Easy Like Sunday Morning Cocktails
Dish by Kathi Barber
Thinking about having friends over for a few drinks? Want to serve up some cocktails that will impress your guests?
According to Marc Gentile, a bartender at Little Havana located in Baltimore, MD, the drinks you serve can be as simple, or as complex as you choose. It all depends on your style and budget!
Marc gives DishVI expert tips on tools and ingredients of trade, and the most important part of your cocktail party: the cocktail, of course! Fancy gadgets are not necessary, unless you happen to be into cool and professional bar-serving equipment –lemon/lime squeezers, twisted mixing spoons, soda siphons, electric ice crushers, and the like. There’s nothing wrong with getting your equipment all dolled up for your cocktail party, but you don’t have to stress about these things.
Here, Marc, who happens to moonlight as an Attorney by day, talks about cocktail-making basics.
DISHVI: Marc, what are some of the basics for preparing great drinks at home?
Marc: Initially you would need the proper alcohol. Depending on the drink, you may or may not need a specific liquor. Secondly, there is the issue of glassware, shakers, strainers muddlers. If you want a frozen drink obviously you would need a blender. If you want a martini you need a shaker.
DISHVI: Are there any challenges you might face at home:
Marc: One thing that makes drink making at home difficult is the ice. Restaurants, with a few exceptions, do not use ice trays in a freezer to make ice and the monster cubes you get at home do not displace as much liquid as the smaller machine-generated cubes in a bar. That can affect a drink greatly. from ease of pouring to a using a blender.
DISHVI: Hmmm…sounds like it could be tricky?
Marc: At the most basic you need a glass and ice and booze. You can make anything on the rocks in seconds. For a slightly more complicated drink, I can think of nothing more important than shaking. For that you would need a shaker that fits on the glass you are going to use. Sounds easy but it isn’t always that easy. There is always the mad scientist method of mixing back and forth between two glasses. That works too, but to make a really good margarita, you need to shake the hell out of it!
DISHVI: What are some of the more popular drinks at Little Havana?
Marc: Not an easy question. A lot of women these days are drinking flavored vodkas and a mixer plus a splash. Example – Stoli orange and sprite with a splash of cranberry. That is not often a drink a man will order. Look for a man to drink vodka sodas or bourbon gingers generally. There are two very popular drinks that crosses the gender line – one is vodka + energy drink and the other is an ice pick.
DISHVI: What’s an Ice Pick?
Marc: An ice pick is at its most basic vodka and ice tea. People will add sugar or sweetener, lemons and flavored vodka. For example – peach vodka, 2 splendas, lemon, ice tea, shake.
DISHVI: What’s the skinny on Little Havana?
Marc: Little Havana has many reasons for being popular. First is the location. We are right on the water in south Baltimore with a huge deck for outside dining and general carousing. In the warmer months we are packed non-stop. But, they still come in during the winter so there must be more. I think the food {Cuban and Caribbean inspired cuisine) and drinks are good and reasonably priced. The atmosphere is real laid back. It is a really good looking space. It is not a chain so it is unique. Our staff for the most part has been there a long time. They are friendly and pretty good at what they do. There is a real neighborhood bar feel in a huge space. As I said we are very unique and it shows. With little Havana, you either get it or you don’t. there are plenty of people who don’t, but I think they have stress problems and expect too much out of life. There is some wisdom to taking it easy.
Take this final tip from Marc, Bartender and Attorney: de-stress and enjoy your cocktail party!
You may now wonder, “what in the world is a muddler and/or shaker?” A muddler is a swizzle stick with an enlarged tip for stirring drinks, crushing fruit or sugar, etc. If you can picture a mortar and pestle, used to grind herbs, you get the idea of what a muddler looks like. A shaker is any container used to mix drinks. It can be as basic as our expert mentions above (using two glasses), or you can use one made of stainless steel, which helps to keep a drink chilled while “shaking.”
RECIPES: Mojito and Rum Runner-ish circa Marc Gentile
MOJITO
Half a lime and cut into slices
Use 5-6 big mint leaves
Tablespoon of sugar
Two shots light rum (with Mojito the brand matters very, very little)
Club soda
Pint glass
Muddler & Shaker
Ice & Straw
In a pint glass, put the lime, mint, sugar in that order. Add a splash of soda water. Muddle. Fill glass with ice. Add rum. Fill with soda water. Shake.
**Per the writer…For an extra Mojito zing, use Sprite in place of the club soda. Yum!
RUM RUNNER(ish)
One shot light rum
One shot dark rum
2 slices orange
1 slice lemon
Grenadine
Pint glass
Ice
Shaker
Pineapple juice
Orange juice
Cranberry juice
In a pint glass, muddle orange and lemon lightly. Fill with ice. Add rum. Fill with fruit juices. Grenadine to taste. Depending on the sweetness required, add more or less grenadine. Also, to remove bitterness of rind from fruit, either skin fruit before muddling or use a manual juicer.