Specialists call drinks cocktails that, according to the rules, are mixed from no more than five ingredients, not counting the many additional components in small doses. A cocktail is the freedom of creativity and the flight of imagination not only of professional bartenders, but also of any chef who wants to please his family or his friends with a delicious and original dish.
To create cocktails at home, you need to remember: their composition is so diverse that no bartender can repeat all existing recipes throughout life. However, there are several products that are almost always part of the original drinks - first of all, ice made from purified or non-carbonated water, transparent, without bubbles, extraneous smacks and smells. The second ingredient used to prepare a large number of cocktails, experts consider sugar syrup - everyone can cook it themselves, dissolving a kilogram of sugar in a liter of boiling water.
In addition to products, those who want to learn how to make cocktails at home will have to use special equipment - not as complicated as the professional bar equipment, but nonetheless convenient and useful. You will need a mixer and a shaker, a measuring vessel and a bar strainer, as well as good dishes - glasses of various sizes and shapes, spoons and spoons, a board, knives for cutting and peeling fruits, a wooden pestle in order to knead mint or other herbs, and a press or an ice chopper.
Beginners in the bar business believe that preparing alcoholic cocktails at home is simple. In fact, this process, of course, is not complicated, but it requires certain skills, understanding of proportions, accuracy in measurements and efforts in mixing. Therefore, it’s not worth undertaking immediately the virtuosic multi-tiered designs that you saw in your favorite bar: it’s better to start with something more elementary: for example, with the Cosmopolitan cocktail. This drink is uncomplicated, but extremely original, which is why it has gained worldwide popularity. Many note the attractive appearance - they serve Cosmopolitan in martini glasses, many have its amazing taste, but you can appreciate one or the other only by making a cocktail yourself. So, to make a drink you will need: lemon vodka (50 ml.), Cointreau liqueur (20 ml.), Lemon juice (10 ml.) And cranberry juice (30 ml.). All ingredients must be mixed, poured into a glass and garnished with a slice of lemon.
If you want to please your friends with something original and tasty, you can make some famous cocktails at home, for example, the famous Vesper Martini, which, as you know, was preferred by James Bond, the hero of the Jan Fleming novel series . For the drink you need: martini (50 ml.), Vodka (50 ml.), Gin (150 ml.) And liqueur "Lillet" (50 ml). All ingredients are poured into the shaker in turn, covered with crushed ice and shaken (not mixed). The finished Bond drink is poured into a glass or a glass and decorated with a spiral of lemon.
A product such as a milkshake at home is also very popular. You can cook it for yourself if you want something tasty, or for children to diversify the daily breakfast, as well as make any birthday unique. For such a drink, you should take care of fresh fruits (bananas, oranges, lemons), yogurt (30 ml.) And milk (100 ml.). Two bananas should be peeled in advance, cut into several parts and cooled. Pour milk, yogurt, freshly squeezed lemon juice (1 tsp) and chilled bananas into a blender. The finished mixture, whipped to a thick foam, can be poured into glasses, garnished with orange slices or ice cream balls in accordance with the preferences of a small taster. This drink, like all other cocktails at home, should be supplemented with a straw.