JAZ

I'll be happy to help out as well, Katie, so you won't have to toil alone. On the drink front, I recently tried a great afternoon drink from (of all places) Martha Stewart Living -- Lillet, gin and orange juice, scented with basil, and topped with soda. I'm not sure about Lillet and barbecue, but with some tinkering, it holds promise.

When you say "small," what size group are you thinking about? Making drinks for six guests is a lot different from making drinks for 15. I find that six is about the limit for mixing individual cocktails -- more than that (unless you have a bartender or a friend who can step in). More than that, and you'll probably want to go with a punch or pitchers of drinks. As mentioned upthread, you probably want to stick with one or two drink choices. I also think it's important to have an interesting non-alcoholic drink to serve to those guests who don't or can't drink alcohol. Plus, as the evening wears on, you can gently urge your drinking guests to switch to it, so they stay more sober. As for food, my advice is to strive for food that can be eaten in one or two bites without plates or utensils of any kind. For a cocktail party, you don't want your guests to have to put their drinks down in order to eat. Balancing a drink, a plate and a fork is impossible, and if your menu requires that, you might find that your guests simply choose not to eat, which means a) you'll have gone to all the trouble with your food for nothing and b) you'll end up with a bunch of very drunk guests. One of my most successful class menus, especially with "neophytes," is a Southwestern/Mexican one. It's easy; most of the work can be done ahead of time; and it's pretty universally liked, but not ordinary. It's also good for summertime. For drinks, you can mix pitchers of Margaritas. I find the Margarita to be the "universal donor" of cocktails: it's the one drink that most people will accept as their only cocktail choice. The nice thing about it is that although it's pretty accessible for guests unaccustomed to "serious" cocktails, if it's well made, it will still please more advanced cocktail fans. Plus, many people have never had a properly made Margarita, so you'll be educating them as well. And it works well made in batches. For a non-alcoholic drink, I serve Faux Margaritas. (If you want to make your party prep even easier, you can actually add tequila to the Faux Margarita mixture for a pretty good cocktail.) My standard food menu is miniature smoked turkey quesadillas, phyllo "chile rellenos," bite-sized tostadas, and chips and salsa (either homemade or purchased). I don't have the other recipes entered into RecipeGullet, but I can post or send them.

Sounds like Var-Mint Juleps to me. ← Folks - I think we have a winner for the name of the Official Pig Pickin' cocktail! Now we just have to decide what is in it besides bourbon and mint. ← I don't think we need to limit ourselves this early, do we? Let's pursue some other ideas as well, and then we can decide before (or even at) the event which one is the "winner."

So, now that we have the official t-shirt, I think it's time to get to work on a Pig Picking signature cocktail. Join us here in the cocktail forum for the discussion.

Depending on whether you're wandered over to the Southeast forum lately, you may or may not know that Varmint's Second Occasional Pig Pickin is coming up over Labor Day weekend (click here for details). Since we already have an official t-shirt, I think it's time to start working on a "Pig Pickin" signature drink. Varmint's request is that it be bourbon based, and since he's hosting it, I guess we might want to humor him. Ideally, it would go well with barbecue. And it would be great to have something that can go from afternoon to evening -- maybe something versatile enough to work as either a tall drink (with ginger ale or soda added), or as a cocktail. Maybe a punch. Of course, if we ended up with a couple of new drinks, that would work, too. I started experimenting with Wild Turkey, ginger syrup and peach puree, but haven't been particularly successful yet. Any other ideas?

It's been a while since I tasted them side by side, but overall, they have a similar flavor profile. I preferred the white La Favorite slightly -- I think it was a little smoother -- but both are very good. They certainly both work well in a Ti punch.

You'll be happy to hear that I did, at long last, make the choron. To start with, as I said, I decided not to make it because it seemed like overkill. But I have to admit that I also didn't think it sounded very good. Paradoxically, that's actually the reason I decided to try it. The point of this whole thing is to get myself to move outside my usual cooking boundaries, so it seemed like the perfect test of my resolve. I used the recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking because I'm familiar with the hollandaise/bearnaise technique from that book. Essentially, I made bearnaise without the tarragon (because I don't like tarragon) and added a spiced tomato sauce that I already had on hand. I served it on sauteed scallops and shrimp, and -- lo and behold -- it was really good. But I still think it would be overkill on top of lemon beurre blanc.

I'll echo what Sam says here. I think the sweetness of lower quality (and proof) triple secs means you'd want to use less, not more. You can partially make up for the lack of orange flavor by twisting a wide strip of orange rind into the drink, though.

