There has been a heyday of late in reviving cocktails from our parents’ day, some with the newfound skill of bartenders (some now calling themselves mixologists) muddling fruits or concocting their own syrups. The possibilities are now endless. For me, my toe went further into the icy cocktail waters when I found an old book at a rummage sale, Trader Vic’s Book of Food and Drink, with this note from the publisher:
This book was originally published in 1946. Some of the brand names that Trader Vic’s refers to no longer exist. We suggest you substitute your own favorite brands.
Photo Credit – Off the Presses
Undaunted I purchased the book and started making some of the recipes, choosing ones where I had most, if not all, of the ingredients already in my bar. Below are the easiest I made. I hope you can find something memorable here to make for yourself.
Tall Ones
Planter’s Punch – Cuban
3 ounces Cuban rum
1 ounce lime juice
1 tsp. sugar
Orange juice
Shake rum, lime and sugar with cracked ice; and pour over cracked ice in 12-ounce glass and fill rest of glass with orange juice; stir and serve.
Rum Float
1 tsp. sugar
5 sprigs fresh mint
3 ounces light rum (Ton Merito or Brugal)
Half fill a 12-ounce glass with shaved ice; add sugar, mint, and rum; muddle to thoroughly mix mint with rum; add shaved ice and stir up and down to frost glass and thoroughly mix. Decorate with a sprig of mint, a slice of lemon, and serve with straws.
Cocktails and Short Hoists
Plantation
½ ounce orange juice
½ once lemon juice
1 ounce Jamaican rum (Red Heart or Myer’s)
Shake well with ice; strain into chilled cocktail glass.
Rum Martini
Dash of orange bitters
One ounce French vermouth (dry)
1 ½ ounces Puerto Rican rum (Ron Merito, Boca Chica or Brugal)
Stir Ingredients in mixing glass with cracked ice; strain into chilled cocktail glass and serve with stuffed olive (washed to remove salt) or cocktail onion on toothpick. Twist lemon peel over drink but do not drop.
Tahitian Honey Bee
1 tsp. honey
½ ounce lemon juice
1 ½ ounce Puerto Rican rum (Ron Merito, Boca Chica or Brugal)
Mix honey and lemon juice in shaker, add rum, and shake with ice; strain into chilled cocktail glass and serve with twist of lemon peel.
Gimlet
1 ounce Rose’s lime juice
1 scant tsp. sugar
1 ¼ ounce gin
Shake with ice, strain, and pour into chilled Daiquiri glass.
Note on the photo: This is an old West Bend penguin hot and cold serving bowl/ice bucket in an art deco style. (Photo is borrowed.) It belonged to my mother in law. Recently I pulled it out of our cabinet, washed it, and, served to hold ice during a large party. Six hours later the ice was still solid. It made me wonder about the cocktails this was used for, and how many, if any, Trader Vic’s styled drinks my husband’s parents may have enjoyed at home.
I recently dined at a restaurant that served wine and allowed BYOW (Bring Your Own Wine). The waitress took the bottle I had brought in, opened it up out of my view (guessing there is one corkscrew in the place) then returned with the bottle, and presto, the cork was removed right through the now ripped foil. I had no choice but to remove the jagged remains from the top of the bottle myself. Why they would serve wine this way I don’t know. It’s just plain ugly and the diner has to do the work.
