Gin Gimlet

This gin gimlet, a refreshing cocktail with the perfect balance of slightly sweet lime juice and the juniper and herbal flavors of gin, is a wonderful classic drink. 

This is a strong cocktail with the tart lime balanced with the botanicals of the gin. It's very gin forward. 

Gin and Celery Tonic

This Gin and Celery Tonic is as about refreshing as cocktail can be. The green color is so appealing and it makes you feel like consuming a cocktail is almost healthy.

 

This celery tonic lends itself perfectly to the herbal notes of gin. I'd suggest a botanical gin such as Hendrick's or St. George's, but any herbal or London dry gin will do. If you like gin, this cocktail will make you very happy. And if you think you don't care for gin, maybe you should give it another chance!

The Dirty Martini

The Dirty Martini is a controversial member of the martini family. For some, it is actually desecration of the purity of the gin martini. 

Some folks like their martinis with a twist of lemon. Some folks like their martinis with olives. Then there's the Gibson martini, which is garnished with pickled onions. I usually order mine with olives. 

The Jasmine Martini

The Jasmine Martini is a beautiful deep pink color, but don't mistake it for a girlie cocktail. 

The Jasmine Martini gets its pretty hue from Campari, which is a liqueur with a complex and bitter flavor. I love Campari in cocktails, but for some, it can be an acquired taste.

The Spring Fling Cocktail

This Spring Fling is a lovely and refreshing gin cocktail. 

I'm a huge fan of The Kitchen on Food Network, and it's a part of my Sunday morning routine. First, CBS Sunday Morning (brain food, and one of the best secrets on television), and then The Kitchen.

Corpse Reviver #2 Cocktail

Prior to the Prohibition era, the Corpse Reviver #2 Cocktail was originally meant to cure hangovers. Thus, the name "Corpse Reviver."

I first found a recipe for this cocktail in my 1948 edition of The Standard Bartender's Guide by Patrick Gavin Duffy (interestingly, the book does not contain a recipe for #1).

The least prominent, but the most interesting ingredient in this cocktail is absinthe. It has quite a history and ritual for consumption, and was often thought of as a hallucinogenic and associated with addiction. You can read more about absinthe here. It's pretty fascinating. It is a botanical liqueur with a very high alcohol content. It is traditionally prepared by holding a slotted absinthe spoon and a sugar cube over the absinthe and slowly pouring iced water over the sugar until it dissolves.

Stork Club Cocktail

I made this Stork Club Cocktail to celebrate the opening of the final season of Mad Men, which begins April 5. I've been watching the show since the beginning, and have so enjoyed the historical stories in the background.

The setting is a Madison Avenue advertising agency. The series begins in 1960, and ends in 1969. Many of us "of a certain age" know what pivotal years those were.

For those of you who haven't indulged in watching the show, the themes include drinking at work, alcoholism, smoking, adultery, sexism, and racism. Fun, right? It's actually a pretty amazing period piece.

If you haven't watched the show yet, I highly recommend binge watching it this week in preparation for the final half of the final season.

The Stork Club was described by Walter Winchell as New York's "New Yorkiest" place. Don Draper, the show's main character, visited the Stork Club in Season 2, Episode 7, with his former model wife Betty to celebrate a client's new television show. The relationships in the episode are, as they say, "complicated."

This cocktail was supposedly enjoyed by New York City's rich and famous.

To honor the period, I also made the daiquiri featured in Season 3, Episode 3. Evidently it was President Kennedy's favorite cocktail, and became all the rage. It consists of 1 1/2 ounces of white rum and 2 tsps of limeade concentrate.

The stack of coasters on the right are my mom's crystal horoscope coasters. How 60s is that?

Stork Club Cocktail

Ingredients

Dash of lime juice

Juice of half of an orange 

Dash of triple sec

1 1/2 ounces of gin

Dash of Angostura bitters

Instructions

1. Add all of the ingredients to an ice filled shaker.
2. Shake, and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. 

