Elinor and I have, over the years, amassed a fair number of recipe books.
Or more accurately, Elinor has amassed a fair number of recipe books, while I have two; “The 1000 Recipe Cookbook” from my student days and the uncompromisingly named “Eat Like a Man“.
The latter is produced by the food editors of Esquire Magazine, and as the decidedly pink steak on the cover indicates, its title gives a fair idea of the sort of recipes contained within.
Not that is a bad thing. The recipes are by America’s top chefs, there are lots of useful tips throughout and the recipes we’ve tried have been pretty successful.
And, best of all, it has cocktail recipes.
Not a lot of cocktail recipes, but it has the five essential cocktails.
Four of these (Martini, Manhattan, Sidecar and Old-Fashioned) I’ve already done. I’ve not done the Gimlet yet, but that’s a story for another time (namely the time when I’ve bought lime cordial).
But it also has variants on the essentials – including the Hoffman House. (Not to be confused with the Holland House, which a different cocktail, akin to an Aviation.)
In simplest terms, this is just a 2:1 gin martini, but it’s made with the slightly harsher Plymouth gin and adds two dashes of orange bitters for more tang that the normal martini.
It was invented in the bar of the Hoffman House, one of the great bars of New York’s Belle Epoque, which was torn down in 1915, just before Prohibition.
Hoffman House
2 msrs Plymouth gin
1 msr dry vermouth
2 dashes orange bitters
Add ingredients and ice to a cocktail shaker. Shake, strain and pour into a cocktail glass and add a lemon twist.
As I said, this is very nice – there’s a nice bitter tang to it that helps it work as an aperitif.
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