Adding the proper
garnish is the easiest way to stress that drinking a cocktail isn’t just about
drinking something. It’s a special occasion, even when you casually make one
for yourself. You have to know (or look up) the recipe. You must have all the
required ingredients (and barware) on stock. You put effort and care in the
preparation. When you add a garnish as a finishing touch, it marks the cocktail
as a special, festive drink.
So while the addition
of a channel knife doesn’t strike as being the most crucial addition to the
collection of barware, it does a lot for the cocktails you serve.
Using a channel
knife, it’s easy to fabricate lemon twists. These twists are elegant and
cheerful; a lot of cocktail recipes specify the addition of a lemon twist. Lime
twists are also possible, but it’s advisable to use a fine channel knife for
the limes. For now, one channel knife that’s the proper size for lemon zest is
fine.
If you pull open the
twist over the cocktail before you add the garnish, it has the added benefit of
releasing oils over het surface.
Just be sure to wash the
peels of the lemons you are using for your garnish before you get to work with
your tool.
Since we also have a
knife at our disposal, almost all thinkable garnishes we can make with citrus
are now possible: citrus peel (an oval shaped piece of the zest), wheels,
half-wheels, wedges and twists. Sometimes the zest is cut up in a rectangular
shape.
There are other ways
to make a twist, by the way. But none are as easy as using this tool. The
twists from a channel knife are also very slender and can be made as long as
you want.
Aviation (reprise)
As promised, here’s
an Aviation complete with colouring from the violet liqueur and a lemon twist,
courtesy of the channel knife.
Lemon brings a lot to
the table: juice and garnishes. There are a lot of classic cocktails (actually, whole drink families) which depend on lemon. When given the
choice to add just one kind of juice to the bar, the choice would come down to
lemon vs. lime.
Although lemon has a
larger role in cocktail history (as can be deducted from the extensive use of
lemon in the drink families that formed in the 19th century), lime
still beats lemon when comparing their use in Imbibe’s 25 Most Influential Cocktails of the Past Century. It all
comes down to a matter of taste, I guess. Luckily, we don’t really have to
choose. We can add lemon now, and add lime later on.
I don’t like to
substitute lemon for lime or vice versa: usually a cocktail recipe has been thoroughly
thought out, including the choice between lemon or lime. However, even on a
simple cocktail like the Gin & Tonic there seems to be a debate whether
lemon or lime should be used. Both The
Savoy Cocktail Book and Café Royal
Cocktail Book sport numerous recipes which don’t mind whether lemon or lime
is used. So much for guidance.
To complicate matter
further, the Spanish word ‘limon’ can mean lemon or lime (limon verde)*. Since
Cuba has been an influential source of cocktails, this has led to occasional
mix-ups.
I’ve already touched
on the particulars of juice when introducing the juicer. In my next post, I’ll
tackle some possible garnishes. With
citrus tones not being uncommon in gin, it’s no wonder that lemon juice
combines excellently with my mixing base of choice.
So let’s just put the
tangy tiger to use in a cocktail revival classic.
Somehow this cocktail
picked up more popularity in the cocktail revival of the last decade than it had
in its early existence. Cocktail enthusiast rediscovering the vintage taste
ended up experimenting with this maraschino cocktail, usually enjoying what
they found.
Another one found in
Hugo Ensslin’s Recipes for Mixed Drinks
(although with different amounts), it must have originated around 1916 and faded into obscurity halfway the 20th century. Some people criticize The Savoy Cocktail Book for presenting
the Aviation without Crème Yvette/crème de violette. If you choose to add this
blue coloured liqueur, its name becomes clear: you get a liquid sky. But it’s
definitely not the violet liqueur which should define the taste.
4 parts gin
1 part maraschino
1 part lemon juice
(optionally 1 bar spoon crème de violette)
glass: cocktail
Shake with ice and strain into the
glass.
Garnish with a lemon twist.
This is a very bare
version of the Aviation: no violet liqueur and not even a garnish. I’ll do a
complete version in my next post.
Looking back, I might
have easily added a knife to the ‘assumed basics’ in my first post. A normal
kitchen would indeed take care of a knife just as well. On the other hand, I’d
miss an opportunity to have a short rant about this equipment. So here we are…
You can’t just toss
fruit in a juicer (well, not the juicer’s we’ll be using anyway). So we’ll need
a knife to cut our citrus fruit in half.
A paring knife that’s
not too small will do nicely. If you knife is
too small (like the upper knife in the picture), you’ll need some larger knife
as well. Don’t dismiss the dainty knife, though… it’s great for precision
cutting.
A decently sized
paring knife or bar knife might just be everything you need for all your
cocktail cutting needs. A real bar knife would have a serrated edge, a fork-tip
and possibly an opener for bottles. That last addition isn’t a very good idea
in my opinion: a knife should be used for cutting. Using your knife to flip
open bottles just can’t be good for the knife (or yourself… the thought of
putting force on a slightly unstable sharp object near my hands doesn’t strike
me as entirely free of risk).
The forked end could
still prove useful, though. Picking unsightly seeds out of a lemon wheel or
lemon wedge should prove easy with those pointy bits.
To be honest, my bar
knife is actually a tomato knife, but it suits me fine. Just explore and figure
out what works for you.
The best thing to do
with your knife, apart from making juicing possible and creating fancy
garnishes, is using it to slice off some citrus peel (which also makes a modest
garnish in itself).
