash of club soda or sparkling mineral water if you like. Garnish with a mint sprig and lime wheel.

Mojito

 

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Drinks

Horse Radish Infused Vodka

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Horse Radish Infused VodkaHorse Radish Infused Vodka

We had dinner at the Ukrainian East Village Restaurant on 2nd Avenue.  As usual the food, service and Ukrainian beer were great. I saw something on the menu I’d never noticed before – Horse Radish Infused Vodka. Served chilled and straight in a shot glass with a pickle garnish, it was cold and crisp and just a great opener for the meal we had. If you want to try this and can’t get to the East Village, you’re going to need fresh horse radish root. 

Horse Radish Infused Vodka

Just two simple ingredients – vodka and fresh horse radish.

Using the largest holes on a box grater, grate enough horse radish to fill 1/4 cup.Horse Radish Infused Vodka

Horse Radish Infused Vodka

Add the grated horse radish to a liter of vodka and store for 48 hours. Taste it and if it isn’t strong enough give it another 24 hours. Strain out the horse radish and serve very cold.

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Drinks

Sloppy Joe’s Bar

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Sloppy Joe's Bar

Sloppy Joe’s Bar

Sloppy Joe’s Bar opened in Havana in the 1930s. It was frequented by Earnest Hemingway, Errol Flynn, Alec Guinness and many other celebrities.  I recently came across their cocktail recipe book online and tried a few. They’re kind of fruity and tropical which makes them perfect on a hot day.

Sloppy Joe’s Bar

Sloppy Joe’s Bar

Sloppy Joe’s Cocktails

 Mary Pickford

Sloppy Joe’s Bar

  • 1 ½ oz. white rum
  • 1 ½ oz. pineapple juice
  • 1 tsp. Grenadine
  • 1 tsp. Luxardo
Shake with ice and serve in a flute.

Sloppy Joe’s Bar

Rumba

Sloppy Joe’s Bar

  • Juice of ½ lime
  • 1 oz. white rum
  • 1 oz. Italian vermouth
  • 1 oz. Apple Jack
  • 1 tsp. grenadine
Shake with ice and serve in a cocktail glass.

Sloppy Joe’s Bar

Green Fizz

Sloppy Joe’s Bar

  • Juice on 1 lemon
  • 1 tsp. sugar
  • 1 tsp. green crème de menthe
  • 1 egg white
  • 1 ½ oz. gin
 Shake with ice and serve in a flute. Typically, a “fizz” is topped off with some club soda, but not this one.

Sloppy Joe’s Bar

Sloppy Joe’s

Sloppy Joe’s Bar

  • 1 oz. pineapple juice
  • 1 oz. Cognac
  • 1 oz. port
  • ½ tsp. grenadine
  • 1 tsp. Cointreau or Curacao
Shake with ice and serve in a flute.

Sloppy Joe’s Bar

Havana

Sloppy Joe’s Bar

  • 1 oz. pineapple juice
  • 1 oz. Cointreau
  • 1 oz. rum
Shake with ice and serve in a flute.

Sloppy Joe’s Bar

Click here for the complete manual. 
Sloppy Joe’s Bar

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Drinks

Fanny’s Sweet Rhythm

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Fanny’s Sweet Rhythm

 

Fanny's Sweet RhythmI watched a bartender make one of these and asked him what was in it. It’s basically gin on the rocks with a very theatrical presentation. He said it was called “Fanny’s Sweet Rhythm” and he didn’t know why. It’s pretty and tastes good so give it a try.
Fanny's Sweet Rhythm

 

Fanny's Sweet Rhythm

Muddle the mint and orange bitters in a rocks glass. Fill the glass with crushed ice, pour in the gin and stir. Garnish with a lime wheel and sprig of mint.
Invert a half lime so that the peel faces in, place on top of the crushed ice and pour Green Chartreuse into shell. Light the Chartreuse, let it burn for 30 seconds to warm the oils in the lime skin, then tip into the drink.

Fanny's Sweet Rhythm

Fanny's Sweet Rhythm

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Drinks

Coquito

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Coquito

Coquito is similar to eggnog but without the egg, it’s a Puerto Rican holiday drink that tastes like coconut candy. Family recipes vary a bit but this one is pretty standard. If you want to serve it to kids, replace the rum with whole milk and add some non-alcoholic rum extract.