I've had a Krups ice cream maker for 10 years or so (it's the model with the motor in the base, not the one on the lid) but until pretty recently, I made sorbets almost exclusively. Lately, though, I've been experimenting with some ice cream recipes. First, I tried a very rich lemon ice cream. Despite my overcooking the custard just a bit, it turned out great, I thought. Then, the past couple of weeks at work, we've been doing demonstrations of the Cuisinart canister-style machine, so we've been making ice cream there too. I tried a different lemon recipe, which essentially called for making lemon curd and then adding cream. The flavor wasn't quite as intense as the first recipe, but the texture was exquisite. I added extra zest to the first batch, so that might account for the difference in flavor. Another flavor we made at work was coffee -- we used a French coffee extract for the flavoring (it's called Trablit) and simply added it to the vanilla recipe we were using. The flavor was great, but I wasn't thrilled with the texture of the vanilla we were making, so I got some of the extract to use at home. I made a pretty standard rich vanilla ice cream base (cream, eggs, sugar, vanilla) and added a tablespoon of the coffee extract. As it was freezing, I added very finely ground dark roast coffee. It was by far the best ice cream I've made, and one of the best I've ever tasted. My original plan was to add toasted nuts and chocolate chips to the ice cream, but the texture was so ethereal I couldn't bear to interfere with it. As it was, the crunchiness of the coffee specks was just the right foil for the rich mouthfeel. I don't have a camera, so I'm sorry that I don't have pictures.

One of my favorites is the original daiquiri, which, in these days of fruit versions, is surprisingly rare. And, as ubiquitous as it may be, the mojito is still a great summertime drink. I was recently introduced to the rum crusta as well, which is defintely worth trying if you happen to have a bottle of maraschino on hand.

I want those. But does that mean I have to use smaller corks?

My parents were not big cocktail drinkers; Dad would have bourbon on the rocks and Mom drank gin and bitter lemon or tonic, but they were just as likely to drink a beer or glass of wine before dinner as a mixed drink. My real interest in cocktails started when I stumbled on the old AOL spirits and cocktails discussion board (moderated by Dr. Cocktail). It really blossomed about 10 years ago when I bought a copy of Paul Harrington's cocktail book. I started mixing whatever drinks I could with the liquor I had on hand, and then started searching out the harder to find ingredients. Pretty soon I was making up my own drinks as well.

What's the cork to ice cube ratio necessary to keep the ice from sticking?

If you think your family would be adventurous enough, you could add a bottle of Campari. Because it's low in alcohol, you can mix it with soda or grapefruit juice (or both) for a light, refreshing afternoon drink, then make Negronis or Jasmines during cocktail hour.

I think this sounds really interesting. I have a question, though. Since I don't have the vinegar you mention on your site, what would be a close substitute? Balsamic?

This reminds me of a drink from Killer Cocktails, the Paloma, which uses grapefruit soda instead of the grapefruit juice, and includes a pinch of salt in the drink. It's great, as well. I have to admit that I really only use tequila for mixing, which is why I've remained silent on this thread. I like Sauza Hornitos, and as I can usually find it on sale for less than $15, that's what I stick with.

Is using a pinch (or more) of salt, or sugar, or acid cheating? They also enhance other flavors; would you say that their use is trying to make up for something missing?

Here's a class on the subject of taste and flavor I did for the eGCI: Taste and Texture: Part I It might give you some ideas.

Incanto is a reasonably priced Italian place with good food and an interesting wine list. The chef uses fresh seasonal ingredients, sustainably and organically raised whenever possible. Click here for a thread, which includes a link to the restaurant's website.

Here's an earlier thread on the topic: Baltimore recs I tried The Brewers Art a year ago or so and was very impressed, both with the food and the beer.

I've only eaten at Charanga once, but had some great dishes there. And I love Cha Cha Cha. I haven't been there in ages (used to live in the neighborhood, so it used to be a short walk) but when I used to frequent it, they made some great dishes. Bad sangria, though, as I recall. Does anyone know if the Mission St. branch is as good?

While I agree that they don't fill in for regular lemons, I do like them in some drinks. I think Meyer lemon juice and Lillet have a great affinity, for example. If you like a dry, slightly herbal drink, try my "After School Special" -- 2 oz. gin, 1 oz Lillet (blond), 1/4 oz. Meyer lemon juice with either a dash of orange bitters or (my new preference) green Chartreuse. Shake and serve up. And I sometimes use a citrus blend with two parts lime juice, two parts Meyer lemon juice and one part orange juice as an alternative to straight lime juice in Margaritas.

I'll be there. I'll be happy to help Katie with drinks, or make appetizers or salads -- whatever I can do to help. When do we start planning the details of the menu?

One thing that never occurred to me until reading this post by Audrey (libationgoddess) was to make simple syrups without heating at all. I really liked the lime syrup she suggests. I don't know how much sugar you can get into solution without heating, though. I've been meaning to try simple syrup with Demerara; I'm interested to see how it differs from syrup with white sugar, which is what I always use.

Something to keep in mind is that wattage is only part of the power equation. A well designed motor can use less wattage and deliver the same performance as a higher-wattage machine with a poorly designed motor. (At least that's what the KitchenAid rep explained to us.) I love my Waring. I've had it for 10 years and I would never consider getting anything else.