This cocktail is from The Unofficial Mad Men Cookbook.

The book is filled with retro recipes, including cocktails, appetizers, salads, main courses, and desserts. Besides the great retro cocktails, some of my favorites include deviled eggs, rumaki, the wedge salad, and beef Wellington.

Check out the Mad Men Finale Party for more ideas!

Pamplemousse Ginger Martini

This pamplemousse martini so refreshing! 

"What the heck is pamplemousse?" you ask. It's French for grapefruit! 

There is actually a Crème de Pamplemousse liqueur, and as you can tell by the bottle on the right, I've taste tested it... a few times. It's quite wonderful. It's not as strong or syrupy as limoncello, and has an aromatic and citrusy flavor. It definitely tastes like grapefruit. 

This martini combines the flavors of herbal gin, ginger, grapefruit, and lime. Seriously tasty. 

Pamplemousse Ginger Martini

Ingredients

1 1/2 ounces gin

1/2 ounce ginger liqueur

1 ounce pamplemousse rose liqueur

1/2 ounce lime juice

lime wedge

Instructions

1. Add the gin, ginger, pamplemousse, and lime juice to an ice filled cocktail shaker.
2. Shake for about 30 to 60 seconds, and strain into a chilled martini glass.
3. Garnish with a lime wedge.

Enjoy!

Bittersweet Martini

The basis for this Bittersweet Martini is Aperol, a low alcohol Italian digestif made from bitter oranges, sweet oranges, rhubarb, and other root vegetables. It is somewhat like Campari, but with half the alcohol, and a much milder flavor.

It is best know as an ingredient in "The Spritz," an Italian cocktail with Aperol or some other bitter liqueur, procecco, and soda on the rocks.

This cocktail is so refreshing, with just enough bitterness to give it an "adult" flavor, but just enough sweetness to make it easy to sip on a warm evening.

Bittersweet Martini

Adapted from A Cocktail Life, makes one cocktail.

Ingredients

2 ounces gin

1/2 ounce Aperol

1/2 ounce tangelo or tangerine juice (you can also use orange juice)

1/2 ounce lime juice (I used Bearss lime juice)

1 1/2 tsp frozen lemonade concentrate

Grapefruit, tangelo, tangerine, or orange twist

Instructions

1. Fill a shaker with ice and add the gin, Aperol, juices, and lemonade concentrate. 
2. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. 
3. Twist the zest over the cocktail and drop it into the cocktail.

Enjoy!

The Tanjeen Negroni

This Tanjeen Negroni is different from the traditional Negroni, in that it substitutes the red vermouth with the juice of of a tangerine. For this cocktail, I substituted the juice of a tangelo.

Don't let the pretty color fool you into thinking that this is a girlie drink. While Campari is in the liqueur family, it is quite bitter, flavored by herbs, fruits, spices, and other botanicals. According to the Williams Sonoma Bar Guide, Campari is "considered an acquired taste." In Milan, where it was introduced, it is said that you must drink it three times before you enjoy it.

This cocktail is, for those of us who like crisp and somewhat bitter aperitifs, amazing and refreshing.

The Tanjeen Negroni

Ingredients

2 ounces gin

1/2 ounce Campari

The juice of one tangelo or one tangerine

Thin slice of tangerine or a twist for garnish

Instructions

1. Pour all of the ingredients into an ice filled glass or shaker and stir or shake for about a minute. 
2. Strain into a chilled glass and garnish. 

Cheers!

This recipe is from The Best Craft Cocktails & Bartending with Flair: An Incredible Collection of Extraordinary Drinks.The book is by Jeremy LeBlanc, lead bartender at Altitude Sky Lounge in the San Diego Gas Lamp. According to the book, the bar is listed by Conde Nast as one of the top ten roof top bars in the world. The cocktails in this book are one-of-a-kind, and the photographs are gorgeous. 

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher without obligation. 

