1936 Shaking in the 60's by Eddie Clarke

him respectably, bring up his children, pay off the mort gage, then marry again,and do her best to forget that she ever knew myfriend. That is the end ofmysad little story. The moral is, my friend wasn't a good mixer. In fact, he knew nothing ofthe golden rules which would help make him so. Therefore let usrun through thesecretcode on how to be one. 1. Ice. There are many schools ofthought about whether it should go in first or after the blend is in the shaker. We favour placing it in first, because in this way it chills each ingredient as added; also if dropped in afterwards, it is apt to overflow precious liquor, should the amount have been over-estimated. Ice itself must not look like frozen snowballs. It should be hard, crystal clear, pure and untainted. Beware about the latter because ice is readily susceptible to neighbourly flavours and if positioned in the fridge too close to the kippers someone is going to get real "fishy" cocktails. 2. Measuring. Study the recipe carefully and carry out the measurements correctly.Too much ofone ortoo little ofthe other will result in a drink with little resemblance to the original idea. 3. Shaking. Never fill the shaker more than three quarters full. There must be plenty of room inside for the ice to torment the ingredients, thereby blending them into a very happy family. 4. Shaker action. Shake naturally with a short, sharp, snappy movement, and for not too long—no more than 10-15 seconds. But for sours, noggs and those type of drinks you can really put your shoulders behind it, any thing up to 25 seconds. The reason for notshaking for too long is thatthe ice will melt quickly with the vibrations and therefore will dilute the drink beyond the standard fit for human consumption.

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