Stocking Your Bar: Equipment and Glassware

Cocktail mixing glass with julep strainer and barspoon.

This is the first in a series of three posts on stocking your home bar for 2015 Summer Cocktails Week.  See Part 2 on bottles.

Learning to make cocktails at home is a great thing. It's more affordable than buying drinks at a bar, you control the quality of your drink, and it impresses your friends. Plus, it's just fun. The making of good cocktails with quality ingredients--sometimes referred to as the craft cocktail movement--has sparked interest in the craft of cocktails unseen since the pre-Prohibition heyday of cocktails. Old recipes are being revived, new recipes are being created, long-gone spirits are being revived, "craft" distillers are trying new things with their "small-batch" offerings (the word "craft" gets thrown around a lot in this space). If you like good drinks, it's a great time to be drinking. So why not get in on the making as well?

To make cocktails at home requires a few essentials: the tools to make the drinks, the glassware to serve them in, the ingredients to create them and the recipes that tell you how. There's also, importantly, the techniques for doing it well. I won't cover technique specifically, but when I get to the recipes part, don't ignore the portions of good cocktail books that cover techniques, as reading them is a great way to learn.

Today, I'm going to cover barware. Some of these things are more essential than others; some are more about preferences. I'll do my best to explain those issues as I go along.

Left: bullet-style Cobbler shaker. Middle: glass-and-metal Boston shaker. Right: tin-on-tin Boston shaker. Bottom: hawthorne strainer.

Shaking and Stirring

Some cocktails are built in the glass they are drunk from, but the majority are either shaken or stirred. While you can stir a drink in any ol' glass, to shake a drink you really need a proper shaker. There are two make styles: the Cobbler and the Boston. The cobbler shaker is, at first blush, easier to use. Cobbler shakers consist of a large cup, a top with a built-in strainer, and a small lid that covers the strainer while shaking. To use, simple add the ingredients, fill with ice, cap, shake until very cold, remove the cap and strain the drink into the glass. The downside of the cobbler is that cap. If it's not a good one, it can leak, and if, like mine, the cap fits inside the top, it can get stuck as the top contracts due to cold and be hard to remove.

That's why I prefer the Boston shaker, which I use almost exclusively these days for shaking drinks. The Boston shaker consists of a large metal cup and either a glass (usually a pint glass) or another smaller metal cup. To use it, mix the ingredients in the smaller cup, add ice, invert the larger cup over the smaller one. Give two firm taps to seal the larger cup over the smaller one, invert the whole thing so the smaller cup is on top (give it another firm tap if you want, just in case) and shake. When done, you have to unseal the shaker, then use a separate strainer, like a hawthorne strainer, to strain the drink into a glass.

The metal-and-glass Boston shaker is classic, but I prefer an all-metal version, referred to as "tin on tin." Getting a seal with two metal cups is easier, as the metal is flexible. Two firm taps with your palm against the bottom of the metal cup is usually enough to get it to seal over the glass, but not always, and you have to be careful not to break the glass. Getting the metal-and-glass shaker apart can also be challenging, usually requiring a sharp "hit" to the side to break the seal. The tin-on-tin Boston shaker seals easily with two firm palm taps and can usually be unsealed just by twisting and pulling the smaller cup. Having two metal pieces also chills the drink faster, since metal chills faster than glass. Whatever you get, I definitely recommend not getting a Boston shaker where the glass has a rubber rim around it. I find this actually doesn't seal very well. I used to have one of these and more often than not made a terrible mess when I tried to shake with it. With the tin-on-tin Boston shaker, I've never had a problem making a good seal. The larger cup should be 28 to 30 ounces; the smaller, 16 to 18 ounces.

For drinks that are stirred, I recommend getting a cocktail mixing glass. Sure, you can use any ol' glass (and any ol' spoon), but a proper cocktail mixing glass (and proper barspoon for stirring) are fantastic tools to get the job done well. Mixing glasses come in different sizes. Mine is 550 ml, which is ideal for mixing one or two drinks. A lot of them are named by their designs, such as Yarai, a criss-cross pattern, or Paddle, vertical tapered grooves. To use a mixing glass, add ingredients and fill with ice. Stir until very cold (you want to stir a lot, like 50 times or more, as you're not just mixing the ingredients together but also chilling and diluting them). Strain with a julep strainer (like a big spoon with holes) into your glass.

Why the two strainers? Hawthorne strainers are sized to fit nicely inside the mouth of a mixing cup and have a tight coil around the edge that catches seeds and other small particles that might be in your drink. Drinks mixed in a stirring glass don't tend to have such particles (a mixing glass is used for drinks that are only alcohol, like a Martini or a Manhattan) and the pouring lip and larger opening can make using a hawthorne awkward, hence the julep strainer. If you bought only one, Id saw get a hawthorne, because it will work in a mixing glass, it's just not ideal.

Left: three sizes of jiggers. Right: two sizes of graduated measuring glasses.

Measuring

Cocktail recipes are mostly written with exact measurements, usually in ounces or fractions thereof, as well as sometimes teaspoons for small amounts. "Free-pouring," the art of "eye-balling" those amounts is very difficult to do with any reasonable precision. I don't recommend it. Instead, invest in some measuring equipment. Jiggers are a traditional choice. They are little metal cups that come in preset amounts. Usually they are sold as two joined together, so you get a 1 and 2 oz jigger, for example. Bartenders use jiggers because they are easy: so long as you pick up the right one, just fill to the rim for the amount needed. But I don't really like them. I find them messy to pour from and they aren't useful for uneven measurements--like if you're doubling or halving a recipe. Instead, I prefer graduated measuring glasses. My favorite one is the larger 5-oz. one pictured above, which has multiples types of measurements (ounces is the most common in America).

Left: citrus press. Right: Microplane zester/grater.

