* DRINK TECHNIQUES:

*Beer - unless your guest grew up in a British Pub
and never changed tastes, serve beer cold, in
cold glasses. 37-38 degrees is just right. When
pouring, start with the glass at an angle, pour
down the side, not in the middle. As you near
the top upright the glass, pour in the middle to
form the head, or foam. Move the bottle further
away to increase the foam, within the limits of
your glass-hitting accuracy range.
*Chill glasses - all drinks, except hot ones, will
be better if the glasses are the served at the
right temperature. Place them in the freezer, or
in a bowl of shaved ice. A great trick with a
stemmed glass is to place the glass on smooth
surface. Now add an ice cube. Position the
glass between the second and third fingers, and
move your hand back and forth. The ice will spin
in the glass, and it will be quickly chilled.
With a little practice you can place several
glasses between your fingers, and chill them
all at one time.
*Eggs - When using eggs for drinks, break the egg
on the edge of a second glass to be sure that
it is fresh. To separate the white from the yolk
pour from 1/2 of the shell to the other half al-
lowing the white to drop into the glass. When
making blenderized egg drinks, be sure the ice
is at the shaved stage before adding the egg.
*Flaming - be careful with this, do it in a safe
place, and protect things from flaming along
with the drink - especially your hands. It can
be very effective, and is necessary to complete
some recipes. Heat the liquor to be flamed in
a small pan, light it and pour onto the drink.
It is better to under heat, than to overdo it.
When flaming keep an open box of baking soda
around to smother any unwanted fires.
*Floating - when ever you want something to layer
on the top, place the barspoon, backside up,
just below the surface, and pour slowly to the
spoon.
*Ice - use ice cubes to build highballs, shaker
drinks, and drinks on the rocks. Crushed ice
should be used for frappes and mists. Your
blender will convert ice cubes to shaved. Don't
reuse cubes in your drinks, often they pick up
a coating, or melt down to distract from the
drink. Use tongs to serve cubes, a scoop for
crushed ice.
*Lemon twists - cut the ends of the lemon and make
length wise cuts into the skin about 1/4 inch
wide. Peel each of the strips being careful to
get the skin, and not the white. To use, rub to
the rim of the glass, and twist over the drink
releasing the oil. Drop onto the top of the
drink.
*Lemon peel - same as twists, but make strips about
1 inch wide. Use in toddy-type drinks.
*Lemon wheels - cut ends of the lemon and make a
lengthwise cut about 1/3 of the thickness of the
lemon. Slice into 1/4 slices and place on the
rim of the glass as garnish.
*Maraschino cherries - get the largest you can find
and make sure they have the stems.
With time
you may want to modify the recipes to your
taste, but do it gently. One exception, well
taken, if any of your guests is overindulging
cut back on the active ingredients, they won't
notice, and will be at your service.
*Measure - always measure, use a 1 1/2 oz. shot
glass. Don't guess, or try to be "generous"
it will only distract from the drink, and
not do any favors for your guests, the next day.
*Mixing - it is important to follow the recipe as
to mix properly. Most drinks can be built in the
glass, but some must be mixed in a mixing glass.
This allows straining into the glass. And some
are best presented after blending. Again, follow
the recipe, add the ingredients in the order they
are listed, it may not be always important, but
sometimes it is.
*Olives - use the large, or queen size green olives
stuffed with pimento. Be sure the liquid covers
them, while stored between drinks, in the refrig-
erator. A few drops of olive oil floated on the
surface will eliminate the tendency to get a
moldy film forming on the surface.
To make a fantastic dry martini, pour off
about 1 1/2 oz. of the liquid of a new bottle of
olives and replace with good dry vermouth. Now
you can simply stir your gin with some ice, pour
into the chilled martini glass and add one of
the "magic" olives to produce a great martini.
Always put olives on a cocktail pick, or tooth-
pick, the little sword-type are good.
*Onions - use the large pearl cocktail type.
*Opening - champagne or sparkling wines is an art.
Wrap a clean towel, or napkin around the cork
after removing the safety wire. Be sure to aim
away from things and people you don't want to
break. Hold the cork, and slowing turn the
bottle, not the cork. Control it so as to make
the smallest pop possible. When pouring, pour
to the center of the glass to enhance the bub-
bling effect. When opening other wines, if the
cork should break, remove enough to pour the
wine through a tea strainer into a decanter.
Serve it from there - nothing lost.
*Oranges - cut off ends and divide lengthwise.
Make crosswise slices about 1/4 inch. Remove
any seeds. Slice 1/2 way through and place on
the rim of the glass, or squeeze and drop onto
top of the drink.
*Salt - the kosher, or coarse granule type is best.
To salt the rim of glasses, wet rim with lemon
juice, one of the liqueurs in the drink, or just
water, and invert into a saucer with the salt.
*Stirring - use a long cocktail spoon, and hold to
a minimum to mix the ingredients. Carbonated
mixers will go flat if overstirred. There is a
great difference between stirring and shaking,
and follow the recipe on this. A Martini will
not be nearly as good if over-stirred, and it
will be even more adversely effected by shaking.
*Storing - be sure your bottle-stoppers, or corks
are doing their job, if not obtain some of the
expanding type. All bar stock will lose it if
left badly corked.
*Sugar - the superfine, but not powdered is best.
You can coat the glass rims in the same manner
as with salt to add a nice touch.
*Sweet and sour - prepared lemon juice with sugar
added that you can buy premixed. A great secret
for fizzes is to add the white of one egg to a
new bottle, and when blending fizzes you will
get a great foamy head that will last.
*Pouring - when making more than one of any type
drink, pour each glass 1/2 full, and then add
to each to even them out.