1954 Practical Bar Management by Eddie Clarke

PRACTICAL BAR MANAGEMENT

flavour of a cocktail is a thin, even-width strip of lemon or orange peel. It should be squeezed between the finger and thumb so that the oil is forced out from the pores of the peel and will float on the surface of the drink—the peel is then dropped in. It is interesting to demonstrate the amount of oil contained in lemon skins. Cut off a large strip and squeeze it as mentioned, holding it close to a lighted match, it is astonishing to many how inflam mable the oil is. A word now about the known number of mixed drinks. At a low estimate one could say that there are about 8,coo different recipes listed, but it is only fair to state that there could never be so many good cocktails on earth, or Boo, for that matter; probably eighty could be judged as really worth drinking. (It is my intention to give,towards the end ofthis book,afew recipes which I consider are in such a category, and hold the esteem of the masters of the present day.) Mixed Drinks in Many Roles Although there are thousands of various recipes contained in the pages of the many"How to Mix"books, one would be wrong in assuming that these all fall under the heading of"Cocktails", yet the term in its present-day elastic sense is often used to cover all types of mixed drinks. On examining the classifications in detail, it would be found that each particular type of drink has its own specific place in the ritual of drinking, for example, the previously mentioned"Aperitif", which, as the name suggests, has one desire in life and that is to stimulate the appetite. There fore it must possess two main qualifications—firstly, it must please the eye, for the eye is the safeguard of the palate. Secondly, it must have a clean and immediate effect in tormenting the hunger glands of the"Little Mary", which will leave the drinker either wanting another, or champing at the bit with impatience to get his teeth into a goodly steak or chop. Old-favourite mixtures classed as Aperitifs are the ever-popular Dry Martini, Manhattan, Gin and Dubonnet, etc.(these drinks are not shaken, but stirred in a mixing glass). Now comes the largest group in the mixed drink class, the one which is generally known in the trade as the Cocktail. It is the short and snappy variety which contains a spirit, a liqueur (or

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