Other tools

Citrus press. Now I've moved beyond the essential tools to other things that I think are very useful. I am almost tempted to say a citrus juicer is essential. I know that you can squeeze lemons and limes with other tools, including just your hands, but a citrus press makes the process so much easier and cleaner that it's hard to say "no" to one of these. And citrus is very common to cocktail-making. If you make very many drinks with lemon or lime juice (Margaritas, for example), you'll enjoy having one.

Microplane zester/grater. This is less essential but really useful for things like grating fresh nutmeg over a Spanish Coffee.

Top: ISI Cream Whipper. Bottom (left to right): swizzle stick, muddler, paring knife, peeler, channel knife, wine opener and churchkey.

ISI Cream Whipper: Definitely not essential, but a lot of fun. It's stated purpose is for making whipped cream (yum), but you can also use it for quick-infusions and even carbonation (like I did for the Spring Fresh Cocktail).

Swizzle stick. There are some plastic stirrers marketed as swizzle sticks, but the real deal is a spiked branch from the quararibea turbinata tree used to stir a class of drinks known as swizzles by twirling the stick in the drink. See The Theory of Everything cocktail.

Muddler. Muddlers are used for crushing herbs, citrus and vegetable bits to release their flavor into drinks. They are often wooden, although I reviewed a metal-and-plastic one last year that I rather liked. They are useful for a lot of drinks, the most popular of which is probably the Mojito.

Paring knife. Essential for things like cutting citrus and fruit. The good news is that you probably already have one.

Vegetable peeler. Useful for making thin garnishes, like the apple peel spiral in the Deluxe Appletini.

Channel knife. This is for cutting twists, such as lemon twists, for garnishing. Although it works well for that, you can also make a nice twist by first using a vegetable peeler to peel off a good chunk and then neatening up the sides with a paring knife. In some ways, I prefer that method, as you can make the twist a little wider, and thus less likely to break when you twist it.

Wine opener. Obviously essential for wine, and wine sometimes goes in cocktails, so you better have one.

Churchkey. One end pierces cans, the other opens bottles. You're probably already familiar with this (although maybe didn't know that it's called a "churchkey").

Lewis bag and ice mallet.

Lewis bag and Ice Mallet. If your freezer is equipped with an ice maker with a crushed ice setting, you probably don't need this. If, like me, you lack that but need a good way to crush ice (for drinks like a Mint Julep), this works great. Better than a food processor (leaves big chunks) or blender (makes pieces too small). Just fill the bag with ice, tie it off and hammer away. Great for stressful days.

Some other useful things: A fish-mesh sieve, good for double-straining cocktails; measuring spoons, for small measurements.

Glassware

Glassware is part of the fun of cocktail culture. Sure, you could serve any drink in any glass, but having the right glass is part of what makes a cocktail special. That said, I understand that you probably won't be buying all the right glassware. I'd love to have the proper cups for Mint Juleps and Moscow Mules, for example. But a decent selection of glassware will give you enough variety to keep things interesting.

Left-to-right: coupe, cocktail, flute, and three styles of wine glasses.

Coupe: This is an idea glass for making a variety of old-school cocktails. These are for smaller drinks, those of about 4 ounces or so.

Cocktail: Also for smaller drinks (i.e. the ones without a lot, if any, mixers), this is the more fashionable cousin to the coupe with its conical shape. Some call this a martini glass, but if you've been schooled by Neil of My Poor Liver Podcast, you know that's a misnomer (a martini is just one of many types of cocktails that you can serve in this glass). Although lovely, they are easier to spill than a coupe.

Flute: Perfect for champagne, and thus champagne/sparkling-wine cocktails like The Amour.

Wineglasses: These are good to have for wine, obviously, but can also work for cocktails if you are missing specialty pieces. A frozen margarita, for example, tastes great from a wineglass.

Left-to-right: shooter, rocks/lowball/old-fashioned, pint, highball, collins, margarita and 

Shooter: I'm not big on shots, but I do have shooters if the occasion arises. I used them for the J.R. Shot cocktail, for example.

Rocks glass: Also called a lowball or old-fashioned, this is an idea glass for a wide variety of cocktails, especially those served with ice. I use this for so many drinks.

Pint glass: generally used for beer, but can also be used for larger cocktails.

Highball: This is idea for larger cocktails, especially those named for the glass--the sort of lower-alcohol drink that is refreshing during summer, like The Kristin.

Collins: A collins glass is even taller and skinner than a highball. Of course, it's a typical choice for a Tom Collins or a variation like the Kickin' Cucumber Collins.

Margarita: Margaritas can easily be served in other glasses. I often serve them in rocks glasses. But it can be fun to break out these glasses for drinks like the Margarita on Fire.

Tempered coffee mug. This glass is tempered for hot drinks. Although meant for Cappuccino, it's great for hot cocktails (like a Smoky Tea Toddy).

Where to buy: Cocktail Kingdom is a fantastic site for good-quality barware, including hard-to-find items. For more conventional tools, often at cheaper prices, there is Amazon. I picked up my shaking tins and jiggers at a restaurant supply store in Manhattan. Liquor stores will often stock equipment for making cocktails.

Did I leave anything off? Any questions about using these tools? Let's discuss in the comments below.

Drinks mentioned in this post

The Amour

Deluxe Appletini

Dry Gin Martini

Frozen Margarita

The J.R. Shot

Kickin' Cucumber Collins

The Kristin

Manhattan

Margarita

Margarita on Fire

Mint Julep

Mojito

Smoky Tea Toddy

Spanish Coffee

Spring Fresh Cocktail

The Theory of Everything

Related

Stocking Your Bar: Bottles

Equipment: Nonessential Tools I Can't Live Without

There are there those things no kitchen should be without: knives and cutting boards, pots and pans, measuring cups and spoons, mixing bowls, whisks and spatulas. If you were outfitting your kitchen for the first time, that's the list you would want to shop from. And if you were a minimalist, you could cook just about anything from that list.