Coquito

Ingredients:
  • 1 can cream of coconut (15 ounce)
  • 1 can evaporated milk (12 ounce)
  • 1 can of coconut milk (13 ½ ounce)
  • 1 can sweetened condensed milk (14 ounce)
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • ½ tsp. cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon grated nutmeg
  • 2 cups white rum
  • Grated nutmeg for an optional garnish
Pour the cream of coconut, evaporated milk, coconut milk, sweetened condensed milk, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg in a large saucepan. Heat on medium and stir until it well blended and starts to simmer. Remove from heat, and let it sit for 30 minutes. Coquito
Add in the rum and chill. Serve cold or on the rocks with a sprinkle of nutmeg.Coquito

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Drinks

Three Classic Cocktails

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Three Classic Cocktails

Sidecar

Three Classic Cocktails
Ingredients:
  • Granulated sugar
  • ¾ oz. fresh lemon juice, plus more for glass
  • 2 oz. brandy
  • ¾ oz. Cointreau or triple sec
Wet the rim of a coupe glass with lemon juice and dip it into sugar sprinkled on a plate.  Shake off excess and set it aside. Three Classic CocktailsPut  the lemon juice, brandy, and Cointreau into a cocktail shaker. Add ice, and shake. Strain into the sugared glass.Three Classic Cocktails

Boulevardier

Three Classic Cocktails
Ingredients:
  • 2 oz. Bourbon
  • 1oz. Campari
  • 1oz. sweet vermouth
  • Lemon twist garnish

Pour the Bourbon, Campari, and vermouth into a  rocks glass filled with  ice. Stir and garnish with lemon twist.

Three Classic Cocktails

Mai Tai

Three Classic Cocktails
Ingredients:
  • 1 ½ oz. white rum
  • ¾ oz. orange Cointreau or curaçao
  • ¾ oz. lime juice, freshly squeezed
  • ½ oz. orzata or orgeat
  • ½ oz. dark rum
  • Lime wheel and mint sprig for garnish
Add the white rum, Cointreau, lime juice and orzata to a shaker with ice. Shake and pour into a rocks glass. Float the dark rum over the top. Garnish with a lime wheel and mint sprig.Three Classic Cocktails

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Drinks

Egg Cream

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Egg Cream

The Egg Cream started as a New York thing about a hundred years ago. Lately it’s become more widely known but in case you’re not familiar with it, it’s a New York candy store fountain drink that doesn’t contain eggs or cream. It’s made with some milk, chocolate syrup (or sometimes vanilla),  and topped off with seltzer to give it a frothy head There are lots of theories of why its called an Egg Cream and I’ll leave you to Google that. 
Egg Cream aficionados say the only correct way to make one is with Fox’s U-Bet Chocolate Syrup and seltzer from either a  soda fountain or a seltzer syphon.  I’m not so strict. If you can’t get U-Bet, Bosco is a good substitute. Egg Cream
Bottled seltzer is fine and better than club soda which contains some salty minerals.

Egg Cream

The ingredients are simple:
  • 2 oz. whole milk
  • 1 1/2 oz. chocolate syrup
  • Seltzer
Start with the milk, add the syrup and stir, then fizz it with the seltzer. If you want a white head instead of brown, just change the order – milk,  seltzer then add the syrup and stir.Egg Cream

Egg Cream

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Drinks

Daiquiri

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Alec Guinness in ‘Our Man in Havana’ at his local bar where he drank quite a few Daiquiris.

 

Daiquiri

The Daiquiri was invented in Cuba during the Spanish-American War. Instead of calling it something bland like a ‘rum sour’ it was named after a local beach, the Daiquiri.

The Classic Daiquiri

The original and simplest –

Daiquiri

Ingredients:
  • 2 ounces light rum
  • 1 ounce lime juice, freshly squeezed
  • 3/4 ounce simple syrup*
  • Garnish: lime

*  1 cup of sugar & 1 cup of water – heat until the sugar dissolves and the syrup is clear. 

Add the rum, lime juice and syrup to a shaker with ice. This is a classic so serve it in a classic Nick and Nora cocktail glass. Garnish with a wedge of lime. This can easily become a frozen daiquiri by making it in a blender that will slush the ice.

Daiquiri

Hemingway Daiquiri aka Papa Doble

Invented by Ernest Hemmingway when he lived in Havana –

Daiquiri

Ingredients:
  • 2 ounces light rum
  • 1/2 ounce maraschino liqueur
  • 3/4 ounce fresh lime juice
  • 3/4 ounce fresh grapefruit juice
  • Garnish: lime
Add all ingredients into a shaker with ice and shake. Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with lime.Daiquiri

Frozen Strawberry Daiquiri

You don’t need a slush machine for this one –

Daiquiri

Ingredients:
  • 2 oz dark rum
  • ¾ oz Key Lime juice
  • 1 oz simple syrup
  • A few strawberries
  • 6 ice cubes

Daiquiri

Add the rum, lime juice, syrup, strawberries, and ice to a blender. Mix until you get a slushy consistency. Pour into a coupe and garnish with a sprig of mint.

