Tag: recipe

  • Happy 60th Birthday, Golden Cadillac Cocktail

    Poor Red's BBQ in the California gold country is famous for the Golden Cadillac, a cocktail created in 1952. Next year will be the drink's 60th birthday.

    It's a combination of Galliano, creme de cacao, and cream, thrown into a blender.

    Poor Red's sells them by the thousands. 

    Golden_Cadillac_1s
    (They don't look this fancy at Poor Red's. Image courtesy of Galliano.)

    As you might imagine, it's not the most… nuanced drink in the world but should you find yourself in El Dorado (located between Sacramento and South Lake Tahoe) it's one of those when-in-Rome cocktails. 

    Here's some history of the drink. 

    Poor Reds

    In El Dorado, California exists a bar known as Poor Red’s. Originally constructed as a weigh station for Wells Fargo, it previously operated under the name Kelly’s Bar from 1927 until 1945. Poor Red won the bar in a game of dice, and he and his wife and bookkeeper Rich Opal took it over then.

    The murals currently on the walls of Poor Red’s were installed in the 40s. They are all former employees and patrons, including the dog which used to sit out front. It is rumored his dog ran for office, but he lost.

    People come from all over California to enjoy 2 things at Poor Red’s: great barbeque and their famous Golden Cadillac cocktails.

    The Golden Cadillac

    Sometime in 1951 or 52, a woman and her new fiancé came into Poor Red’s. To celebrate their engagement they decided their very own cocktail should be created in their honor. The couple and long-time bartender Frank Klein decided it should be created to match their newly purchased golden Cadillac. Several recipes were tried, butt he final concoction is still known worldwide as the Golden Cadillac: a cocktail whose success has been credited to the unmatched quality of Bols Crème de Cacao, the clean mountain water that makes up the ice, decades old metal blenders, the perfect measure of half and half, and of course – the unique flavors and golden color of Galliano L’Autentico.

    Since this was written the bar has narrowed its creation date to 1952.

    Galliano recently gave Poor Red's a Golden Cadillac to display indefinitely outside the bar. 

    Golden cadillac car small
    And if you're not in the area any time soon, here is the recipe. 

    Golden Cadillac
    by Frank Klein of Poor Red's BBQ 

    1 oz Galliano L’Autentico
    1 oz Bols White Crème de Cacao liqueur
    1 oz cream
    Dark chocolate shavings

    Shake the ingredients and double strain through a sieve into a small wine glass. Place on a white tray and grate with dark chocolate.

     

  • The Missing Caipirinha

    Leblon-caipirinhaM_lg I've been writing for Fine Cooking magazine's website for several months now, and realized they don't have a recipe for the Caipirinha online. Shameful. So in my latest post I wrote about the drink, the base spirit cachaca, and some variations. Check it out.

  • Sherry is to Tequila as Vermouth is to Whiskey

    Sherry and tequila are showing up together on more and more cocktail menus. I wrote a story about that in the Sunday, February 20th San Francisco Chronicle. 

    Del rio
    (Del Rio cocktail by Josh Harris of the Bon Vivants. Photo: Craig Lee)

    More drinks including Tequila and Sherry
    Camper English, Special to The Chronicle

    Sherry and Tequila are having a love affair. Bartenders are using more of each ingredient lately, but increasingly you'll see the two sneaking off in a drink together, canoodling in a corner of the cocktail menu.

    One of the first outward signs of this attraction came in the form of La Perla, a drink created several years ago by beverage consultant Jacques Bezuidenhout, which is still on the menu at Bourbon & Branch. The cocktail contains reposado (lightly aged) Tequila, manzanilla Sherry and pear liqueur.

    A not-too dissimilar flavor combination has popped up recently. At the Hideout at Dalva, a tiny backroom cocktail bar in the Mission District, Josh Harris serves the Del Rio. The drink is made with blanco, or unaged, Tequila, fino Sherry, St. Germain elderflower liqueur, plus a dash of orange bitters and a grapefruit zest.

    At Gitane, the Sherry-centric Claude Lane restaurant, bar manager Alex Smith and two other bartenders collaborated on a drink called the Flor Delice, made with reposado, manzanilla, St. Germain and orange bitters, plus maraschino liqueur.

