Cobbler Shaker

[ThinkingBartender]

Dear All,

Using the same logic as that of a Julep Strainer straining Juleps, is a Cobbler Shaker used to shake Cobblers?

Would the Cobbler shaker have been used to muddle fruit inside of, and then strain the liquid compound over crushed ice, while at the same time retaining the mess/ gunk?

The Cobbler Shaker has a built-in fine strainer whereas the Boston Shaker does not, this might support my theory that the cobbler shaker was used for muddling fruit and retaining its mangled carcass post-serving.

Any thoughts? or facts?

Cheers!

George

[andiesenji]

Shaker types

[ThinkingBartender]

Sorry but that link was of no use to me.

I am looking for historical information, tidbits, that sort of things. I am not looking to buy a Cobbler Shaker, I am looking to understand the origin of its name, and its original use, and how it relates to the class of mixed drinks called Cobblers.

Thanks anyway.

George

[Danne]

Can some one please tell me what the "rules" for the Cobbler category is?

[andiesenji]

History of cocktail shakers.

Museum of the American Cocktail

Perhaps these can help.

[ThinkingBartender]

Can some one please tell me what the "rules" for the Cobbler category is?

←

By the "rules" I take it you mean, "what you can and can't do, and still call it a Cobbler?".

Originally, the Cobbler seems to have been wine/ spirit, sugar, and crushed ice; this was then garnished lavishly with all sorts of berries and cut fruit. However some people, including Dale DeGroff, like to muddle the garnish beforehand and shake it up with the wine/ spirit, sugar, and crushed ice. This, altough perhaps offensive to some purists, makes for a more interesting drink.

Dale DeGroff's Whiskey Cobbler

    * 2 oz. Maker's Mark Whiskey

    * 2 lemon wedges

    * 2 orange slices

    * 2 chunks of pineapple (half inch squares)

    * 2 pineapple sage leaves

    * 3/4 oz. Orange Curacao

    * 1 oz. water

Muddle one piece each of the fruits and the pineapple sage with the Orange Curacao and water in a bar glass. Add ice and whiskey and shake well. Strain into an ice-filled double old fashioned glass and garnish with remaining fruit.

David Embury Quote on Cobblers

"In making any of the Cobblers, the goblet is first filled with fine ice. If goblets are not available an 8- to 10-ounce Highball glass can be substituted. The ingredients of the drink are not separately shaken but are poured over the ice in the glass, the sugar or liqueur first and the wine or spiritous liquor last. The contents of the glass are then churned with a bar spoon until frost appears on the outside of the glass. Straws are then inserted and the drink is decorated with fruit and mint and served."

"Prepare glass with ice as above directed. Add two teaspoonfuls sugar syrup. Fill glass to within 1/2 " of top with the desired liquor and stir. A teaspoonful of pineapple syrup or a few dashes of curaçao are frequently used with the sugar syrup. Also a fruit liqueur, such as maraschino, Cointreau, apricot, or peach, may be substituted for the sugar syrup. With rum, orgeat or falernum will make a pleasing substitute for the sugar."

David Embury is not the man I would rely on to ascertain whether a Cobbler was/ is shaken, but his opinion is always interesting.

Jerry Thomas' Whiskey Cobbler (1862)

Whiskey Cobbler.

Take 1 ½ wine-glass of whiskey.

1 tea-spoonful of white sugar dissolved in a

little water.

1 slice of orange cut into quarters.

1 dash of Maraschino.

Fill the tumbler with shaved ice, shake up thoroughly,

ornament with berries, and serve with a straw.

Basically a Cobbler is whatever you want it to be.

Cheers!

George

[ThinkingBartender]

Here are some excerpts I found on Google Books which feature the Sherry Cobbler, and most importantly how to make them. Drinking through a piece of pasta is optional I assume.