But I'm not a minimalist, well, not exactly. I live in an apartment, so I don't have a particularly large kitchen. I generally subscribe to the idea that if I'm going to get a new kitchen gadget, it needs to be versatile. I don't have the space to store a lot of extras. Small appliances in particular are bought with care. I don't have a bread-maker or rice-cooker not because I don't think they'd be great, but I just don't have room.

That said, I do have a few more specialized pieces of equipment that I just love to pieces. Admittedly, these are "nonessentials," yet, given how much I use them, I would hardly consider them extraneous. They're the nonessentials I can't live without.

Garlic Twist

Garlic Twist

At first blush, this one might seem like the biggest gimmick of the pack. It does only one thing: minces garlic. It's the kind of thing that might be advertised in an informercial. Yet, I bet many of you have a device you use only for this purpose: a garlic press. And the garlic twist works so much better than a garlic press that I actually got rid of my press years ago. A garlic press always leaves about 1/4 of the clove behind has a large mashed chunk. The garlic twist minces the entire clove. No waste. Plus, you can control the size of the mince: twist just a few times for chunkier mince, add salt and twist many times for garlic paste. My version is one of the earliest ones; newer models feature a more ergonomic grip.

Immersion blender

Immersion Blender

This tool could be considered nonessential because it does the same thing another appliance you probably have in your kitchen can do: a blender. But there are a lot of reasons for why having an immersion blender is such a great idea. While a traditional blender is probably better for drinks, immersion blenders are wonderful tools for making purees and sauces, especially soups. Ever make a recipe for a pureed soup using a blender? It generally instructs you to transfer the soup "in batches" to a blender. This means finding (and dirtying) some sort of vessel for transporting the soup between the soup pot and the blender. Plus you need another contain to store the "batches" that have been pureed, since you can't put them back into the pot with the as-yet-to-be-pureed chunks. In short, it's a recipe for a big mess. With an immersion blender, you just stick the thing in the soup pot and press the "on" button to puree. It cleans up easily. I love it. It's perfect for soups like Sweet Potato and Soup or making sauces like mole sauce for Mole Chicken Enchiladas.

Muddler

Muddler

Sure, a muddler is designed for crushing herbs and fruit in cocktails, but the rounded end is also perfect for grinding. Lacking a proper mortar and pestle, I use a Pyrex glass measuring cup and a muddler for doing things like grinding garlic and anchovies into paste for dressing for Heirloom Tomato Panzanella or Caesar Salad.

Citrus press

Citrus Press

Sure you can use your hands to squeeze citrus fruit. But when you're making cocktails that call for a lot fruit, like margaritas, a citrus press saves not only time but your hands as well. It's more efficient and more effective. Seeds are usually too big to pass through the holes and a well designed press will keep the juice from squirting in your eye.

Oval Sauté Pan

Oval Sauté Pan

At first blush, an oval sauté pan may seem impractical. It's too large to fit over a burner, creating the potential for uneven heat. This, however, can be an advantage in certain dishes. When making chili, for example, I set one end over the burner, brown the meat in that end, then push it to the "cool" end while I brown the vegetables in the hot end. The large size is also ideal for making pasta sauce, especially if finishing the noodles in the sauce. I almost always prefer using it to my 12-inch frying pans.

Flat whisk

Flat Whisk

A standard whisk is very useful for beating eggs and mixing certain batters. But when you're making gravy, a flat whisk works much better. It's also useful for smoothing sauces like béchamel for Macaroni & Cheese.

Microplane

Microplane

The microplane is a rather cool tool, as it looks like something you'd have in a woodworking shop, yet it's practicality in the kitchen cannot be understated. It's much more effective than a box grater for fine-grating foods like parmesan, lemon zest and nutmeg.

Last Minute Gift Ideas for Food and Drink Lovers

A silicone baking mat, like this one by Silpat, provides a nonstick liner for baking.

Is there someone in your life that likes to cook, eat or make (and/or drink) cocktails? If you haven't found a good gift for them yet, here are some ideas, just in time for 2-day (or overnight) shipping or a quick (hopefully) trip to the mall.

Equipment 

Silpat silicone baking mat. Remember the days when you greased cookie sheets? Most home cooks have discovered parchment to line baking sheets, but, although easier than using Crisco, they require cutting and, if you buy parchment in rolls, you have to deal with them rolling up in your pan (my solution to that is to crinkle them up first). A silicone baking mat can make things even easier. They make cleanup a snap, don't roll up under your cookies and are reusable. The 11-5/8-Inch x 16-1/2-Inch size fits a standard half-sheet baking sheet. ($25, however frequently on sale--half off at Amazon as of this writing.)

Stainless steel citrus juice press. If you use lemons or limes a lot in cooking or cocktails a citrus squeezer is an invaluable tool for quickly and easier juicing those fruits. Their double-bowl design keeps the juice from squirting in your face and they are generally designed to trap larger sides (you still might need to strain out smaller ones). Although I've long used a painted one, I recommend getting a stainless steel model like the Norpro or Innovee, since the acid in citrus fruit can wear the paint off over time (and you don't want that in your food or drink).

Garlic Twist. I work with garlic a lot, often minced as an ingredient in a pasta sauce, pan sauce or spread for fish. For many years, I used a garlic press for this, but I was always unsatisfied with the fact that a significant portion of the garlic clove remained in the press and that you cannot control the size of the mince. Then I discovered the Garlic Twist, which is a vastly superior tool. First, it minces the entire garlic clove, second, you can control how fine the mince is by how many times you twist the device (by adding a little salt, you can get an even finer paste-like mince). 

The Arctic Chill cocktail muddler is a great replacement for a worn-out wooden muddler (and a better choice, in my opinion).

