To Shake or Stir?
As a neophyte in the world of cocktails, I decided to start here
I’ve made a lot of fumbling orders at cocktail bars.
It’s an occupational hazard, as a drinks-illiterate food writer — or a formerly drinks-illiterate food writer, at least. I was never the sort who sat at the bar and scanned the wall for some obscure brand of whiskey. To me, whiskeys are either gross, or fine, or taste really good. I prefer to keep things simple.
I started my career in the middle-of-nowhere Mississippi, where an opportunity appeared to profile restaurants for a local magazine. Think write-ups of fried catfish and piles of pulled meat. Now I sometimes find myself chatting with some of the nation’s most renowned chefs.
I feel — pretty often, really — like a poseur. I still have no idea how to navigate those squadrons of silverware that get laid out atop white tablecloths and can never remember whether my server is going to swerve in with a plate from the right or the left. But I also know that being a poseur is an asset. My job is to ask the dumb questions so no one else has to, to translate the obscure and arcane world of food.
There are few corners of the food world more obscure than cocktails. Every ambitious restaurant now has a list of signature creations, cluttered with ingredients…
