This week, we're stumbling upon an old and obscure category of drinks that might be the original sangria! Judge for yourself -- is this basically sangria or not?
And here are a lot more varieties:
Friday, April 29, 2011
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Wednesday's Food Section: Veal Stroganoff
Friday, April 22, 2011
Friday Happy Hour: "At Home Happy Hour"
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Wednesday's Food Section: Easter Ham!
Friday, April 15, 2011
Friday Happy Hour: Flips
You might mistake this for a frosty pint of beer, but, as we'll see below, it's something altogether different. As we're exploring some of the classic, pre-prohibition drinks (we've talked about cocktails and rickeys so far), we'll take on the most controversial of them, the flip. It's "controversial" because of one key ingredient: an egg. We've talked before about egg whites, but flips take the whole egg, raw. Well, so that's kind of a disclaimer. If you're still interested in learning more, let's explore it:
So, kind of like the rickey, the flip follows a basic recipe, and you insert your spirit of choice. For a flip, it's an egg, a teaspoon of sugar, and some booze. The thing about a flip is that you have to shake hard to whip up the egg into a froth to give the drink the body it's known for. Here are some more variations for flips:
Another thing to mention is the signature garnish for a flip: nutmeg. Nutmeg is also used as a garnish for some other creamy drinks like an Alexander. The Drink Master also suggests using cinnamon as a garnish:
If you've never had a flip -- or even if you don't want to try a flip -- you've almost certainly had its cousin, egg nog. Egg nog is a little different, especially from the store. The big difference between an egg nog and a flip is that egg nog includes dairy, whereas the flip doesn't. The egg is used simply to add heft and body to the drink. Perhaps it's a good drink for runners, too, due to the protein. Try one for your next 5k -- here's a recipe for you:
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Wednesday's Food Section: Chicken Curry
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Cold War City
From our sister site, How to Be a Retronaut, comes this haunting look back at England's Cold War City, an underground bunker built in the 1950s.
Grab a hot cup of tea and step back sixty years.
Grab a hot cup of tea and step back sixty years.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Friday Happy Hour: Rickeys
A couple of weeks ago, we talked about cocktails. Not just mixed drinks, but cocktails -- as in the original meaning of the term. As we learned (so you don't have to go back and look), a cocktail was a specific kind of mixed drink that included a spirit and bitters, and another liqueur or mixer (but not anything fizzy). This week, let's talk about another old school drink, the Rickey. Maybe your granddad drank a Rickey from time to time -- it's an oldie, but a goodie. Here's an introduction to the Rickey from the 1959 edition of The Standard Bartender's Guide:
So, there you have your basic Rickey formula, along with some exotic twists. A Rickey is just your booze of choice, half a lime, some ice, and top off with soda water. Then toss in the lime rind as a garnish. It's tart, but bracing. Like we said, your granddad might have drunk this. Here are some more variations on the Rickey:
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Wednesday's Food Section: a duo of Egg and Cheese
Friday, April 1, 2011
Friday Happy Hour: a tribute to Elizabeth Taylor
This week, we're interupting our regular schedule to bring you an original cocktail from Rogers Park Retro in honor of Elizabeth Taylor, the Violet Eyes. Sweet with an edge, much like the actress by whom it is inspired, the Violet Eyes casts its spell at first glance.
The recipe is 3 parts vodka, 1 part triple sec, 1/2 part creme de violette, and a teaspoon of bar sugar or simple syrup. Soft, beautiful, strong, and original, just like the original Violet Eyes.