Arctic Chill Cocktail Muddler. Looking to replace a worn-out varnished wooden cocktail muddler? Consider this stainless steel and plastic muddler, which I recently reviewed (positively) on my site. It makes quick work of citrus, fruit and herbs for making drinks. Cocktail muddlers are also useful for other tasks (like mashing garlic and anchovies into a paste for salads).

ISI Cream Whipper. You know how fun it is to eat whipped cream out of the can? Well, with an ISI Cream Whipper you can enjoy homemade whipped cream anytime you want. The device is easy to use and clean, plus it has applications for experimental cocktail infusions.

Books

Mrs. Wheelbarrow's Practical Pantry: Recipes and Techniques for Year-Round Preserving by Cathy Barrow. In an age where you can always buy things like canned tomatoes and pickles, the art of preserving food is danger of being lost. This book by Barrow, a local D.C. author and Washington Post contributor, provides instructions and recipes for those wanting a better quality canned good or just the satisfaction of doing it yourself.

A Farm Dies Once a Year by Arlo Crawford. I picked this book up because it was written by the son of the man who runs the farmers market I visit most Saturday mornings during the summer and fall; however, I loved the book because it offers great insight into modern-day farm life (my very short review).

The Language of Food by Dan Jurafsky. It's not only what we eat that changes but also how we talk about food too. Jurafsky, a linguistics academic, explores this fascinating side to eating (my review).

Death & Co: Modern Classic Cocktails

Death & Co: Modern Classic Cocktails by David Kaplan, Nick Fauchald and Alex Day. This gorgeous book is a must-have for craft cocktail lovers. It's full of recipes, beautiful photos and tips on techniques and recipes (my review).

The Bar Book by Jeffrey Morgenthaler. Serious cocktail lovers will also love this book, which has a stronger focus on technique with excellent writing (my review).

The Tastemakers by David Sax. You may dismiss food trends as silly nonsense, but there's a reason your refrigerator probably has butter in it and not margarine (and probably the opposite 30 years ago). Like it or not, food trends shape what we eat at home and in restaurants, and Sax offers a fascinating look at them.

Delancey: A Man, a Woman, a Restaurant, a Marriage by Molly Wizenberg. For anyone who's ever wondered what it's like to open a restaurant (or who really likes pizza), this memoir is a delightful read about the all-consuming experience.

Subscriptions

There are a lot of wonderful food and drink magazines, which make great gifts. Your food lover may already subscribe to Bon Appétit or Food & Wine, but chances are they don't get Lucky Peach, a collaboration with Momofuku chef David Chang that mixes essays and recipes in a fresh, irreverent format. For the cocktail lover, consider a subscription to Imbibe, the quarterly that covers spirits, wine, beer and other (even nonalcoholic) drinks.

Testing the Arctic Chill Muddler with Winter Cocktails

Barware makers Arctic Chill contacted me about reviewing their cocktail muddler, giving me the perfect opportunity to discuss drinks with muddled ingredients while testing their muddler against the one I've been using. I took them up on the offer and they sent me a muddler to try.

So what is muddling? It's a technique for treating fresh fruit, vegetable and herb ingredients in cocktails to release their juices and oils, allowing the mixing of these "green" ingredients into a drink much faster than doing an infusion or making a syrup.

In The Bar Book, Jeffrey Morgenthaler gives a nice explanation of the two basic muddling techniques. For herbs, the process is gentle: pressing and folding the leaves to release their oils but not mashing them, since that can release chlorophyll, giving the drink an "off" flavor. Muddling pieces of fruit and vegetables involves a little more muscle, pressing down and twisting with the muddler to release juice and oils (like the oils in citrus peel).

Pictured above are the Arctic Chill muddler, along with three other common choices for muddling:

• Spoon. This is the scrappiest choice. It may work in a pinch, but it doesn't really work well. It's best suited for herbs, where you can press the herbs against the side of the glass using the back of the spoon. It's an awkward motion, since the spoon is rounded. Forget using this tool to muddle fruit or vegetables, as it just doesn't work well. You can't get good leverage muddling fruit against the side of the glass and the blunt edge of a spoon isn't ideal for doing this against the glass' bottom. I'd only try to muddle with a spoon if I didn't have another option.
• Barspoon. Some bar spoons have a mini muddler built into the end of the spoon. This type of muddler works well for muddling herbs, but not so great with fruits and vegetables, since the small head tends to push the fruit around the glass rather than mash it.
• Wooden muddler. This is the traditional choice for muddling either herbs or fruits and vegetables. The flat end is the "business" end of the muddler, which you can use to press herbs or mash larger chunks, and it works well for both purposes. 

These varnished wooden muddlers are common but problematic because over time their finish wears off, and guess where it goes...into your drink. Yuck. As you can see, mine has gotten a lot of use. To address this problem, cocktail experts recommend using either an unvarnished wooden muddler or something made of plastic, such as Cocktail Kingdom's Bad Ass Muddler, which sounds cool, but its $14 price tag is significantly higher than the $5 you can pay for a typical wooden one.

Enter the Arctic Chill cocktail muddler. It's listed at the same price as the Bad Ass Muddler, but can be found on Amazon for less (under $10 when I last checked). It has an attractive design, with a curved stainless steel body and a flared black plastic head. It's just over 8 inches long (slightly longer than my wooden muddler, which is exactly 8 inches) and weights 3 1/2 ounces--slightly heavier than my 2 1/2 oz. wooden muddler. Although most muddlers have a smooth head, this one is textured with a waffle pattern. I had some reservations as to how that would affect muddling, particularly with herbs, but wasn't willing to dismiss the muddler without putting it through a few tests. Here's how it stacked up against my wooden muddler in three tests. Read about the tests below, with recipes that follow.