    In New York, this combination shows up yet again on the menu at Mayahuel, a bar dedicated to Tequila and mezcal. The Suro-Mago uses blanco, manzanilla, elderflower and orange bitters, and adds a rinse of mezcal to give it a smoky touch.

     Read the rest of the story and get the recipe for the Del Rio, a simple and delicious drink.

  • The Anti-Malarial Further Fortified Fortified Wine Cocktail

    DubonnetCocktailm_lg In my latest post for FineCooking.com, I touch on Dubonnet and the Dubonnet Cocktail. Dubonnet was invented as an anti-malarial wine. It's useful even if you don't have a mosquito problem.

    Read! Learn! Behold!

  • Back In My Day, It Was Called A New-Fashioned

    In my latest post for FineCooking.com, I cover the history of the cocktail- the original one. I'm sure you've heard of it: spirit, sugar, water, bitters.

    Spirit sugar water bitters7s

  • The Martini Does Not Exist

    The word 'Martini' has very little meaning.

    Two versions of the cocktail may have completely different ingredients and be served in different formats: A bone-dry-and-dirty Grey Goose Martini on the rocks with extra olives has nothing in common with a Fifty-Fifty gin Martini with orange bitters and a twist. They're not even close to the same drink – in ingredients, in format, or in purpose.

    Martinilatimes

    More than that, the Martini no longer exists even as a drink concept. It means different things to different people: strength, dryness, elegance, simplicity, an aperitif, glassware, crispness, an era in time, an intellectual challenge, etc.. Some of its concepts are mutually exclusive.

    This conundrum surfaced when in New Zealand last year for the 42Below Vodka Cocktail World Cup, in which they had a Modern Martini challenge. The problem was that nobody agreed on what the Martini was, so everyone updated it in a different way.  Most of those ways differed from the judges' concept of the drink.

    The Martini is as amorphous a concept as morality.

    In this Sunday's Los Angeles Times Magazine, I wrote a story about how the Martini Does Not Exist, except in the mind of the individual.

    I'm pretty happy with how it came out. After going through the issues involved with the concept of the drink (and revealing how that cocktail contest turned out), the story lists the Martini recipe as a moving target throughout the years.

    Please give it a read.

  • Cheers to Rudolph, Not the Reindeer

    Blood_and_sand_med

    (Image courtesy of Cherry Heering.)

    In my latest blog post at FineCooking.com, I introduce the Blood and Sand. The cocktail was almost certainly created in honor of the  1922 silent movie of the same name, staring Rudolph Valentino.

    I've also written a long story about all the different ways bartenders are changing this drink, but that's going in an upcoming issue of Mixology Magazine so unless you read German you're out of luck on that one.     

    I will say, though, that should you decide to watch the movie on which the drink is based, the 1941 version with Rita Hayworth and Tyrone Power is much more entertaining than the original. Unless you want to watch Rudolph on a silent night. 

    The blog post is here

     

  • On FineCooking.com: Homemade Grenadine and the Jack Rose Cocktail

    Please check out my latest blog entry on FineCooking.com. It's about making your own grenadine and the Jack Rose cocktail. 

    Jack rose closeup_tn

    Read it here, and feel free to comment (over there) on your own grenadine or Jack Rose recipe improvements. 

  • Germany, Ensslin, Aviation, and Blue Cocktails

    My latest post on FineCooking.com is up. It's typical of my thought process: I was going to write about my time in Germany and ended up talking about a German bartender who wrote an American cocktail book in which the Aviation cocktail was first mentioned and later forgotten. 

    Read it here

    Aviation close1_tn

    (I took this picture- not bad for me!)

  • Intro to Negroni, over at FineCooking.com

    My weekly recipe is up on FineCooking.com, a quick introduction to the Negroni cocktail. Perhaps you have heard of such a thing?

    Check it out, and if you have a preferred way of making the Negroni different that the typical equal parts, stirried, up method, feel free to comment over there on FineCooking. Comments make me look good, like a deliciously sticky Negroni.