With the arrival of the summer's heat and humidity, how does a refreshing, ice-cold glass of lemonade sound? My high-octane variant of the summertime favorite combines vodka, limoncello, fresh lemon juice, and seltzer to produce a refreshing, effervescent cooler.
My spirituous selections include the citrus-flavored Absolut Citron Swedish vodka and Sogno di Sorrento™ Lemoncello made from I.G.P. Amalfi Coast lemons. While plain seltzer is fine, lemon seltzer is preferable. In any case, it's best to avoid club soda.
Comestiblog Lemonade (or Lemon Fizz):
1½ ounces Absolut Citron 2½ ounces Sogno di Sorrento™ Lemoncello
3 ounces lemon seltzer
Juice of 1½ lemons
Stir, add ice, and serve. Garnish with a slice of lemon. (Not to be served at a lemonade stand without proper license.)
A number of years ago, my friend Darrin Siegfried of Brooklyn's Red White & Bubbly introduced me to a delightful—albeit potent—cocktail. As he put it, "the people from Lillet came up with it to help promote their apéritif, but they gave it the improbable name of the Lillet-tini. Now, seriously: who is going to order that?" Perhaps it wasn't the best choice of names, but it remains an undeniably delicious drink. It was my late wife's favorite.
1 part Lillet Blonde (also known as Lillet Blanc) 1 part Stolichnaya Ohranj
Pour over ice in a rocks glass, garnish with an orange slice.
Or
Stir over ice, strain into a chilled cocktail glass, garnish with an orange slice.
One needn't wait till Cinco de Mayo to enjoy a Margarita—any warm day would be just fine. Contrary to popular belief, the Fifth of May is not Mexico's Independence Day. Rather, it is a somewhat minor, regional holiday—observed mainly in the state of Puebla—commemorating the Mexican army's improbable victory over superior French forces in the 1862 Battle of Puebla. Curiously, the holiday is celebrated chiefly north of the border. (Mexico's actual Independence Day falls on 16 September: dieciséis de septiembre).
Enough about history—how does one make a great Margarita? To begin, it's best to avoid mixes. While they may taste insidiously good, they contain ingredients that sound as though they'd be best avoided. For example, Jose Cuervo's Margarita Mix—admittedly one of the tastiest of the genre—contains "water, high fructose corn syrup and/or sugar, citric acid, natural flavors, sodium citrate, sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate (to preserve flavor), cellulose gum, polysorbate 60, gum Arabic, glycerol Abietate, and FD&C Yellow No. 5."
Instead of all those chemicals, why not simplify the drink to include just three components? The best Margaritas are made with tequila, triple sec, and fresh lime juice. Using high-quality ingredients may cost a little more, but the results are worth every penny. Begin with a superior tequila—never settle for anything made with less than 100% blue agave (Mexican law mandates at least 51% agave; no such minimum exists for domestic "tequilas"). Cointreau, a liqueur from Angers (pronounced ahn·ZHAY), France—produced from curaçao oranges—ranks as the crème de la crème of triple sec. Its orange peel flavor is an essential part of a great Margarita. Not to be overlooked is the fruit juice: fresh squeezed limes are a must. Again, a mix tastes all right; fresh lime juice, however, tastes much better.
While optional, the final ingredient is Kosher salt. Use it to salt the rim of the glass, if you so desire. Now that we have all the ingredients, is there anything else we need? Yes! Never underestimate the importance of proper glassware. Genuine Margarita glasses add that little extra appeal to the drink. Avoid water goblets or anything of that ilk.
Ready to mix? Here, then, is my recipe for the perfect Margarita:
The ideal tequila-to-Cointreau ratio is 4:π (or roughly 4:3.1416).
In terms of measure for one drink:
2 ounces 100% blue agave tequila 1½ ounces (+ a drop or 2) Cointreau Juice of 1 to 1½ limes
Your interpretation of perfection may vary, however. It's easy to adjust the ingredients to your taste.
Shake well, serve with a slice of lime, and enjoy!
It may be 60 years old, but it's lively, effervescent, elegant, and
delicious. The Bellini is the sort of cocktail for which one longs on
a hot day. And it's so easy to make!
According to legend, Giuseppe Cipriani's fondness for Italian white
peaches inspired him to create the Bellini for his famed Harry's Bar(a haunt of Ernest Hemingway, Sinclair Lewis, and Orson Welles) in Venice, Italy.
The recipe is simple: puréed white peaches and prosecco, an Italian
sparkling wine vinified from the eponymous grape. The drink,
incidentally, derives its name from the similarity of its pinkish color
to that of a painting by another Venetian, 15th-century artist Giovanni
Bellini. A near-replica of the Venetian Harry's Bar (the namesake of Cipriani's business partner, Harry Pickering) can be found just off the lobby of the Sherry-Netherland on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue.
Enough talk, let's drink! How does one make a good Bellini? If you
haven't the inclination to purée white Italian peaches yourself, you
could try one of several peach nectars available at your grocery
store. The Perfect Purée of Napa Valley makes a superior white peach product, but is somewhat pricey and requires ordering online. Personally, I like the convenience and taste of StirringsSimple Peach
Bellini Mixer—it's widely available and, at $8.99, fairly affordable. No matter what you choose, avoid peach schnapps!
It's important to use prosecco—not Champagne—when making a Bellini. (Champagne tends to overpower the peach's delicate flavors.) My choice is Prosecco Villa Jolanda: it's young, fresh, and reasonably priced at $8.99.
Stirrings Classic Peach Bellini recipe recommends using 1 part peach mixer to 4 parts prosecco. I found the tastiest ratio, however, to include a slightly higher proportion of peach nectar.
Finally, serve your Bellini in a champagne flute. No other glass captures the essence of the drink's stylishness. Salute!
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