Test one: Fruit

To test how the Arctic Chill performed in muddling fruit, I tested it against pear chunks and lemon slices in the Peary Christmas cocktail. I muddled the pear and lemon together with 10 strokes. Compared to the wooden muddler, the Arctic Chill did a much better job of extracting juice from my fruit. You can see in the photo that the juice line is about twice as far up the glass in the drink muddled with the Arctic Chill vs. the wooden muddler. The latter, having a smaller head, pushed the pear around the glass more than mashed it, so there were more larger unjuiced chunks remaining. Score one for Arctic Chill.

Test two: Herbs, fruit and berries

Here's where it gets interesting. For this winter take on the mojito, I muddled together three different ingredients: delicate mint, juicy lime and fresh cranberries, which are tougher than other berries and thus require more muscle to muddle. Given this larger and more varied mix of ingredients, they required more muddling, about 20 strokes, until I was satisfied. Again, the Arctic Chill did a better job of breaking down the fruit chunks and even managed to smash the cranberries well. I did, however, see a few broken pieces of mint in the drink, which was a concern. The drink tasted fine, but, as discussed, torn mint can be a problem in some drinks. However, I also noticed torn mint in the drink made with the wooden muddler, which makes me think it's possible that the mixture of ingredients, especially the cranberries, could have contributed to tearing the mint. A third test was in order.

Test three: Herbs only

For this final test, I used the Arctic Chill to muddle a handful of fresh mint leaves in a glass with a little simple syrup. Adding syrup when muddling herbs helps ensure the flavor ends up in your drink--otherwise the extracted oils tend to just coat your muddler. For this test, I used a more gentle muddling motion of just pressing down on the herbs, rather than the "press-and-twist" used in the previous tests. After about 10 to 12 pressings I could smell the mint, so I stopped, mixed in a little soda and tasted the results. They were really good: minty fresh and not bitter. And even better, while the leaves were nicely pressed, they weren't torn.

Results: I was pleased with the Arctic Chill and plan on using it from now on as my primary cocktail muddler. Immediate below are recipes for two cocktails I made from tests 1 and 2. And further below are recipes for other cocktails with muddled ingredients.

Peary Christmas

With thanks to Washington Post spirits columnist M. Carrie Allan for giving me an idea for this drink during a recent Free Range on Food chat.

Makes 2 drinks

1 bosc pear, peeled, seeded and chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
3 lemon slices (1/4-inch thick), halved
1 oz. cinnamon syrup (see recipe below)
3 oz. rye whiskey
4 dashes angostura bitters
Ginger beer
Lemon wheels (garnish)

Add the pear pieces and lemon slices to a highball glass and muddle to juice the fruit. Add cinnamon syrup, whiskey and angostura bitters. Fill the glass with ice, then top with ginger beer. Stir or swizzle the drink to combine. Garnish with lemon wheel.

Winter Mojito

1 tbsp. fresh cranberries (8 to 10 berries)
2 tbsp. fresh spearmint leaves
1/2 lime, cut into quarters
1 1/2 oz. dark rum
1/2 oz. honey syrup (see below)
2 dashes Fee Brothers whiskey-barrel-aged bitters
Club soda
Mint sprig garnish

Add the cranberries, mint and lime quarters to a rocks glass and muddle to juice the fruit and release the mint's oils. Add rum and bitters and fill the glass with ice. Top the class with club soda and stir or swizzle the drink to combine. Garnish with mint sprig.

Note: To make honey syrup, stir together equal portions of hot (not boiling, just tap hot) water and honey. Allow to cool.

Related Stories

Winter/Holiday Drinks Week

Basic Mojito

Kickin' Cucumber Collins

The Backyard

Oscar Cocktails: Nebraska

Oscar Cocktails: Django Unchained

Smoky Pear Mojito

Beach Breeze

Dallas Drinks: The Kristin

Tipsy Gazpacho

The Lady Lawyer

Ginger Mojito

Equipment: Pressure Cooker

As a child, I loved kitchen equipment. My mother kept many of the small gadgets without sharp edges in a low drawer so I could play with them. An old crank-style egg beater held particular fascination; I also loved the pastry wheel with its zig-zag fluted edge.

But there was one item in the kitchen that was less the source of fascination and more that of terror: the pressure cooker. Ours was like a large-ish aluminum saucepan with a tightly fitted lid that had a little pressure indicator on the side of the lid and a valve on top that a "jiggler" fitted over. When it was cooking, the thing made a lot of noise and that jiggler danced like crazy. Nothing bad ever happened (thankfully), but compared to the other typical methods of cooking via roasting, sautéing or boiling, it seemed to me a strange way to cook.

These days, pressure cookers are different. Advancements in their design have made them easier to use, quieter (no more noisy jiggler) and, most importantly, safer. Multiple safety features are built into today's cookers to release pressure safely in the event of excess pressure build up. Because today's models vent less steam while cooking, they require less liquid for recipes and cook even faster.

Equipment features and safety

Let's take a closer look at my model, the Fagor Duo 10 quart stainless steel pressure cooker. I got this model last year, with an eye to get the 8-quart size. At the time, Amazon was sold out of 8-quarts, so I opted for the 10-quart over the 6-quart, since a larger pressure cooker will provide more versatility: you can cook a small amount in a large cooker, but you can't cook a large amount in a small one. (An additional benefit of the 10-quart model is that you can use it for canning, although I have yet to try this.)

This model comes highly recommended. America's Test Kitchen rated it a highly recommended "best buy," second only to a Fissler Vitaquick model that costs $170 more.  No surprise then that the Fagor Duo is the model pictured throughout America's Test Kitchen's Pressure Cooker Perfection cookbook.

The controls are located on the lid. The dial at the top is the operating valve, which can be set to low (8 psi) or high (15 psi) pressure. It also has a steam release position (more on that in a bit) and a position to unlock and remove the valve for cleaning. The little round yellow circle is the pressure indicator. When the pot is under pressure, this pops up. When it's up, you can't open the pressure cooker. When it's down, there's no pressure in the cooker, and it can be opened. The large yellow switch is the pressure lock, which must be in the lock position for pressure to build up. The marking to the left of the handle helps align the lid when putting it on the pot.