Bloodhound Cocktail

Isn't this Bloodhound Cocktail pretty? I found it in an old out of print Williams-Sonoma Bar Guide and just had to try it. It is gin based, and contains both white and red vermouth plus a small amount of strawberry jam puree.

Frozen pureed jam works just fine too, and helps keep the cocktail cold. I like to keep a container of it in the freezer and dip a spoon into it when I "need" to make one of these (this trick also works with frozen lemonade and limeade concentrates, all great when you want to make margaritas on the fly because the purees never really freeze solidly).

How was your Thanksgiving? I sure hope it was wonderful. I thought of my aunt Chris this Thanksgiving. She passed away recently and I miss her, especially on holidays. She was my dad's sister, and the only real aunt I had.

I have a lot great memories of her, but one of my favorites is of her helping me make gravy about 10 years ago when it was my turn to host the family Christmas dinner. I had no clue and I had an electric stove top that required that you move one knob to operate each of the burners (all of the others were stripped). She and I worked together... scraping and moving the knob to control the burners, and produced a gravy of which we would all be proud. She was so calm and never made me feel like I didn't know what I was doing, even though I didn't.

I still don't get gravy I guess, because I put too much water in the bottom of my roaster this year and ended up with seriously diluted pan drippings. I warned my family that we might have a gravy-less dinner and then went to work. Somehow, I ended up with an amazingly flavorful gravy. Thank you aunt Chris. I know you were looking over my shoulder.

Oh, and I made your Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes.  Cheers! And much love.

Bloodhound Cocktail Recipe

Ingredients

2 fluid ounces gin

1 T dry vermouth

1 T sweet vermouth

2 tsp strawberry jam puree

Instructions

1. Chill a coupe or martini glass
2. Fill a shaker with ice and add the rest of the ingredients
3. Strain into the chilled cocktail glass

Enjoy!

The Yale Cocktail

This is the Yale Cocktail. It has a lovely flavor that isn't girlie at all, blue color notwithstanding. 

It's back to school time! Because this cocktail is named for one of the Ivy League colleges, I thought I'd make it in honor of the start of the new semester.

There are several versions of this cocktail, and evidently the original recipe involved creme de yvette, a liquor that is a blend of berries and violets. I guess for years creme de yvette was not available, so variations of this version with blue Curacao became the standard formula.

For the rest of the country, summer is usually winding down right about now. For those of us in southern California, there are still a few more weeks of heat left... pretty much until Halloween. September can be pretty brutal. One of the last college football opening games I attended, several band members were carried off of the field on stretchers due to the heat. I guess I'm saying that it's really difficult to get into the "back to school" spirit here.

Therefore, to toast back to school, I offer my take on this refreshing cocktail, Ivy League name and all that. While it's not quite Yale blue, here's a toast to the annual back to school routine.

Yale Cocktail

Ingredients

2 1/2 ounces gin

1 1/2 tsp dry vermouth

1 1/2 tsp blue Curacao

dash of orange bitters
Optional: a squeeze of half of a Clementine orange

Instructions

1. Chill a martini glass in the freezer or fill a cocktail glass with ice. 
2. Fill a glass or martini shaker with ice and add the ingredients.
3. Shake or stir and strain into the chilled or ice filled glass. (In the summer, I will sometimes allow some of the ice pieces slip into the cocktail glass. Purists will object, so it's up to you whether or not you want to let some of the ice shards into your cocktail.)
4. Toast to back to school. 

French 75 Cocktail

This cocktail is rumored to have gotten its name from a 75 mm artillery piece that Allied soldiers used during World War I. It definitely depends upon both the French (Champagne) and British (gin), and packs a decent kick (like the field gun).

According to Wikipedia, the holder of all earthly knowledge (a title I used to own prior to Wikipedia stealing my thunder), this cocktail was invented in 1915 at Harry's New York Bar in Paris.

There are several versions of this cocktail out there. This is my favorite. If you'd like a sweeter version, just drop a sugar cube in the bottom of the glass after assembling the ingredients.

