The Tippling Bros. a Lime and a Shaker Read online

  Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, and beans.

  Bring to a boil for 1 minute.

  Add the beer, taking one sip.

  Add the tequila, then take two sips from the bottle.

  Reduce the heat and simmer on medium for an hour or so, stirring occasionally and scraping down the sides of the pot, until the chili reaches desired thickness.

  Serve. Smile. Thank me.

  Serves 8 to 10

  Pepino el Pyu

  Cookie Cutter

  Little Market

  Lake Effect

  El Pirata

  The Howler

  Nymph’s Garden

  Buena Tierra

  Two Sheiks al Ikseer

  Poppa Low

  Chicas Fuertes

  San Fresa Fizz

  Arose con Blonde

  Black Sand

  Alfie’s Apple

  V9

  Siempre Es Pera

  The Turista

  Missionary’s [Re]Position

  Marauder of 15th Street

  Made in the Shade

  Pera Te

  Tres Coops

  Gato Amargo

  La Gritona

  Misty in the Morning

  Smokestack #2

  Juan San

  Dizzy Oaxacan

  Tipsy Jimador

  Division Bell

  The Del Rio

  Naked and Famous

  Der Mexicaner

  212

  Paul’s Poutine Beef Brisket for Tacos

  As we have now established, the Margarita is essentially a classic sour, and the sour is the basis of many of the great drinks that we know today: the Sidecar, the Whiskey Sour, the Cosmopolitan, the Daiquiri, the Caipirinha—the list goes on. Mastering the sour is key to mixology. While not challenging per se, it does require some finesse. You’ll notice as you peruse the cocktails and other mixed drinks throughout this book that many of them are based on the sour, all with an easily recognizable and digestible formula we like to call the 2-1-1: Two parts strong. One part sweet. One part sour.

  This formula has been tried and tested for well over a century, and it always yields a balanced cocktail. Balance, of course, is the ticket to bartending success. The 2-1-1 will never lead you astray—that is if you always use fresh-squeezed citrus juice for the sour component. Obviously, and thankfully, people have different tastes. Some prefer their cocktails with a tart edge, others enjoy them a tad sweet, and then there are those (like the Tippling Bros.) who prefer their libations with some fortitude. Depending on the individual palate and the ingredients used, the model slides this way or that. That’s where the skill of the bartender comes into play, learning to gauge guests’ tastes and being able to adjust accordingly.

  You lika da juice? Fresh juice. Fresh juice. Fresh juice. Said it three times. Corny, yes, but we’ll do what it takes. We’ll annoy you into remembering to use the stuff.

  Using top-quality spirits is one of the most important factors in creating a great cocktail. Likewise, using fresh-squeezed, pressed, or pureed fruits (as well as vegetables and herbs) is absolutely vital—whether in a restaurant, bar, or home kitchen.

  There are products sold through produce distributors and at certain markets and groceries that are labeled fresh-squeezed, but beware, if it’s pasteurized it will not taste like the fruit from which it comes. There are certain methods of pasteurization being implemented in small (but growing amounts) that “pasteurize” citrus without heat. They neither change the cell structure nor alter the flavor of fruits, but unfortunately they are few and far between and currently the technology is prohibitively expensive. To ensure you are getting the freshest flavor from your citrus, squeeze your own bounty at home or visit a market that squeezes on site. Many Whole Foods are now juicing lemons, limes, oranges, and grapefruits to order, and will do the same for other fruits on request.

  Whenever possible and reasonable we recommend hauling out the blender and making your own fruit and vegetable purees. Luckily there are few things in life that are easier. Seasonality and regionality are far bigger hurdles. We can tell you from experience that there is seemingly not a fresh passion fruit inhabiting a New York grocer’s shelf at any time of the year. What to do? Here is where flash-frozen purees come to the rescue. Go-to brands like Les Vergers Boiron, Ravifruit, the Perfect Puree of Napa Valley, and Funkin are cost-effective, consistently high-quality alternatives.

