martini » The Red Shaker

Happy Bastille Day!

Jul 142010

So since Les Shakers Deux are a bit too busy with work stuff to do an official Bastille Day shake, we would like to remind you of two French themed martinis you may enjoy on this day:

Pour La Coquette:

The French Martini

A bit sweet, a bit girly perhaps….but a lovely drink.

Pour Le Sophisticate:

The Parisian Martini

A favorite of both Shaker One and Shaker Two, including two of our best used players- St. Germain and Lillet Blanc. This is a must try if you have never had one.

Whichever you choose, enjoy your celebrations.

Vive Le Martini!

Turbo Muddle!

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Jul 142010

Many martini recipes using fresh fruit or herbs call for you to muddle the ingredients in the bottom of the shaker before adding the ice. For soft fruit/herbs, like strawberries, this is fine. But when the item to muddle is made of tougher stuff a simple traditional muddler just may not extract all the flavor you need for the drink.

The Shaker solution? Whip out your handy immersion blender! Just a pulse or two will really bring out any flavors you want. It is a tremendous time saver as well. Now this would not work for more delicate items- such as basil. But for certain citrus and even ginger or other tougher shaker guests it’s the way to go. Be sure to adjust quantities a bit when you use the immersion blender……it will extract much more flavor so you don’t want to overdo it. And use a Boston shaker with a separate strainer to keep the bigger chunks out of your drink without clogging up the top of a built in strainer.

Your immersion blender is also the best tool for making whipped cream for those dessert martinis. And you can even pre-whip your egg whites a bit before adding them to a flip for more body in your drink.

An immersion blender is an excellent addition to your bar. And fun to use, too.

Just A Taste

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Jul 072010

So you’re feeling adventurous and trying out a new martini recipe with friends. It’s one you haven’t tried before and though you’re feeling brave, you really don’t want to pour anything horrifying into their glasses. Or you’re making an old recipe that needs a bit of adjustment- a little sweeter for the ladies perhaps. Either way, the best way to get your flavor right is to take a quick taste yourself before serving to guests. Now you can simply pour out a bit into a clean shot glass, but why not have some fun with an old bartender’s trick? Take a drinking straw, put the bottom third or so into the liquid. Now place your finger over the top to create a seal and lift up, put the end in your mouth and let go! A quick taste without losing much volume in your shaker. Now you can tell if it needs a bit more of this or that.

Simple, quick and makes you look like a pro at the bar. Cheers!

As a homage to our founding fathers

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Jul 042010

Rather then toss tea into the Bay, The Red Shakers opted to revisit an old friend and start our festivities with the Earl Grey MarTEAni. As the whistling and bangs from neighbors lighting off fireworks began, we gathered to celebrate the 234th birthday of declaring our independence.

After a long couple of weeks, a relaxing night was very much welcome. The Shakers combined forces to make a little snacky assortment of French Fries, tri-tip mini-tacos with cumin cream and roasted peppers, macaroni and cheese and roasted corn with jalapeño butter and cockdoggies – a lovely little tapas style dinner.

The Earl Grey MarTEAni did not disappoint second time around, but we also had to add another martini to our roster of recipes, so onto a new recipe:

The Pineapple Drop Martini

This was a tasty concoction that was light and not too overpowering in either sweetness or pineapple. The lime was a nice counter to the natural sugars in the fruit.

The Shakers concur, this one rates 4 olives. A really nice summer drink.

Next on deck is a Shaker One Creation (and people, let me tell you, she has moments of sheer genius)

Spicy Lemon Drop Martini

This zippy, kicky concoction is a huge dose of awesome. The perfect balance of sweet and spicy. Basically, it is a cayenne and lemon simple syrup mixed into a martini. Smiles all around and taste buds overwhelmed with glee.

4 3/4 olives for this one.

Dessert was a spectacularly patriotic duo of red, white and blue dipped strawberries and red, white and blue mousse. Both were festive additions to our little celebration. Kudos to Shaker One (as always) for being so creative with the presentation!

Our evening draws to a close and the fireworks are bursting in air. Happy Independence Day and cheers to you.

Oh, and one more thing.. be gentle with martini glasses when drying… those stems can break when you least expect them. This is when you appreciate that lovely first-aid kit your mom said needed to keep around. 😉

Shake Shake Shake-Pour Pour Pour- Shake Shake Shake

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Jun 212010

Recently a dear friend and faithful reader sent out a Saucy SOS (see above), a Mixology Mayday, a Desperate Call for Cocktail Assistance.