French 75 Cocktail Recipe

Ingredients

1 1/2 ounces gin

1/2 ounce orange liqueur

Lemon twist

1 1/ 2ounces Champagne or Cava 

Sugar cube (optional)

Instructions

1. Place the gin and orange liqueur into an ice filled shaker and shake for 20 to 30 seconds.
2. Strain the ingredients into a chilled coupe. 
3. Drop a lemon twist into the coupe and top with Champagne or Cava.
4. Drop the sugar cube into the bottom of the coupe. 

Boom.

Thank you to my friend Nancy for introducing me to the French 75. 

The Tuxedo Martini

Supposedly, this cocktail was created at the Tuxedo Club in New York in the 19th century. In another version of its origin, the cocktail was part of a slew of drinks created during prohibition. These cocktails contained liqueur to conceal the atrociousness of the bathtub gin that was available at the time.

Vesper Martini

I don't usually see movies when they first debut, mostly because I am easily distracted by fellow movie goers. I have issues.

We finally watched Sky Fall last week on PPV. I was not prepared to love it as much as I did. The Astin Martin, the gadget references, and the shaken martini. So many references to the original Bond. Loved it.

Friday Cocktail | Tangelocello Martini (or Orangecello)

This cocktail takes about three months to make. But it's worth it.

First you make tangelocello.

Or.... you could just buy a lovely bottle of orangecello, some good gin, and a few tangerines or tangelos, and call it a day.  I vote yes for that.

We have no yard, but somehow have about 6 or 7 citrus trees. Three are planted in the ground and making do with a few square feet of clay. The rest are in pots. All of these trees are producing an amazing amount of fruit. Tangelos, Mandarin oranges, Bearss limes, and Meyer lemons. Vitamin C is covered.

Tangelocello Martini

Makes one cocktail

Ingredients

1 1/2 ounces gin

1 ounce tangelocello or orangecello

1 ounce fresh tangelo, tangerine, or orange juice

1 or 2 dashes of orange bitters (optional)

citrus slice garnish

Instructions

Chill a martini glass in the freezer

Fill a martini shaker with ice and add the gin, cello, juice, and bitters

Shake until fully chilled and strain into the chilled glass

Garnish with a wheel of citrus

Enjoy!

Sharing on Tasty Thursdays

Saturday Cocktail | Limoncello, Gin, & Grilled Thyme Cocktail

I hate it when people move away.

This cocktail is in honor of our friends, Jim and Michele, whom I credit with my renewed interest in cooking. I won't bore you with all of the details about how we met (work), but let's just say, we all hit it off.

They had us over for dinner, we had them over for dinner, they had us over for dinner.... next thing you know, it escalated. It was awesome.

They introduced us to Fine Cooking magazine, along with some pretty amazing music. As it turned out, we all were big fans of the same type of music. A challenge for me was to find new music they did not yet know about. I'm pretty sure I introduced them to Beirut and Kasey Chambers. They introduced us to a hell of a lot more.

And then they moved away.  Wah!

Actually, we've gotten together several times since then, so I can't complain. Love you guys. I just wish you were closer.

Friday Cocktail - Gin + Lemon + Mint Martini

Michael Ruhlman, a fabulous food writer and cookbook author recently blogged about a Chicago cocktail called the Southside. I had to try it.

Gin. Lemon. Mint. This cocktail is soooooo refreshing. And I never would have thought of this combination.  The mixture of the lemon and mint is amazing. And we have a pot full of mint and a tree full of lemons growing in our little back yard. Organic! Almost like health food.

I upped the ratio of lemon juice and substituted agave for the simple syrup. Make mine. Make Ruhlman's. Or invent your own ratio. There shouldn't be a lot of controversy. I mean it's not like it's a Manhattan or a martini. Either way you will love it.

The Negroni

A little less than a year ago, we spent a long weekend in Charleston, South Carolina. Amazing place. The food is incredible. The people are wonderful. It seemed like many of the people with whom we interacted were actually from somewhere else, and purposely moved to Charleston because they loved it so much.