  When you use as much fresh citrus as we do at the places we run or consult on, you need some serious squeezing firepower. The high-performing, durable, commercial Zumex juicer is the real deal, churning out a quart of lime juice in one minute. That’s approximately ten times faster than a bar back with serious skills. It’s a big investment but one that yields “juicy” returns. Get it? Stored properly, tightly sealed in a clean container in the fridge, lime juice will last for thirty-six hours, lemon juice for two days, and orange and grapefruit for up to three or four.

  Tipps’ Tip: Room temperature fruits yield significantly more juice, about 30 percent, than those sitting in the refrigerator. Elicit some extra liquid out of lemons and limes that have been chilling all day by bathing them in warm water for 10 minutes to get those juices flowing.

  * * *

  Just Squeeze

  Keep these tips in mind when sussing out citrus at the grocery store:

  1. Feel for thin skins. This means they have more flesh and will yield more juice.

  2. For fruit you plan on muddling, garnishing, or zesting, seek out ones with thicker skins. They’ll produce more of the desired oils.

  Cocktail lovers—budding enthusiasts and aficionados alike—simply must have a hand juicer at home or behind the bar. We recommend keeping a few, so that you can recruit your friends and family. After all, everyone needs toned forearms. They should also be of varying sizes: one for limes, one for lemons, and one for oranges and grapefruits.

  If you’re opting to juice by hand, say for the occasional Margarita-fueled dinner party, we are partial to the version made by our friend Tony Abou-Ganim, who is dubbed the Modern Mixologist because it is simple, weighty, and durable. Having hand-juiced thousands of gallons of lemon and lime juice over the years, we know our way around the good and bad. Avoid those hand juicers that feel flimsy or have weak pivot points. If it feels like you could knock someone out with it, it’s the one you want.

  If you’re a serious home enthusiast, playing hospitable host week after week, our vote is for an electric juicer, specifically Breville’s 800CPXL, an efficient and durable machine that will also look killer on your counter. Professional bartenders, however, rely on extremely pricey industrial-strength versions. Sunkist and Hamilton Beach both make workhorses in the $500+ range. We have used both behind our bars and in our consulting and event work for years. When using these or the Breville home model, don’t press too hard on the fruit, or you’ll get too much bitterness from the pith.

  When starting to tinker with cocktail recipes, follow this model and you’ll develop great habits. You’ll also waste a lot less booze. At home, that means your liquor cabinet stays fuller longer; behind the bar, that means eliminating one more obstacle to keeping pour costs in line, which makes for happy bar owners.

  Begin adding the ingredients in order from least expensive to most, or as we like to say, from the ground up. If you’re using lemon or lime juice, add that first. Follow with your sweetener, whether it’s in the form of a from-scratch cinnamon syrup or curaçao. Then continue with your spirit/s. This way if too much citrus spills, say, into your mixing glass, it’s not on top of two ounces of reposado tequila. And always make the ice your last ingredient. Drinks can be built and left on the bar for an indefinite period of time; once the ice is in the glass or shaker, the countdown begins.

  James Bond is a cool cat with badass cars and impeccable taste, yet he asks for his Martini shake
n—a move that would raise eyebrows among the stirred Martini-reverent cocktail cognoscenti. Whatever a customer desires is, of course, the right way to make a cocktail, yet it does spark a valid question for the drink-slinging newcomer: When should a cocktail do time in a shaker, and when does it rely on a few twists of the bar spoon?

  When a drink is primarily comprised of spirits, and there is no juice, fruit, dairy, or eggs in the recipe, it should be stirred. Stirring will mix, chill, and dilute it, creating a libation with a luxurious, silky body that weights the tongue. Shaking, on the other hand, also adds aeration to the mix and is used to lighten a drink and bring it to life. Shake with ice any time there are ingredients other than spirits, liqueurs, or aperitifs in the drink.