As shown here in the top photo, the lid and pot rim are designed to interlock for a tight fit, with a silicone gasket under the lid to create an air-tight seal. As shown in the bottom photo, the gasket is removable. Be sure to get it really clean. Over time, especially if you use your pressure cooker a lot, the gasket can wear out and should be replaced.

Two other items of interest under the lid: the safety valve, which is the round piece close to the handle and is the under-lid counterpart to the pressure indicator. In the event of excess pressure buildup, steam will escape through this valve. The smaller metal round piece next to the safety valve is the underneath side of the operating valve. Be sure this is clean and free of food particles. Steam escapes through this valve during cooking.

The last item of note on the lid is this cutout on the side which exposes some of the silicone gasket. This is the safety vent. In the event of a high-pressure buildup, steam will escape from here, and in the event of a serious pressure buildup, the gasket will actually push through the hole or tear (obviously if this happens, it needs to be replaced). Because some cooking liquid may also squirt out if this is activated, be sure this vent is pointed away from you while using the pressure cooker.

These various vents and valves are designed to release pressure in the event of a buildup to prevent the device from exploding. These measures aren't foolproof though, and it is important to follow the safety guidelines when operating a pressure cooker, such as making sure the safety components are clean and free of debris, not overfilling the pot, paying attention to signals that indicate pressure may be building up too much and never, never, never leaving the pressure cooker unattended. For more useful safety information, see Miss Vickie's post.

Equipment use

With the lid off, the pressure cooker pot is just that--a pot. A lot of recipes begin with normal stovetop cooking in the pot to brown meats and vegetables before the actual pressure cooking. Once that's done and all the ingredients are added, including an adequate amount of liquid, the lid is put on and locked into place to build pressure. Although the Fagor instructions say to heat the pot over high heat to build pressure, I always use medium-high heat, since this temperature is sufficient and, because I have an electric stove, it doesn't take as long for the burner to transition to lower heat once pressure is achieved.

Once sufficient pressure is achieved, the pressure indicator will pop up. At this point, you should reduce the heat to medium-low. This is probably the trickiest aspect of pressure-cooker use: getting the pressure temperature right. You're aiming to maintain pressure. You don't want the temperature too high or you will build up excess pressure that will release out the safety valve and safety vent, which I've done a couple times. You also don't want the temperature too low, or the pressure will drop (i.e. the pressure indicator will go down). I think it takes experience to get this right. There should be a little bit of steam coming out of the operating valve while the cooker is pressurized. If that goes away, it may be a sign your temperature is too low. Likewise, if a lot of steam is coming out around the handle, it's probably a sign the temperature is too high. Generally, right before you reach pressurization, there will be quite a bit of steam coming out, but once you reach pressure, there is very little steam.

I have had one instance of the device not coming up to pressure as expected. It should reach pressure relatively quickly--like within 5 to 10 minutes cooking at medium-high, especially if you've already been browning ingredients in the pot and it's already warm. In my case, it was on the stove for about 20-25 minutes and lots of steam was coming out, but the pressure indicator never popped up. I turned the burner off. Turned the operating valve to release steam, then removed the lid. I checked the operating valve and the emergency valve--the latter seemed to be a little sticky, so perhaps that was the problem. It's also possible the lid wasn't on quite right. After checking and cleaning those pieces, I replaced the lid and turned the stove back up. It achieved pressure really fast--like in a couple minutes--and I was back in operation.

Once you've cooked the ingredients at pressure for the specified period of time, there are three methods to release pressure:

1. Natural release. This is the easiest: just remove the pot from the stove and allow pressure to drop as it cools down. It takes the longest though--about 15 minutes. So I've never used this method.
2. Automatic release. Turn the operating valve to the steam release setting. Be careful with this, as steam will shoot out of the operating valve for a couple minutes. This method is useful if you are going to continue cooking with the pot after releasing pressure, such as reducing the cooking liquid for a sauce. 
3. Cold water release. This is the fastest method. Remove the pot from the stove and set it in the sink (be sure the sink is clean and empty). Run cold water over the lid until pressure is released. There's an audible hiss as the pressure is released. Be sure the water drains as you do this, as you don't want to immerse the pot in cold water. If you're done cooking, you'll probably want to use this method. It's also the best for vegetables that might overcook if you use one of the longer release methods.

Be careful when opening the lid even after pressure is released, since there will still be hot steam in the pot.

There's a fair amount to know about using a pressure cooker, but once you've done it a few times, you'll get the hang of it. Ready to try a recipe? Pressure-Cooked Quinoa Salad with Cauliflower is an easy place to start.

Corn Tortillas

Taco lovers, this week's for you. I'm going to showcase making fresh carnitas tacos from scratch. By Saturday, I'll have made slow-cooked carnitas, guacamole and corn salsa garnishes and a side of refried black beans (plus a drink or two to go along with it). Today we're starting with the shell.

Sure you can buy corn tortillas, but they are rarely any good. The name-brand ones on the shelf in the aisle are loaded with preservatives but lacking in flavor. The ones from the refrigerator case are better, although I often find they fall apart easily. If you are blessed with access to a Mexican market that makes them fresh, that's probably a great place to get to them. But otherwise, why not just make them yourself?

The ingredients are really simple. The recipe is really simple. The only thing that's at all complicated is having the right equipment--a tortilla press. If you try to make them without it, I doubt you'll think this is easy. I can see rolling them out becoming a major hassle. But a tortilla press is easily acquired (I got mine from Amazon) and doesn't take up much room in your equipment cupboard. If you like Mexican food, it's worth it.

The dough should be about the consistency of playdough. If it's too crumbly, add a little water or, if too sticky, a little more masa. I found masa harina at Whole Foods and in the Latin foods aisle at Giant. It's ground, dried hominy, which is corn treated with lime (the chemical compound, not the green fruit).

