The Craft of the Cocktail
Dale DeGroff is a legend. He has pretty much ruled the roost in Manhattan bars for the past three decades and is credited by some for the global resurgence in cocktail culture. DeGroff is also the guy who brought back the Cosmopolitan (with a little help from Madonna), only recently usurped - after five years on the throne - by the Mojito, as the capital's most fashionable cocktail.
Now he's written a book - sorry, a cookbook. Called The Craft of the Cocktail, "It's the first real cookbook for drinks," says the publicity blurb. You see, DeGroff's approach to bartending is distinctly culinary. He always tells his students (he teaches budding bartenders at New York University and at the local Culinary Institute) to hang out with chefs - watch their ways, how they use their utensils and ingredients.
He urges students to get tooled up with, at the very least, a Boston shaker, two kinds of strainers, a range of knives (for garnishes), a long cocktail spoon and a nutmeg grater (woe betide anyone who uses a ready-ground spice - or ready-squeezed juice, for that matter).
For anyone lucky enough to meet him in person, he's riveting company. But for those of us who can't make it to one of his classes (he also works as a consultant to Jonathan Downey's London-based Match bar group), then buy the book - it's all in there. Actually, the US version came out a year ago. This is the first UK edition, revised and updated for the UK market, with an introduction, incidentally, by Downey.
It's split into three sections. Part one kicks off with the historical stuff, traditional ingredients, plus tools and techniques of the trade. The second part is packed with recipes (more than 500 of them) and sprinkled with bar lore - classics combined with some of DeGroff's own creations, such as my favourite, Meloncholy Baby.
It was created on the spot for a woman who had just ended a love affair and was "really, really down in the dumps", writes DeGroff. "It had flaming lemon peels, and ended up becoming the drink of the night" (50ml Absolut Citron, 25ml fresh lemon juice, 50ml simple syrup, 90g chopped cantaloupe and 50ml water blended with crushed ice).
The final part of the book gets technical, with cocktail lingo, basic recipes, and measures - I tell you, he's the oracle; or the Yoda of Mixology, as New York chef Anthony Bourdain calls him.
Negative points? DeGroff's exceedingly hairy, manly paw and slightly fungus-riddled fingernails caressing both shakers and glasses in the photography. We know it's you, Dale - your magnificently bejewelled signet ring gives the game away.
The Craft of the Cocktail
Dale DeGroff
Proof Publishing
£25
ISBN 0-9545869-0-5
