Dad's House » cocktail recipes

Best Margarita Recipe

dadshouse — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 10:00:38 +0000

My favorite Mexican restaurant has a margarita list two pages long. Different tequilas, different mixers, and one outcome – a kick ass cocktail. Over the years I’ve sampled enough of their margaritas to hone in on the best margarita recipe. And with my birthday just around the corner, you can bet I’ll be sipping a few margaritas on the rocks (salted rim) before the candles are blown out.

The secret to the best margarita recipe is using quality ingredients. For me, this means Herradura Anejo tequila, Cointreau, and fresh squeezed limes. Here’s my recipe for the best margarita:

Best Margarita Recipe

1 ½ shots Herradura Anejo Tequila
1 shot Cointreau
1 fresh squeezed lime

Pour ingredients into a martini shaker with ice. Shake sharply. Serve this best margarita recipe on the rocks in a glass with a salted rim. (Or, blended, unsalted, whatever your preference.)

You can use a lesser tequila, or substitute triple sec for Cointreau, and you’ll be making one of the other drinks from my favorite Mexican restaurant’s menu. For the best margarita recipe, choice ingredients are key.

Olé !!

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Mai Tai Recipe – A Taste of Hawaii

dadshouse — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 10:00:28 +0000

I love Hawaiian vacations, and a great tropical drink served on the islands is the Mai Tai. Every time I go to Hawaii (and I’ve been there a lot), I head straight for a bar and ask them to shake up their best Mai Tai recipe.

The Mai Tai is one of the best tropical rum drinks. Problem is, bars and restaurants tend to water it down with juice. I prefer my Mai Tai recipe made with just rum and mixers.

Best Mai Tai Recipe

2 parts dark rum
2 parts gold rum
1 part Cointreau (or triple sec as a more affordable option)
1 part Amaretto (or Torani almond syrup, but that can be hard to find)
juice of 1 lime
2 or 3 dashes of Grenadine

Shake sharply, then strain the Mai Tai cocktail over crushed ice in a highball glass. Garnish with a flower, or an umbrella, or a wedge of pineapple. Or just drink it! This Mai Tai recipe is meant to be enjoyed.

Down one of these rum drinks, and you’ll feel like you’re back in the islands. Speaking of which… (pardon me while I traipse down memory lane, Mai Tai in hand)

I proposed on Kaanapali beach
I swam with sea turtles at Napili Point
I watched the sun set at “Bali Hai” on Kauai
I watched the sun rise at Haleakala crater
I stood near flowing lava at Kilauea volcano
I saw Pearl Jam and U2 in Honolulu

And I drank a ton of Mai Tais every step of the way.

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Gin and Tonic Recipe

dadshouse — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 09:04:33 +0000

Gary shielded himself with the door of the liquor cabinet while he poured four ounces of gin onto ice…. Still shielded by the cabinet door, Gary took a hefty warmish gulp. Then, closing the cabinet, he held up the glass in case anyone cared to see what a relatively modest drink he’d poured himself.
- Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections

Record-setting heat in the Bay Area has me contemplating summer cocktails. Er… has me drinking summer cocktails. And what would summer be without the gin and tonic?

A gin and tonic is a refreshing nod to a lazy summer day. And in some households (fictional, or otherwise), a gin and tonic can be a balm to ease the stresses of a feisty family, or a too long and hot day. (Please drink in moderation.)

Many gin and tonic drinkers love Bombay Sapphire gin, and Tanqueray and tonic is a popular choice in bars. But for my money, Plymouth Gin can’t be beat.

Gin and Tonic Recipe

Fill a highball glass with ice
Add 2 oz of gin
Fill to top with tonic water (4 oz.)
Stir
Squeeze a wedge of lime into the glass, then drop the lime wedge in

Dad’s House tip: don’t buy a big bottle of tonic water; it will lose its fizz over time. Instead, buy a 6-pack of mini bottles. One tonic bottle is enough to keep even Gary mind-numbingly happy for an evening.

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Photo by the_prodigal_untitled13, Some rights reserved.

Old-Fashioned Cocktail Recipe

dadshouse — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 09:33:34 +0000

The Old-Fashioned cocktail sounds quite old fashioned. I mean, who on earth drinks these things anymore? Um… my brother and me. We had them over the holidays, and I must say, Old-Fashioned cocktails rock.

It’s bourbon with an amazing blend of bitter, sweet and sour flavors. I’ve seen more complicated recipes that muddle in the cherries or slice of orange, but this Dad’s House drink recipe is simple and delicious.

Old-Fashioned Cocktail Recipe

Drop a sugar cube in an old-fashioned glass (lowball glass)
Add a few dashes of Angustora bitters
Add a shot of soda water
Muddle the sugar and bitters together (you can use the backside of a spoon)

Add an ice cube or two
Add 2 shots of bourbon
Stir

Garnish with a bit of orange peel, lemon peel, and a maraschino cherry

Have one tonight!

