Cocktails
658 recipes found
Dark And Stormy
In 2004, William L. Hamilton waxed poetic about the Dark and Stormy, describing it both as “a drink traditionally associated with sailing and the manly habit of appearing to keep one's balance while determinedly losing it” and as “a spicy and spritzed two-legged, walk-the-decks kind of drink with a lime wedge perched at the top like a pirate's parrot.” This version, adapted from Red Sky, a restaurant on Mount Desert Island in Maine, uses a combination of Gosling’s Black Seal rum and AJ Stephans ginger beer. Simple to prepare — no shaking or stirring involved — mix one up and enjoy it on a sweltering summer night. And don't forget the lime wedge.
Atomic Cocktail
Daiquiri
The daiquiri is a classic sour — that is, a family of cocktails made with spirit, sugar and citrus juice — whose simple, straightforward appeal has been obscured for years by frozen, fruity variations. One doesn’t need a blender to make one, just fresh limes, good rum and sugar. The proportions of syrup and juice can be adjusted, depending on whether you prefer a sweeter or more-tart style.
Mai-Tai
Tequila and Tonic
Ivy Mix, an owner of Leyenda, a Brooklyn bar with a focus on Latin spirits, thinks this drink requires an earthy lowland tequila (that is, grown in the valley section of Jalisco), such at the Partida reposado, which is aged slightly, and has toasty, nutty flavors. For its tonic match, she reaches for Canada Dry or Schweppes, which have “more quinine kick” in her opinion. For a switch, try this recipe with mezcal. But, since that smoky spirit is typically more pungent in flavor, use only an ounce and a half.
Vodka Soda
Cool and refreshing. Vodka, soda, lime. That’s it. Perfect for a bar stop and also for cocktail hour at home.
Honey Deuce Melon Ball Punch
Alluringly rosy and ultra-refreshing, the Honey Deuce, a spiked lemonade, is just one reason thousands flock to Flushing, Queens, at the end of summer in search of long rallies and star-studded stands. It’s the official drink of the U.S. Open, the final major tennis tournament of each year. A satisfyingly light cocktail, it tastes like a grown-up pink lemonade, and this version makes a batch large enough to quench the thirsts of a crowd. Store-bought lemonade is bolstered by fresh lemon juice to temper its sweetness, while honeydew melon, scooped to resemble tennis balls, sits atop each glass, serving up an easy way to transport yourself to center court.
Café Brûlot
In this classic after-dinner drink popularized in New Orleans, sweetened brandy is spiced with cinnamon, cloves and citrus peels, then set ablaze so that the aromatics can caramelize and some of the alcohol can burn off. The flame is dampened with strong coffee, then the whole thing topped with whipped cream. If setting a drink on fire makes you nervous, skip that step and just let the Cognac mixture simmer for 5 minutes to infuse before adding the coffee. You won’t get the singed flavors, but it still makes a tasty, bracing beverage.
Grapefruit-tini
Top-shelf vodka and fresh grapefruit juice topped with prosecco: a refreshing holiday cocktail.
Rock and Rye Toddy
Bitter Coffee
Maksym Pazuniak, who has tended bar at Cure in New Orleans and The Counting Room in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, is a devotee of challenging tastes. Bitter Coffee, a hot, creamy concoction suited to the winter holidays, takes as its base Cynar, the bittersweet Italian liqueur that incorporates flavors of artichoke and rhubarb, among others. A few minutes of easy whisking over a stove yields a full-flavored mugful in which the maple-vanilla roundness of the drink are snapped to attention by the edgy amaro and steaming coffee.
Tom and Jerry
This drink has nothing to do with the cartoon cat and mouse, or Jerry Thomas, the celebrated New York barman of the 1800s, who often boasted of inventing it. It is a rich holiday elixir, a relative of eggnog that flourished in America in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and is frequently (though not definitively) credited to Pierce Egan, the English chronicler of sports and popular culture. Robert Simonson brought this version of the drink, which is especially popular in Wisconsin and is bordering states, to The Times in 2012. It is adapted from Audrey Saunders, the owner of the Manhattan cocktail bar Pegu Club. She decreased the sugar and added Angostura bitters and vanilla. “It makes a huge difference,” she said. It’s best on snowy days, when it can warm and comfort from within.
Port Toddy
A port toddy is one of winter’s unsung delights. Replacing whiskey with port in a toddy leads to something surprising and special. Somehow, it feels more curative than one with harder spirits: it’s like the alcohol-fortified equivalent of a bowl of homemade chicken soup. This requires a ruby port, which is the cheapest and most easily found. (The New York Times)
Irish Coffee
Jack McGarry, a co-owner of the Dead Rabbit bar in Lower Manhattan, is so particular about his Irish coffee that he arranged a search for the best cream available in the Northeast. He settled on Trickling Springs, available at the Stinky Bklyn cheese shop in Brooklyn. But any good cream (and Irish whiskey) will do, as long as you use high-quality, freshly brewed coffee and very cold whipped cream. Making the sugar syrup takes a few more minutes, but pays off in a subtle sweetness.
