By Jeremy Chou
Screwdriver. Singapore Sling. Tequila Sunrise. Cosmopolitan. Hurricane. Have you ever been perplexed with these fancy cocktail names? Or been enchanted with their diverse colors and tastes? Want to make a punch at a gathering or party? Now let’s unveil the secrets of cocktails. A cocktail is an alcoholic mixed drink which uses vodka, gin, rum, tequila, whiskey, brandy, or liqueur as base, flavored with fruit juice, grenadine, soda water, tonic water, syrup, honey, etc., and usually served chilled. There are more than 60 kinds of glasses or vessels for cocktails. A fussy bartender will stick to the right glass for a specific cocktail. There are five methods in making a cocktail: shake, stir, build, blend, and float. Though the ingredients of a specific cocktail may vary, the methods of making them are rather fixed. 1. Shake: Fill up a cocktail shaker with ice and then pour in the ingredients. Close the lid and then shake it hard, making the ingredients thoroughly mixed and chilled by the ice. Then the drink is strained into a glass. (Straight-up cocktails are poured out through a strainer into an empty glass, while on-the-rocks drinks are poured out through a strainer into a glass full of fresh ice. Ice cubes from the shaker are held in the strainer after the straining process.) 2. Stir: Fill up a container with ice and then pour in the ingredients. Slide a swizzle stick or a barspoon down the inside of the wall and then rotate at least six times. Strain the drink into another glass and serve. Stirring a drink with ice dilutes it by around 10%. 3. Build: Add ice into the glass that will be served. Pour in all the ingredients and everything is done. 4. Blend: The ingredients are poured into a blender cup with ice and then placed on the electric blender base unit. Then the drink is thoroughly blended, becoming a smooth and thick mixture, which is then poured into a glass. Blending a drink with ice dilutes it by at least 40%. 5. Float: Floating is also referred to as layering. After the first beverage is poured into the glass, a spoon is lightly rested on top. Carefully pour the second beverage over the spoon, forming another layer. Two or three separate layers of beverage create a fantastic visual effect. Here are some cocktail recipes: Blue Hawaii 4 parts vodka, 4 parts lime juice, 3 parts blue curacao Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a double rocks glass. Float with Galliano if possible. Garnish with a pineapple slice or a cherry. Pink Lady 3 parts gin, 3 parts grenadine, 1 part lemon juice Shake all ingredients with an egg white or some cream. Strain into a cocktail glass. Sex on the Beach 3 parts vodka, 1 part peach schnapps, 3 parts cranberry juice, 3 parts orange juice Build in the order given in an ice-filled highball glass. There have been more than 1000 named cocktail recipes, and new formulas can always be concocted with ingenuity. Look for more recipes on the internet and see if you can invent some other fantastic ones. http://www.cocktaildb.com/ http://www.kingcocktail.com/Rcpemenu.htm In Taiwan, licenses for professional bartenders have been issued since 2001. Most utensils and ingredients are available at malls or supermarkets. Try to be an amateur cocktail maker and treat your friends. FAQ Q: What is the origin of the term cocktail? A: Actually, there are many answers. Here are some of the most popular: 1. The term originally denoted “a tail like a cock,” referring to a non- thoroughbred racehorse with a cock-tailed horse in its pedigree; hence cocktail is associated with the concept of hybrid or mixture. 2. The word derives from the French word “coquetier” – an egg-cup. In New Orleans, circa 1795, Antoine Peychaud held social gatherings and served brandy toddies in egg-cups. 3. It originates from the French “coquetel,” a mixed drink known in the Bordeaux region for several centuries. It was perhaps carried to America by General Lafayette in 1777. 4. During the Revolutionary War, Betsy Flanagan served as a barmaid in a tavern, which was frequented by American and French soldiers. One day, some soldiers stole male pheasants from an Englishman and had a meal of roast chicken. While drinking, they toasted to Besty’s drink and said, “Here’s to the divine liquor which is as delicious to the palate, as the cock’s tails are beautiful to the eye.” Then a French officer replied, “Vive le cocktail.” 5. It derives from cock-ale, a meal of bread fortified with mixed spirits, which was fed to fighting cocks before a contest to inflame them. It was later taken up by humans. Cock-ale was popular in England during the 17th and 18th centuries. 6. It comes from cock tailings. A cock in the 19th century was a tap or spigot, and tailings referred to the dregs of a cask of spirits. The tailings would be drained out through the spigots and sold as a cheap drink. Colonel Carter was said to be the initiator. 7. A Toltec noble offered a mixed drink by the hand of his daughter, Coctel, to the Aztec king, Axolot VIII. The king endowed the drink with her name. Later on, the term was brought to the United States by soldiers returning from the Mexican War. 8. Claudius, a doctor in ancient Rome, mixed a drink consisting of wine, lemon juice, and dried herbs. He named it “cockwine.” 9. It is so called because it is a drink that will cock your tail (knock your socks off). Q: What is the “punch” served in a large bowl at a party? A: The word “punch” is probably a loanword from the name of a Hindi beverage – “panc,” which is a mixture of arrack, lemon, tea, sugar, and water. In the 18th century, arrack was imported to Northern Europe and became the base of a “punsch.” Today, punch refers to a juice-based mixed drink, usually blended with spices and liquor. Q: Can I use beer or wine as the base of a cocktail? A: Beer is made from grains, whereas wine is made from grapes. Both are not distilled after fermentation, so they are different from bases for a cocktail. The definition of a cocktail is stricter than that of a mixed drink. A mixed drink with beer or wine as a base may not be recognized as a cocktail by some. However, a few non-alcoholic mixed beverages are viewed as cocktail by others. Cocktails in Literature “He could hang about a bar-room discussing the affairs of the nation, for twelve hours together; and in that time could hold forth with more intolerable dullness, chew more tobacco, smoke more tobacco, drink more rum-toddy, mint-julep, gin-sling, and cock-tail, than any private gentleman of his acquaintance.” ~Charles Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, 1844 “Did ye iver try a brandy cocktail, Cornel?” ~ William Thackeray, The Newcomes, 1855 “Here, Bill, drink some cocktail.” ~Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown’s Schooldays, 1857 a
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May 2024
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