If the first few you make don't try out quite right, keep trying and you'll get the hang of it. I found that making the dough balls a little smaller helped. Also, when placing the dough on the tortilla press, put it off center a little toward the hinge, since the pressing motion will push the dough away from the hinge. If you put it directly in the center, it tends to squeeze out along the opposite edge (the handle side). Lining the tortilla press with two sheets of a cut Ziplock bag makes getting the dough off the press a snap.

Corn Tortillas
Adapted from Fresh Corn Tortillas by Oliver Strand, Bon Appetit

Makes 20-24 tortillas

2 cups masa harina
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 1/2 cups water

1. Combine masa and salt in a large bowl. Stir in the water and knead until dough forms. It should be firm and springy and even slightly dry, but not crumbly (adjust by adding more masa or water as needed).

2. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat (if it's a nonstick skillet, you don't need to brush it with oil). Cut a quart-size Ziplock bag along the edges to make two sheets of plastic big enough to cover both sides of the tortilla press.


3. Roll a heaping tbsp. of dough into a ball (should be just larger than an inch, about the size of a golf ball). Lay a sheet of plastic on the bottom side of the open tortilla press. Place the ball of dough on top, just slightly off center toward the hinge, put the other piece of plastic on top. Close the press and use the handle to press down, flattening the tortilla (don't press too hard or it will be too thin). Carefully remove plastic and set formed tortilla on a piece of parchment lightly dusted with masa. When two or three are formed, place in the warm pan. Cook for about 90 seconds, then turn over, cooking another 15-20 seconds. Remove from pan and cover to keep warm. Repeat process, working in batches until all the dough is used up.

Equipment: Potato Ricer

A potato ricer is not an essential kitchen tool, but for some jobs, it's pretty darn useful. Sure, you can mash potatoes with the aptly named potato masher (or a food processor, but I wouldn't recommend it), and you can wring moisture from raw shredded potatoes with towels (but it makes a mess). But for certain tasks, a potato ricer will accomplish the job more efficiently with better results.

The key advantage for using a potato ricer to mash potatoes texture. It doesn't over-mash like a food processor and achieves more consistent texture than mashing with a utensil, since the potato is extruded through the device's mesh base. A nice side benefit is that potato skins don't pass through the holes. So you can skip peeling potatoes. Just put half a potato cut-side down in the bowl of the ricer and by applying leverage with the other handle, it squeezes out the potato and the skin stays in the bowl (if this sounds miraculous, I've tried it many times and it works without fail).

The potato ricer produces mashed potato of optimal texture for making gnocchi dough, which is the purpose for which I acquired mine. The other useful purpose is wringing water from raw potato shreds for hash browns. The key to crispy, browned hashbrowns is removing as much water from the raw potato as possible. Blotting and squeezing with towels will do this, but it makes a big mess. Raw potato is too hard to be extruded through the holes, so squeezing small batches of raw potato shreds in a ricer is a great way to remove moisture. 

The ricer looks like an oversize garlic press. Mine is Oxo brand ($24.99 at Amazon). Some models have interchangeable discs for different textures; so far the single texture mine produces has been just fine. America's Test Kitchen has rated several brand.

Equipment: Citrus Juicer

To some, a citrus juicer may not seem like essential kitchen equipment. If you don't make a lot of things with fresh lemon or lime juice, perhaps it's not for you. But for me, it's absolutely great.

I use fresh citrus juice frequently in cocktails as well as many recipes (including all three recipes I'm posting this week). This tool saves time, mess and waste. There's really no downside.

Trying to squeeze citrus with your bare hands can be tiring; this gives you good leverage to work quickly. By hand, you often end up squirting on the counter, on the wall or even in your eye (ouch). This is designed to contain the squirt and drain the juice only where you want it. The green middle piece allows you to size the inner bowl to make a better fit for lemons or limes, so there's little "unsqueezed" juice left in the fruit. Plus it's just really efficient. You can juice your way through a whole basket of citrus in no time, without having to roll them on the counter or microwave them to get a good result.

Equipment: Measuring Cups

If you cook with recipes, you're not going to get very far without a good set of measuring cups. A basic set will have 1-cup, 1/2-cup, 1/3-cup and 1/4-cup, although it's also useful to 2/3- and 3/4-cups.

I really love my set, which are made by Pyrex, but unfortunately no longer in production.

They are clear, made of lexan plastic, so they won't shatter if dropped and you can see through them, which is useful for making sure brown sugar is fully packed, for example. They are flat on top, which is essential for leveling ingredients. An added bonus of these is that they have a line halfway up each cup which allows you further measurement options, useful especially when dividing large recipes.

Equipment: Knives

A period look at essential, useful and interesting equipment for the home kitchen.

Any overview of kitchen equipment begins with knives, the most essential tool of all. Knives are the front line of food preparation--you're not going to get very far without one.

Knives are versatile too. Whenever I see some supposed "space-saver" gadget, I usually think, just get a good knife. If you have a small kitchen like me, this becomes even more important. Knives are compact--they're the ultimate kitchen space saver.

Buying knives can be daunting. What works best is mostly a matter of personal preference, although there are some things to consider in terms of form, material and utility.

Form. Kitchen knives generally take one of two basic forms: stamped or forged. A stamped knife has been cut out of a larger sheet of metal and then sharpened. A forged knife is pounded into its shape from hot steel. Because of this, forged knives tend to feel weightier and appear thicker than their stamped counterparts; they also have a bolster, a bump of metal between the blade and the handle that provides protection from accidentally cutting yourself. Although forged knives are generally considered "better," sometimes the thinner, more flexible stamped knife can be useful.

Some people may be attracted by the "ever sharp" style of knives, knives with a serrated blade that you don't (or rather can't) sharpen. I would not recommend getting a whole set of these. They aren't nearly as sharp as a true honed blade, so they make a poor substitute for real fine-edged knives.