Daiquiri

Banana Daiquiri

A subtle hint of banana –

Daiquiri

Ingredients:
  • 2 ounces dark rum
  • 3/4  ounce banana liqueur
  • 1 ounce fresh lime juice
  • 1/4 ounce simple syrup
  • Garnish: banana slice
Add the rum, banana liqueur, lime juice and syrup into a shaker with ice. No bananas here except for the liqueur and  garnish. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with a banana slice. You can easily make this a frozen banana daiquiri by making it in a blender with the addition of about a ¼ of a sliced banana.Daiquiri

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Drinks

Chartreuse

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Chartreuse is a liqueur with a history. The New York Times just did an article on it.

               An Elixir from the French Alps, Frozen in Time

Only two monks know the full recipe for Chartreuse, and even in the pandemic they stuck to their Middle Ages motto: “The cross is steady while the world turns.”
By Marion Renault
GRENOBLE, France — When the world went into lockdowns this year, the monks of Chartreuse simply added another tick to their 900-year record of self-imposed isolation . . . 

For the complete article click here.Chartreuse

 

               Chartreuse comes in two strengths. Green – 110 proof and Yellow – 86 proof.
Chartreuse
I like it straight . . .

 

. . . or with some Cognac floated on top.
More of Chartreuses’ history at their website.
Chartreuse

“The Order of Chartreuse was more than 500 years old when, in 1605, at a Chartreuse monastery in Vauvert, a small suburb of Paris, the monks received a gift from Duc Francois Hannibal d’ Estrées, Marshal of King’s Henri IV artillery . . . “

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Desserts, Drinks

Pomegranates

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pomegranates

Pomegranates

A friend unexpectedly stopped by for dinner. I took him shopping with me to get something to cook when he noticed pomegranates at the grocery store. He mentioned that he’d seen them before but never tried one.

pomegranates

I said, “What? How could you live in New York and never have had a pomegranate? Let’s get a couple and I’ll show you how good they are.”

How to cut and remove the seeds –

pomegranates

pomegranates

Cut the skin around the top and remove it.

pomegranates

Make 5 shallow cuts along the sides and pull apart into sections.

pomegranates

Break up the seeds into a bowl.

pomegranates

Fill the bowl with water so the membrane floats and can be removed.

pomegranates

Ready to eat.

Pomegranate Juice – 

On the street in Vietri sul Mare on the Amalfi Coast.

pomegranates

Put the seeds in a blender with 2 or 3 tablespoons of water and blend for a few minutes.

pomegranates

Strain the mixture, squeezing the seeds in a sieve.

pomegranates

Ready to drink.

Pomegranate Liqueur –

After we’d made my Aunt Lena’s Coffee Sport and it turned out so well, Bridget and I got adventurous and decided to try making pomegranate liqueur. I went to the nearest Korean grocer. In NY, Korean grocer means general merchandise and very fresh and varied fruit and vegetables. I picked out 12 pomegranates and went to the cashier. As I started to unload them from the basket to the counter, a couple got on line behind me.
When they saw what I was buying the woman asked, “What could you possibly do with all of those pomegranates?”
Her husband looked embarrassed and so did she. “I apologize. Those words just fell out of my mouth.”
“There’s no need to apologize. And since you asked, my wife and I make some old Italian cordial recipes and this is for one we one we made up.”
The cashier who knew I shopped there regularly said, “These are very expensive. And you’re buying so many.”
“Maybe but that will turn into a bottle of something that will be worth it.”
The woman who apologized asked, “Why can’t you just use bottled pomegranate juice?”
Maybe I looked a little indignant when I said, “Bottled juice just won’t be a good as fresh. We squeeze the juice, strain, then simmer it until it’s  thickened a bit. Then we mix it with simple syrup and grain alcohol, and it’s done. That’s it, a simple cordial and ready to drink.”
Here’s the recipe for Pomegranate Liqueur as well as Coffee Sport.

The Myth of Persephone

Persephone and the Pomegranate Seeds  pomegranates

Helpful Hint – Don’t wear a white shirt anywhere near a pomegranate.

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