And what was the emergency? Well, he was in the throes of despair after trying unsuccessfully to mix himself a cosmo at home for the first time. In all honesty I’ve not made nor ordered/drank a cosmo in several years. For me they hearken back to the late 90’s (when Shaker One was just twelve*wink wink*). I remember when they were my drink of choice at stylish uptown bars. Well, me and every other 20-something gal trying to be cool. Now, as with shoulder pads, I think enough time has passed that we can revisit this retro classic cocktail (wow, the 90’s are now retro?). It is, after all, a tasty beverage and should not be besmirched by its association with a certain fashion harpy film that shall not be named.

“John”- we’ll call him that for the purposes of this post- “John’s” problem: limited home mixology experience meets unlimited online recipe options with conflicting ingredient ratios. It has happened to the best of us at one time or another. As Shaker Two and I have learned, out of many failures a great success can be born. And we’ve mixed many abysmal beverages since starting the blog-sometimes wondering if the “recipe” authors bothered to sample their creations. Early followers of the blog will recall many “salvage-tinis”. I assembled the cast of characters.

I hunted a few trusted recipe sources and hit upon the following to start with:

The Esquire Cosmo

Hello 1997. I’ve just come out of the Wayback Machine! Very light in color and flavor. Perhaps a bit sweet-which for many cosmo drinkers would be a selling point. For me- 2 1/2 olives. Your mileage may vary.

The Self Avowed “Perfect” Cosmo

First of all, a cosmo does not contain fresh mint. Even as a garnish. Cleverness for cleverness’ sake is not cool. Mint at your own risk.

Pretty~ and it matches my kitchen! As for the taste? A thousand times better. The fresh lime juice makes a huge difference for me. And the quantities here seem more balanced. The Howard Hughes in me loved the precision of the recipe (whatever you do, don’t add the ingredients in the wrong order!!! Something terrible will happen I’m sure!!). I garnished with lemon zest strings just for fun. Go ahead and use a lime wedge or slice. Still not sold on the inclusion of mint here. This is really nice- maybe 3 1/2 olives! I’d do this again.

I’m a firm believer in coloring outside the lines, so don’t be afraid to adjust the lime/triple sec/cranberry quantities to get your desired level of sweet or tart. I prefer the use of fresh lime juice over Rose’s, but that’s just me.

You could make a summer project out of discovering the perfect cosmo recipe for yourself…..so many options to choose from. Small note: I used regular vodka, but the inclusion of a quality citrus vodka would be nice (The Balcony Bar just happened to be out at the moment). And some people prefer cointreau to triple sec. Pick your orange liquor of choice, I won’t judge. Quick addendum- I just dashed a bit of Fee Bros. Bitters into the “Perfect” Cosmo and now I’m in love . 4 olives w/ bitters~!

Ok “John”- get out your shaker and give it a try! Bonne Chance!

Birth Of A `Tini

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Jun 182010

{scene one-views of a farmer’s market. Fresh produce in vivid colors piled high}

Shaker One gazes lustfully at the fruit on display.

{scene two–The Balcony Bar}

Shaker One: “Look what I got today! ”

Shaker Two: “‘OMG- cherries!”

Shaker One: “These must be a martini.”

<insert frenetic montage of mixing,cutting, pouring, muddling, etc…….>

Cherries Jubilee Martini

~roasted cherries muddled with vanilla and regular vodka and shaken with whipped heavy cream~

Cherry Jubilee martini

Shakers One and Two: “mmmm creamy, but needs more cherry flavor!”

3 olives, but with potential for improvement.

<insert 2nd mixology montage>

Cherry Pie Martini

~roasted cherries muddled with cinnamon infused vodka, regular vodka and a splash of lemon~

Cherry Pie martini

Shaker Two: “This needs cherry liquor”

Shaker One: “It really does. Looks like there will be a trip to the Candy Store in the near future”

Shaker Two: “The cherry martini concept has potential, it just needs work…….”‘

Shaker One: ” I’m gonna start a cherry vodka infusion, too.”

2 3/4 olives with potential.

Narrator: Stay tuned for further adventures in delicious cherry-ness.

Fade to drunk.

A Double Celebration!

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Jun 132010

After far too long away from the Balcony Bar, Shakers One and Two got together to celebrate (somewhat belatedly) two very important events: Shaker Two’s Birthday and the one year anniversary of The Red Shaker Blog! Awww, they grow up so fast don’t they? It seems like just yesterday we were picking out a name…….