  Tipps’ Tip: Egg white is a classic American cocktail ingredient employed to add froth and body to cocktails while “capturing” the aromatics of the spirits. While there are several schools of thought about how best to use them, this is a trick that is great for home or bar use: Aerolattes are battery-operated whippers used for foaming milk. They work beautifully to quickly emulsify egg whites. A few passes with an Aerolatte before shaking with ice allows the dry-shake to be skipped. Another dry shake–skipping trick: throwing the Hawthorne strainer’s spring into the tin with all the ingredients and ice before shaking.

  Infusions are an easy way to bring flavor into your spirits and cocktails without having to rely on sweeteners or muddle fresh herbs and spices. Tequila and mezcal both respond well to myriad types of flavor additions. Here are some fine choices:

  Fresh herbs: They can get stewy or bitter, so don’t let them linger too long. Test for flavor after just a couple of hours, especially with mint, cilantro, and other aromatic herbs.

  Dried herbs: They will infuse more rapidly than fresh ones and become more intense; use about a third of what you would if they were fresh.

  Citrus: Use the peels rather than the flesh; it’s the essences/oils that are desired.

  Tea: It adds flavor, aroma, and tannic texture without adding liquid volume to the drink.

  Spices: Depending on the intensity desired, you can keep spice infusions going for up to a few weeks. Coffee beans and cocoa nibs may also need up to a week to make an impact. Always use a clean, dry, sealable container made of glass or food-safe plastic; the last thing you want is to be struck with rare but serious, bacteria-fueled botulism as a result of improper storage.

  Tipps’ Tip: Raiding the fridge is a great way to find inspiration for cocktail creation as well as to get rid of leftover herbs, fruits, juices, and condiments. Jellies, marmalades, maple syrup, clementines, celery leaves, Greek yogurt, the grapes that you bought for the cheese plate you were going to make—they can all spark a new recipe. If that doesn’t work, head to the candle store. Let it be known that this is a Tippling Bros. trade secret. Please don’t repeat this. This is big stuff and could topple the field of mixology as it stands. Go to the candle department of your favorite store, or for that matter the lotion department of a cosmetics boutique. Look at the aromatic combinations, pick them up, and inhale deeply. If you like what you smell, take note. Go and get the ingredients and start shaking. Mixology.

  * * *

  Walk the Tightrope

  Drink-making rule #1: As in wine, food, and life itself, balance is key. We all know that our favorite wines, those that stimulate every part of our palate and leave us wanting more, are those that are perfectly balanced. In wine we seek out the relationships between acid, tannin, fruit, and alcohol. When these elements are in harmony with one another the mouth feel, aroma, and sensation are all heightened. In cocktails, balance essentially hinges on similar components of alcohol, sweetness, bitterness, acidity, and texture.

  Drink the Triquila

  In 2007, we opened a Mercadito outpost in New York’s East Village. It was a tiny space with a little open kitchen behind the bar, or a little bar in the kitchen, depending on how one looked at it. Try as we might we couldn’t get a full liquor license from the neighborhood board, so we could only serve beer, wine, sake, or vermouth. For two guys charged with creating a bespoke cocktail list, that presented more than a wee problem.

  As we were experimenting with different wines, fortified wines, and aperitifs, yielding some decent to good results, we were sorely missing the ability to use the peppery, punchy, earthy flavor of tequila as a basis for the drinks. So, what did we do?

  Triquila, ladies and gentlemen.

  We had an in-house sake that was lightly fortified with shochu, which fell under the accepted alcohol level requirements. We spent a couple of months tinkering with infusions of spices, herbs, vegetables, and chiles. Ultimately, we came up with a combination that tasted passingly like a heady, aromatic blanco tequila. It worked perfectly (for our cocktail needs). Triquila actually developed a small cult following of guests who would come in solely for shots of Triquila.

  While the idea of “skinny” drinks in general makes us throw up in our mouths a little, what it does show us is that people are amenable to drinking drier libations. That makes us happy, whatever the reason. If calories are a concern while cocktailing, cut the sugar. If a recipe calls for three-quarters of an ounce of simple syrup, reduce it to a half-ounce. Don’t muck up a fresh cocktail with a load of artificial sweeteners. And do your research when it comes to alternative sweeteners like stevia and monk fruit. While the pure versions are better for us than sugar, what shows up on the shelves is highly processed gunk. Tippling Bros. say, “No bueno.”