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Rum, Ginger Beer, Lime – Dark and Stormy

dadshouse — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 12:00:50 +0000

After the past few crazy weeks, I’m now thinking fondly back to a sailing trip friends and I did on a catamaran around the British Virgin Islands. We sailed, snorkeled, and dived by day, then dined, drank, and partied by night (none of which were dark and stormy.) The boat had four bedrooms, but I always slept in a hammock under the stars.

One day during this trip, we hung out on a secret beach. There was a little beach bar with a chalkboard full of rum drinks (Goslings, Bacardi, you name it.) My friends being my friends, and me being me, we made it a point to try every rum drink on the menu. One of our favorites? The dark and stormy. It’s so simple – rum, ginger beer, lime – if you haven’t had one, you gotta try it.

Dark and Stormy Cocktail – Rum, Ginger Beer, Lime

2 parts Gosling’s Black Seal Rum (yes, the brand makes a difference!)
3 parts Ginger Beer (get it at Trader Joe’s)
Pour ingredients into a highball glass.
Add ice.
Garnish with a wedge of lime

That dark and stormy blend of rum, ginger beer, and lime takes me right back to the secret beach… and then, for some odd reason, to another beach on Turks and Caicos, and a night of skinny dipping with a Cuban woman… ah, the Caribbean!

Happy Friday!

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Limoncello Recipe

dadshouse — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 10:40:22 +0000

Limoncello is a lemony vodka after-dinner liqueur, popular in Italy and France. I took a cooking class at Sur La Table from celebrity chef Joanne Weir, and one of the recipes she tossed out there for us was limoncello. (She also leads cooking tours in Europe which sound totally fun. Check out her website!)

If you haven’t had limoncello, you’re in for a treat. It’s thick like a good old-fashioned cough syrup, and has just the right proportion of bitter and sweet to be oh so good. You’ll love this limoncello recipe.

If you’ve had limoncello, then grab this recipe and find a neighbor’s lemon tree to raid. I think lemons may be ripening right now.

This limoncello recipe takes 3 months! A long time for flavors to meld (that’s what makes it so good), but the effort on your part is minimal. It’s worth it.

Limoncello Recipe

Peel 15 washed lemons – only the yellow part, not the white part! This is very important, because the white part is the pith, and it will make your limoncello taste pithy (i.e. bad). Be sure to wash the lemons first.

Put the peels into a jar or empty vodka bottle. I used an empty 1.5L Ketel One bottle
Add 750 ml of 100 proof vodka (Smirnoff Blue Label)

Place in a dark cabinet or closet for 40 days and 40 nights. (It’s a long time – but every limoncello journey starts with a single step. Don’t be put off by the time it takes to make this great drink!)

[40 days later…]

Make a syrup: boil 4 cups water with 5 cups sugar for 5 minutes
Add syrup to the vodka/peel mixture.
Add ANOTHER 750 ml bottle of 100 proof vodka into the mix.

Cover – another 40 days and 40 nights (yikes!)

[40 days later… 80 days total]

Strain through cheese cloth into bottles
Put in the freezer. You’re done!

Limoncello is great as an after-dinner drink. Or drizzle it over ice cream.

Believe me, you’ll be getting orders for this stuff from family and friends.

Or, stop on by – I have a bottle in my freezer.

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Jaeger Tea on a Cold Night

dadshouse — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 11:36:28 +0000

I’ve lived in New England, so I know what cold is like. Now I’m in Nor-Cal, and while it’s not the same cold, we did have snow Wednesday morning on the hills a few miles from my house! It was so cold, in order to watch my daughter’s after-school soccer game (they won, and she dished an assist), I had to put on friggin’ long underwear and my bulkiest jacket from my east coast days.

Wednesday night, of course, I froze my ass off. For some reason, my house just won’t heat up unless my daughter is here. She works some sort of magic on the thermostat. (Um, like turning it way the hell up? Doh!)

All this cold brought back memories of a trip I took to Munich, Germany. We were walking around the town square, freezing our tushes despite a thousand layers of clothes. And everyone else was walking around, smiling, laughing, all toastied up like they had heaters in their pants. WTF?

Finally, we saw a sign that explained everything: Jaeger Tea!

We got a cup each, drank it, got another cup, drank some more. And pretty soon we could have strolled naked through that snowy town square and had the same warm happy smile as everyone else. This jaeger tea stuff was that good!

So Wednesday night, I’m totally craving Jaeger tea. And so I start googling and yahooing to find out how to make it.

Jaeger Tea, Easy Version:

Hot black tea
Jaegermeister
Drink till you’re happy and warm

Jaeger Tea, Advanced Version:

3 oz schnapps
3 oz rum
6 oz water
1 bag of black tea
juice of an orange
Bring it to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
Drink till you’re happy and warm

Jaeger Tea, Dad’s House Version:

Either recipe above
Share with a cute and curvy woman
Drink till you’re both happy and warm
Get in bed, spoon like crazy

I like the Dad’s House Jaeger Tea version best.

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