Back to the shaking shenanigans. We were joined by two lovely guests to help us try out a few new martinis. On the menu, some old favorite treats from the first year of the blog:

Gougeres, shrimp cocktails, stuffed mushrooms and vichyssoise! (YAY!! some of my favorite niblets from the Shaker One kitchen!! ~Shaker Two)

Stuffed Mushrooms

Gougeres, shrimp, vodka

vichyssoise

We began the evening with a champagne toast. If you’re looking for a lovely bubbly, this is the one to try. Marc Hebrart Brut!

Our first ‘tini of the evening was The Pineapple Basil Martini

Pineapple basil martini

“Refreshing” “The basil made the pineapple taste more mild” “An interesting touch”

Shaker One and our two guests enjoyed this a bit more than Shaker Two (who is not the biggest basil fan out there)

3 3/4 to 4 olives from S1 and guests, 3 1/2 from S2.

Next up: Rosemary Ruby Cocktail

Rosemary Ruby Red Cocktail

I know, I know- it’s from Rachael Ray. Cast aspersions at will. I can guarantee you neither Shaker One nor Shaker Two has ever been considered perky.

The consensus here was enjoyable, but a bit too sweet. It needs to have more grapefruit flavor, perhaps a splash of lime juice to brighten it up and definitely dial way back on the simple syrup. Pleasant, but as one taster put it “it smells better than it tastes”.

As written 3 olives…..needs improvement.

We moved on to a take on The Rosemary Lemonade Cocktail– martini style. I found this recipe in the comments section here

Rosemary Lemonade Cocktail

A refreshing cocktail, but needs more lemon. We all agreed it would be fantastic over ice as a summer sipper. Shaker One says this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship with iced tea for an herbal Arnold Palmer.

As written 3 olives, over ice 3 1/2 +

We ended the evening with a special birthday cake made by Shaker One. (soooooo awesome and soooo tasty!! I hated to cut into it!!)

Martini cake!!!

All in all a lovely evening and a wonderful double celebration. Thanks to Jenna and Lyndsey for helping us taste, rate and mark our first year of martini madness. Here’s to another year of searching out the best things you can put in a martini glass.

Welcoming in the Weekend

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Jun 112010

It is Friday and Shaker Two is still basking in the glow of her birthday week. Truth be told, if she can milk it for a few days (or weeks) longer then even better!

The heat is going up in some areas and summer is quickly approaching. We have been revisiting a few of our favorites from last summer and they are still wonderful hot weather drinks.

One of Shaker Two’s particular favorites was the Leninade and, of course, the Parisian. There is also a bottle of Sweet Tea Vodka that is begging for a tall glass, some ice and a lemonade accompaniment.

Do you have any summertime favorites you would like to see on the blog?

Let There Be Tinis!!

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Jun 082010

Please join me in wishing Shaker II a very happy birthday!! Without her this blog would not be as witty, silly or beautifully photographed as it is. In fact, it would be drawn on cocktail napkins. In lipstick. Which would make it really difficult for the rest of you to follow along on our many adventures.

So raise your favorite martini and let’s give a toast to Shaker II-happy birthday! And many, many more martinis !

Special birthday 'tini

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May 232010

The Shakers just came back from a surprise birthday for a friend of ours, Simon (aka the Simonster) In honor of him notching another year on his belt, Shaker One created a lovely custom ‘tini for our friend.

The Simonstertini is a delicious concoction of grapefruit juice, lemongrass syrup, St. Germain and a few other ingredients that blended into a delightful drink. As a nod to Simon’s insane metabolism, we added in some “tape worms” made of long strands of grapefruit zest. Anyone who knows Simon knows his slender frame hides a rather freakish ability to down vast quantities of calorically dense food without normal human repercussions. In other words, we secretly hate him. 😉

The party was a fun affair and loaded with a number of Simon’s favorite take-out items, including Taco Bell, Popeye’s fried chicken, KyoChon, and pizza. Simon brought some amazing carnitas nachos he had made (he thought he was coming to dinner with a couple friends.) The decor was ocean themed in honor of Simon and Jenni’s impending trip to the Bahamas. There were shots of Crown Royal downed and a truly entertaining game of Celebrity played – the three round version for even more silliness, natch.

Special thanks to Jenni for planning the get-together, George for hosting, Kara for the Celebrity suggestion and the rest of the group for a fun evening.

Happy birthday, Simon!!!

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