  The Tippling Bros. are advocates of the well-placed, well-chosen, well-thought-out garnish. Yes, we eat with our eyes. Before we taste our cocktails we see vibrant colors and inviting textures. We also smell wafting aromas, like citrus oils or toasted spices. We like to dress with salts and sugars that accentuate and further balance them. Sometimes we create cocktails that need the rim or garnish to truly balance the drink. It’s fun, and it adds additional elements to the experience.

  A handheld mandoline—a durable, easy-to-clean, and inexpensive version like Benriner’s—is a great way to make consistent, paper-thin slices of cucumbers, apples, celery, carrots, grapes, and other fruits and vegetables to use as garnishes for your cocktails. One caveat: Make sure you use the guard. Julienned fingers do not good garnishes make.

  Salt in a cocktail, you might ask? Well, yes—just a touch. Beyond providing a festive Margarita rim, salt suppresses bitter notes and brightens acidic flavors. Flavored salts are an easy and playful way to add dimension to drinks. Dry ingredients like spices, nuts, fruits, teas, and flowers work especially well. Experiment with cocoa nibs, coffee beans, and for a more authentic Oaxacan flavor, seek out sal de gusano, salt blended with dried, pulverized worms.

  Instead of a full-fledged rim of salt on a cocktail glass, we are fans of the halfway approach. Why? Well, it makes practical sense for service, as it eliminates ever having to ask a guest the age-old question, “With salt?” It also allows guests to have two different experiences, making for interactive cocktailing. Next, we’ll need to invent the half olive–half twist and the cocktail glass made of ice. Here’s how to get that fat, geometric swipe of color across the glass. Use a Pac-Man–looking orange to moisten the rim of a glass. With a half turn of the glass on the fruit and a half turn in the salt, you’ll achieve the perfect salted half rim. Cut the bottom “pole” off the fruit to create a flat surface. Slice down from the top “pole” to the middle of the orange and then from the “equator” into the middle and remove the wedge. Watch out for hungry ghosts.

  2 ounces blanco tequila

  1 ounce cucumber puree

  1 ounce Hoja Santa Syrup

  ¾ ounce fresh lemon juice

  OLD-FASHIONED

  Half rim of Cumin Salt a cucumber slice, a 4-inch bamboo pick

  “Give me a Pepino” is a frequent request at the Mercadito restaurants where
this cocktail is served. It very quickly became one of our absolute best-selling cocktails—we go through about 1,500 a month—and the name may have a little something to do with that. Pepino means “cucumber” in Spanish and along with hoja santa, the indigenous Mexican herb that aromatized baby diapers during ancient times (see note), gives this drink its singular flavor. Hence, the “Pyu.” And yes, it’s also a reference to that famous French skunk.

  Add all the ingredients to a cocktail shaker.

  Add ice and shake whatchamamagaveya for 10 seconds.

  Strain over fresh ice in an old-fashioned glass, half-rimmed with Cumin Salt.

  Spear the cucumber slice on the 4-inch bamboo pick and garnish.

  From Diapers to Dinner

  The story goes that when the Virgin Mary wanted to dry the diapers of baby Jesus, she placed them atop the hoja santa, or sainted leaf, plant, a tree-like Mexican herb. Killing two birds with one stone, it supplied her with both a clothesline and an aromatic upgrade. Today hoja santa, often used in Mexican cooking, equally makes a boon companion to Mexican-inspired cocktails. Often nicknamed the root beer plant because of its similarity in flavor to sassafras bark, it’s slightly peppery with sharp vegetal notes. Our homemade hoja santa syrup adds earthy depth to a number of our concoctions.

  1½ ounces Gingerbread Rooibos–Infused Reposado Tequila

  ½ ounce Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao or Grandma Mix (see Tipp’s Tip)