Go back the bar spoon
post and revisit the video of Charlotte Voisey. And as soon as you have citrus
in stock, be sure to try this out. It works wonders.
The shaker opens the
way to using juice, but it’s not the only tool we need for that. That is,
assuming we want to use fresh juice. And yes, we will want to use fresh juice.
It makes a huge difference. Stock up on lemon and lime if you want to make
cocktails which call for lemon or lime juice. If you’re out of citrus, then
stick to cocktails that do without.
A lot of cocktails
turn to lemon or lime. Mainly because they build on a combination of sweet and
sour for a drink with a nice contrast.
We’re being practical
here, so we don’t need anything really nifty here. But doing without any
juicing equipment is not advisable. Sure, you can squeeze a fruit part with
your hand. But it gets messy and it’s not the best way to get the most out of
your available fruit.
I have worked with a
simple citrus reamer for ages, and it works just fine. There are certainly
other options: hand presses, lime squeezers, lever-pull juice extractors,
electric juicers… just go with what you prefer.
If your tool of choice
manages to hold back all of the seeds and most of the pulp, and you don’t mind
that some of it slips through, you can use the juice straight away. If you’re
aiming for an unblemished drink, you’ll need to fine-strain the juice between
squeezing and using it. Another option is to double strain the drink when
pouring: this is done by holding a fine strainer between the glass and the
shaker.
One thing of note is
that some recipes will call for ‘the juice of half a lime’ or similar. That’s
not very convenient. Fruit doesn’t come in one size. The way you extract the
juice will also influence the amount you can gather. On this I wholeheartedly agree
with Robert Hess (of DrinkBoy.com and
the video series The Cocktail Spirit).
Try to translate any
recipe into clear-cut amounts and measure.
When thinking
cocktails, nothing is more iconic than preparing your drink by shaking. Not all
cocktails are done with this method: some are built, layered or stirred. There
are even less common methods like blending, throwing and rolling. But as
already explained in the bar spoon post: when you want to mix and there are
opaque ingredients, the correct method would be shaking. Ice is used again of
course, for chilling and dilution purposes.
Shaking will usually make
your drink misty, with a froth of fine bubbles on top. That’s because by shaking
you are causing aeration: you are forcing air into the drink. Furthermore,
small shards of ice will break off the ice you are using in the shaker. All
this has a visible effect, especially just after serving. Over a few minutes time
this mist will clear up (probably still leaving your drink opaque, because of
the ingredients used).
How much ice to use
could depend on your ice stock. If you don’t have much to spare, you could get
by with as little as three small ice cubes. But if you have more to spare, don’t
hold back: chilling and preparation time will improve. You can fill your shaker
half or 2/3 with ice. Just make sure that there is still room to move around:
you don’t want to over dilute and you can’t aerate the drink if there’s little
air to begin with. I prefer to add the ice first, because it will pre-chill the
shaker and prevents splashing incidents when you add the ice last. The ice will
also make comforting crackly sounds when you add the liquids. However, if you
prefer to add the ice last (because this counteracts dilution), that’s
perfectly acceptable as well.
There’s a baseline
for the time you need to shake: 10 seconds for normal cocktails, at least 20
seconds for cocktails with ingredients that are harder to blend. But I would
not advise counting out the time. The most important clue comes from your
senses: you will feel the shaker get colder. The shaker should frost over on
the outside before you stop. Yes, that means that your hands will get very
chilly: there’s some suffering involved in making a good cocktail.
So what kind of
shaker to use? Well, there are several possibilities. There’s the Boston shaker (glass and tin), two tin shaker, pitcher shaker (a relic from the past for making several cocktails
at once) and the Parisian - or French - shaker (a two part shaker without
a built-in strainer).
However, I would
suggest to start off with a Cobbler
shaker.
That would be the well-known
three piece shaker that has a cap and built-in strainer. Obviously, one of the
advantages would be that you don’t need a separate strainer, because you can
pour directly from the shaker.
It’s easy to use, which means you can also let
guests make their own cocktail, if they wish. From an aesthetic viewpoint, I
also prefer this one (although that’s very personal, of course).
Most bartenders in
the UK and US will use a Boston shaker. It has the added bonus of gaining a
mixing glass with your shaker. It is also faster in opening, pouring and
cleaning. However, I assume you’re not very hard-pressed for time when making
cocktails at home. And a separate strainer will also need cleaning, so that’s
not where you get much of an advantage.
Does it matter how
you shake your cocktail? Well, it certainly does. Cocktail experts agree on one
thing: you should definitely put some effort in it. Going back to Harry
Craddock’s pointers in The Savoy Cocktail
Book we will find this, which is often quoted:
4.Shake the shaker as hard as you can:
don’t just rock it: you are trying to wake it up, not send it to sleep!
But apart from putting enough energy
into the shaking, is there a certain style, technique or pattern which gives better
results? Well, there’s no general consensus there. I seem to get the best results
when I shake diagonally (by holding the shaker at an angle to the actual
shaking motion). But maybe I’m imagining things. Just find a technique which
works for you: part of the fun of shaking is that there are so many ways in
which people do it.
I like to end here with one of the
most influential cocktail experts: Kazuo Uyeda. He has perfected his method of
shaking for decades, which is called the hard
shake.
He certainly believes that the way
you prepare your cocktails has a profound impact on the result. And he’s also a
stern supporter of the Cobbler. In his own words: ‘If you realize how important
shaking and mixing are, you will naturally notice that only the three-piece
shaker could work out.’