Material. Most kitchen knives are made from steel, although there are plastic and ceramic ones for special purposes. Carbon steel holds an edge well and is easy to sharpen, but is vulnerable to rust and stains. Stainless steel doesn't rust, but it must be sharpened more frequently. Pay a little more and you can get carbon stainless steel, an alloy that represents the best of both worlds.

Utility. Here's where it gets tricky. Before buying any knives, you should consider which specific knives you will use the most. Some, like Mark Bittman, contend that you only need three knives: a chef's knife, serrated bread knife and paring knife. Personally, I have five knives that I use the most, but since most of my knives come from two sets, I also have knives I hardly ever use. You can buy knives individually, but most knife manufacturers sell pretty sets of knives housed in wood blocks. Whether a set is more economical than buying knives individually depends on what knives you want to use. If you buy a set, you probably won't use all of the knives. However, it might be worth it if you get a price break for the few knives in the set that you will use, so consider which ones you really want, price them out separately and then compare that to the set price. A knife block is useful for storing knives, although you could also use a wall-mounted magnetic strip.

My knife collection is composed of two sets plus a few other miscellaneous knives. One set is from Zwilling J.A. Henckels Four Star, a forged carbon stainless set of five knives plus scissors in a block. I love the handle and the heft of these knives. Growing up, we had a few of these, and I always preferred them. My set retails for $541, but Amazon sells it for less than $200. My other set is J.A. Henckels International Fine Edge Pro, a stamped stainless set of five knives. The exact set I have is no longer available, but a similar set retails for $152 (and $64 at Amazon). Clearly, they are less expensive, but that doesn't mean they aren't useful. They require more frequent sharpening, but I've had them 12 years and still get a lot of use of most of the pieces.

My favorite knives (from left to right):

1. 3" paring knife (Zwilling J.A. Henckels Four Star). A paring knife is essential for tasks that involve small pieces of food or require precision. This paring knife is incredibly sharp--it slices a lime in half like the lime was butter. I use it for things like that, cutting off the rough ends of garlic cloves and very fine mincing. Among my knives, I use this the second most.

2. 7" santoku knife (Zwilling J.A. Henckels Four Star). I know the chef's knife is the classic all-purpose kitchen knife, but I got a santoku when they they started being trendy a few years ago and I really prefer it to a chef's knife for a lot of tasks. I think it's just a matter of what you're used to, since they are quite similar. This is the knife I use the most, particularly for chopping.

3. 8" chef's knife (Henckels International Fine Edge Pro). Since it's a stamped knife, this lacks the heft of a forged knife. So even though it's a chef's knife, I don't find this ideal for chopping. However, it's thinner blade makes it perfect for slicing larger items, like fruit (I cut my oranges into wedges with this every morning).

4. 7.5" bread knife (Henckels International Fine Edge Pro). This isn't a particularly versatile knife, but when you need to cut bread, this is what works best. Trying to cut bread with a chef's knife will usually result in squishing or crumbling it. This does neither.

5. 5.5" boning knife (Henckels International Fine Edge Pro). Here's where the flexibility of a stamped knife can be useful. I'm not very good at cutting up a whole chicken, but when I need to do so, this is what I use. The thin knife provides good precision. It also works well for cubing chicken breasts.

My least favorite knives. These are the ones that I find I hardly ever use. Here's why (from left to right):

1. 2.5" peeling knife (Zwilling J.A. Henckels Four Star). This is the knife I never use. It's concave blade leaves me a bit puzzled as to how to use it effectively. I can't think of any task I couldn't perform more easily with eiher a paring knife or a vegetable peeler.

2. 5" serrated utility knife (Zwilling J.A. Henckels Four Star). This, like the peeling knife, is the kind of knife you get in a knife set and then never use. Supposedly, it's good for slicing tomatoes, but I find a sharp chef's knife works just as well, if not better, since you lose precision with a serrated knife. I did use this to slice a grapefruit in half this morning, but I could have used the chef's knife.

3. 10" chef's knife (Victorinox Fibrox). This was just a mistake. Cook's Illustrated raves about the Victorinox line of kitchen knives as a high-performance, low-cost option. I wanted to give it a try, but I shouldn't have bought a 10-inch knife. It's just too big to be useful. If you have big hands, you might like it, but I never use it. Even if I had a smaller one though, it lacks the heft of the Zwilling Henckels knives I use for chopping (the Victorinox is a stamped knife), so I'm not sure I would prefer this anyway.

4. 8" chef's knife (Calphalon). Calphalon?! What am I doing with a knife from a pots-and-pans company? That's a good question. I think this ended up in my kitchen back in the day when I only had the Henckels stamped set and wanted a heftier, forged chef's knife. It's certainly hefty--the heaviest knife in my collection. But it dulled really fast. It's also so thick that it can get stuck in food. I don't think I paid much for it and I got what I paid for.

5. 5" utility knife (Henckels International Fine Edge Pro). People who assemble knife sets seem to think you need a bridge between the small paring knife and the large chef's knife. I think otherwise. Despite its name, I find little "utility" in this knife. It's too big to be useful as a paring knife, too small for carving, and too slight for chopping. You can slice with it, but nothing too big (it's not even large enough to cut through a grapefruit). Basically, there's nothing this knife does that other knives couldn't do better. So why bother?

Parting thought: One final word on knives--keep them sharp. A dull knife is the quickest route to a kitchen injury. Sure, a sharp knife will slice you more easily, but it's not likely to happen if you're paying attention. Dull knives are actually more dangerous because they can act in unpredictable ways. Thus, you are more likely to cut yourself with a dull knife than a sharp knife. And when you do, since it's dull, it will hurt. So run your knives over the honing steel regularly (you can do it every time actually) to keep the blade straight and sharpen your knives when they begin to develop a dullness that the honing steel doesn't address.