Hot Milk Punch
This lean milk punch is concocted with vanilla-macerated bourbon. It takes only a few minutes to prepare (maceration aside), and delivers an outsize glow on a chilly night. Though it might make a flu sufferer feel better, don’t wait for the flu to try it.
Slow-Cooker Mulled Cider
A slow cooker is an ideal way to make and serve a warm cocktail for a party: Throw the ingredients into the cooker several hours before guests arrive and the cider will bubble away, making the whole house smell wonderful. Reduce the heat before adding the rye whiskey so it maintains its kick. The toasted spices make the flavors so vibrant that the drink is delicious even without the whiskey. No slow cooker? This recipe is your stovetop option.
Pasta With Chickpeas and a Negroni
This is a no-recipe recipe, a recipe without an ingredients list or steps. It invites you to improvise in the kitchen. A drink before dinner? Make a Negroni, then pasta with chickpeas and tomato sauce. First, the Negroni: one part gin, one part sweet vermouth, one part Campari, stirred with ice then strained over ice and garnished with orange peel. Sip! Then peel and chop an onion and sauté it in olive oil with a few cloves of smashed garlic and a spray of salt and pepper. Have another hit of Negroni. When the mixture has just started to brown, add a tablespoon of tomato paste and a 28-ounce can of chopped tomatoes, along with a stick of cinnamon. Stir and simmer away for 10 minutes or so, longer if you can, then add enough cream or half-and-half so that the sauce turns softer in color, running to pink. Meanwhile, boil some salted water and prepare your favorite pasta (I like shells for this application) until it is just al dente. Drain, then toss in a 14-ounce can of drained chickpeas and stir the whole thing into the tomato sauce, topping with chopped parsley and a sprinkle of red-pepper flakes. Finish that Negroni. Eat. Sam Sifton features a no-recipe recipe every Wednesday in his What to Cook newsletter. Sign up to receive it. You can find more no-recipe recipes here.
Apple Smash
If fall had a signature cocktail this might be it. Slice some apples, muddle. Add rum, lemon juice, simple syrup, a dash of bitters, a sprinkle of cinnamon and shake. Serve it over crushed ice with an apple slice dusted with cinnamon. Buffalo check flannel shirt optional.
Mimosa
Like most mixed drinks, the Mimosa, that brunch staple, is better when the ingredients are of high quality. This doesn’t mean you should use that incredible bottle of Champagne you were given as a birthday present, but it does mean you should use a good, dry sparkling wine that tastes delicious without the addition of fruit juice. Cava, which may bring to mind Champagne more than prosecco does, is also substantially lower in price. As to the juice, squeeze it fresh — from whatever sorts of orange citrus you like best — and strain it.
Bloody Mary Mix
We’ve made hundreds of thousands of bloody Marys over the decades at Prune, with 11 variations, and this classic base mix has been the stalwart, gleaming engine of them all. The lemon juice is what makes it so bright and zingy, and the Sacramento brand tomato juice is clean, with perfect body, never muddy or thick. Prepared horseradish keeps its bite and moisture just about forever, whereas fresh grated horseradish loses its potency almost immediately, leaving dead bits of pencil shavings in the glass instead — so resist the urge to “improve” the recipe. Worcestershire sauce adds greater depth to the umami already inherent in tomato, and the Tabasco brand hot-pepper sauce brings vibrancy with its high acidity but very manageable heat. This bloody Mary is as refreshing as a virgin affair as it is when spiked and garnished.
Boulevardier
This simple cocktail, basically a Negroni made with whiskey instead of gin, dates back to the late 1920s, but has recently enjoyed a comeback in bars across the country. It even inspired the name of the Dallas restaurant that supplied this recipe.
Classic Negroni
Nostrana, an Italian restaurant in Portland, Ore., has offered a Negroni of the Month since 2010, all original creations, some of them quite odd (squid ink Negroni, anyone?). But the house Negroni follows classic lines, using equal parts gin, vermouth and Campari.
Champagne Cocktail
To toast The Minimalist column upon its exit from the pages of the Dining section, a Champagne cocktail — developed with help from the bartender Jim Meehan. It is appropriately celebratory and bittersweet.
Mojito
You can drink a mint mojito without really thinking about it, and that's a pretty good recommendation for a summer cocktail. This version is straightforward and simply perfect for a hot day. Muddle a handful of fresh mint leaves and some lime juice in the bottom of a glass. Then add rum, sugar, ice and a bit of club soda. Shake and serve with other Cuban dishes. The mojito originated in Cuba as a farmers' drink in the late 19th century as Cuba's rum industry modernized, making the mint mojito as common as beer. Only the rich drank it with ice and soda.