I also love nibbling on fresh bread and having a drink while making dinner. Usually, it's a glass of wine. I love cooking with wine and sometimes I even put it in the food. (Not original, I know.) But for the purposes of this posting, we're going to highlight the ratios of bread and a couple of standard mixed drinks, the whiskey sour and the margarita. I know, I know, margaritas go with corn chips and Queso Fundido, but I recently discovered that the ratios of a good whiskey sour and the margarita are exactly the same and it looks like this: (((1:1):1):1). What Ben? And the bread recipe looks like this (2:1). How much simpler is that compared to a recipe that takes up a half a page of type? Are we starting to get the moral of the story here? If you are starting to realize you just need to understand proportions instead of recipes, go to the head of the class. Enough babbling, recipes . . . or ratios.
I know people who actually buy simple syrup in stores. It's true, I cannot make this strange and terrible fact disappear. Simple syrup is nothing more than sugar and water and it is the modifying agent in many, many cocktails. Without it, the burn of alcohol would overpower many drinks and fruit flavors would go into battle with ethanol with no support on the flanks. The flavors would be soundly defeated by the alcohol. So this is the first step in ratios, simple syrup. We want one cup of simple syrup. So, combine 2/3 c. of sugar and 2/3 c. of water in a microwave-proof measuring cup like a Pyrex. Simply microwave on high for about five minutes or until all of the sugar has disseminated into the water. If a few granules remain on the bottom simply stir the syrup and it will finish dissolving. What is our ratio here? That's right 1:1, sugar to water. I sincerely use the microwave for about two tasks and this is one of them. If you end up with a little more than a cup, simply discard the slight excess.
Now we want to make our simple syrup into a basic sour, and again, the ratio is 1:1. This time we're going to use our simply syrup (1:1, sugar to water) and mix equal parts of citrus juice with the simple syrup. Simply mix 1 c. of simple syrup with 1 c. of citrus. Here's where the Tale of Two Cocktails diverges, for Whiskey Sours you're going to use lemon juice and if it's margaritas, you're going to use lime juice and perhaps an orange. You know have your sour mix that was created with the ratio of 1:1, 1c. of simply syrup to 1 c. of citrus juice.
On with the show. Finally, the alcohol. Guess what ratio we're going to use here? If you didn't guess correctly you should probably just stop reading this now and go have someone else mix you a drink. Finally, mix one part of sour mix with one part of liquor. Here again, the beauty of ratios is that you can mix one cocktail or an entire pitcher.
So for Whiskey Sours it's going to be one part lemon sour with one part of whiskey. I prefer Maker's Mark, and yes, I'm aware that it's actually Bourbon. I like mine served up so shake vigorously in a cocktail shaker and strain into a cold martini glass. Garnish with some cherries. Enjoy.
For Margaritas mix one part of lime sour mix with one part of tequila. I prefer Jose Cuervo Tradicional. It's slightly spicy and doesn't have that rot-gut whiff to it. To finish the margarita rim a martini glass with a swipe of lime and kosher salt. (And for the love of . . . please don't buy "margarita salt". I don't even know what that means.) Shake your mixture in a cocktail shaker until your hand hurt from the cold, pour into your prepared martini glass. Now, get out a bottle of Cointreau, Grand Marnier, or any good orange Cognac and float about a tablespoon or more on the top of the drink. And no, I'm not including this in the ratio. First of all it would ruin my beautiful formula of (((1:1):1):1) or (((sugar to water) to citrus juice) to liquor) and you have to use intuition sooner or later anyway. Besides, the amount of orange liqueur or brandy here is very subjective, like sugar in coffee. Some people like a hint and some like it poured on heavy.
Enjoy your drinks.
What about the bread? I'm too tired after all that typing and besides, my wife just called me and asked me to meet for dinner downtown. I'll talk about the bread next time.
I know people who actually buy simple syrup in stores. It's true, I cannot make this strange and terrible fact disappear. Simple syrup is nothing more than sugar and water and it is the modifying agent in many, many cocktails. Without it, the burn of alcohol would overpower many drinks and fruit flavors would go into battle with ethanol with no support on the flanks. The flavors would be soundly defeated by the alcohol. So this is the first step in ratios, simple syrup. We want one cup of simple syrup. So, combine 2/3 c. of sugar and 2/3 c. of water in a microwave-proof measuring cup like a Pyrex. Simply microwave on high for about five minutes or until all of the sugar has disseminated into the water. If a few granules remain on the bottom simply stir the syrup and it will finish dissolving. What is our ratio here? That's right 1:1, sugar to water. I sincerely use the microwave for about two tasks and this is one of them. If you end up with a little more than a cup, simply discard the slight excess.
Now we want to make our simple syrup into a basic sour, and again, the ratio is 1:1. This time we're going to use our simply syrup (1:1, sugar to water) and mix equal parts of citrus juice with the simple syrup. Simply mix 1 c. of simple syrup with 1 c. of citrus. Here's where the Tale of Two Cocktails diverges, for Whiskey Sours you're going to use lemon juice and if it's margaritas, you're going to use lime juice and perhaps an orange. You know have your sour mix that was created with the ratio of 1:1, 1c. of simply syrup to 1 c. of citrus juice.
On with the show. Finally, the alcohol. Guess what ratio we're going to use here? If you didn't guess correctly you should probably just stop reading this now and go have someone else mix you a drink. Finally, mix one part of sour mix with one part of liquor. Here again, the beauty of ratios is that you can mix one cocktail or an entire pitcher.
So for Whiskey Sours it's going to be one part lemon sour with one part of whiskey. I prefer Maker's Mark, and yes, I'm aware that it's actually Bourbon. I like mine served up so shake vigorously in a cocktail shaker and strain into a cold martini glass. Garnish with some cherries. Enjoy.
For Margaritas mix one part of lime sour mix with one part of tequila. I prefer Jose Cuervo Tradicional. It's slightly spicy and doesn't have that rot-gut whiff to it. To finish the margarita rim a martini glass with a swipe of lime and kosher salt. (And for the love of . . . please don't buy "margarita salt". I don't even know what that means.) Shake your mixture in a cocktail shaker until your hand hurt from the cold, pour into your prepared martini glass. Now, get out a bottle of Cointreau, Grand Marnier, or any good orange Cognac and float about a tablespoon or more on the top of the drink. And no, I'm not including this in the ratio. First of all it would ruin my beautiful formula of (((1:1):1):1) or (((sugar to water) to citrus juice) to liquor) and you have to use intuition sooner or later anyway. Besides, the amount of orange liqueur or brandy here is very subjective, like sugar in coffee. Some people like a hint and some like it poured on heavy.
Enjoy your drinks.
What about the bread? I'm too tired after all that typing and besides, my wife just called me and asked me to meet for dinner downtown. I'll talk about the bread next time.
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