"Canada and the Canadians: In 1846," By Richard Henry Bonnycastle, 1846

"...but he does, I am ashamed to say, admire a sherry cobbler, particularly if

he does not get a second-hand piece of vermicelli to suck it through. Reader,

do you know what a sherry cobbler is? I will enlighten you. Let the sun shine

at about 80 Fahrenheit. Then take a lump of ice; fix it at the edge of a

board; rasp it with a tool made like a drawing knife or carpenter's plance,

set face upwards. Collect the raspings, the fine raspings, mind, in a

capacious tumbler; pour thereon two glasses of good sherry, and a good

spoonful of powdered white sugar, with a few small bits, not slices, but bits

of lemon, about as big as a gooseberry. Stir with a wooden macerator. Drink

through a tube of macaroni or vermicelli."

"The upper ten thousand; sketches of American society. By a New Yorker," By

Charles Astor Bristed, 1852

"take a knife and a lemon, and do as you see me do; don't mind soiling your

fingers. First, you rub the lemon with the back of the knife--that brings out

the essential oil better; then you pare off the rind very carefully, taking

only the yellow, and not cutting into the white at all. Very well. Imbed your

lemon-peel in as much sugar as you would use if making a similarly-sized glass

of punch. Sometimes you will see slices of lemon put into a cobbler--nothing

can be more destructive; avoid everything but the yellow peel. If you will

have something more, put in a slice of orange or pineapple, or a few

strawberries. I think this may be done to good effect in a bowl, but not in a

single glass. Now fill your tumbler half-way with pounded ice. Good. And now

pour in two wine-glasses of sherry. You see we use dark sherry for this, both

for strength and the colour. It makes the mixture of a beautiful golden hue;

with amontillado or Manzanilla it would look too weak. Don't be impatient; we

have to mix yet." He took up one of the spare glasses, covered with it the

mouth of the tumbler which contained the magic compound, and shook the cobbler

back and forwards from one glass to the other a dozen times without spilling a

drop.

Both of these books, from which the above exceprts are taken, are out of copyright and are public domain; you can download the whole books as PDFs.

Cheers!

George S.

[eje]

[...]

He took up one of the spare glasses, covered with it the

mouth of the tumbler which contained the magic compound, and shook the cobbler

back and forwards from one glass to the other a dozen times without spilling a

drop.

[...]

←

Cool stuff, George. Actually, sounds pretty tempting, though I am unclear how you, "Imbed your lemon-peel in...sugar". I know I've seen punch recipes where they tell you to (more or less) zest the lemon by rubbing the yellow peel off onto pieces of loaf sugar. But since they tell you to first remove the peel with a paring knife, that doesn't seem to be what they are talking about. Plus, there's no way loaf sugar would dissolve in this sort of a la minute preparation.

"You see we use dark sherry for this, both for strength and the colour. It makes the mixture of a beautiful golden hue; with amontillado or Manzanilla it would look too weak."

For the sherry, would they be using something like oloroso or cream, then?

[ThinkingBartender]

The word "imbed" is a bit strange, but it could just mean combine by covering, with possible muddling (to extract the lemon oils I assume).

There are some who muddle lemon and/or orange peels in an old-fashioned, so I guess the technique could have been employed here.

Cheers!

George

[eje]

Here's 4 oz. fino sherry and a lemon rind muddled in a teaspoon of sugar and then tossed back and forth with a bunch of crushed ice. Garnished with a couple strawberries, some blackberries and a couple sprigs of grapefruit mint.

I think I underestimated the sugar. Prolly be safe to go a little higher with the fino sherry, at least to my tastes. It's definitely one of those cocktails that gets more interesting as it sits, you stir, and the flavors meld.

edit - oh, yeah, after a few dunkings in the mixed drink, the slightly alcoholic and sugary fruit is very tasty to pull out and eat.

Edited October 13, 2006 by eje (log)

[eje]

[...]

Here's 4 oz. fino sherry and a lemon rind muddled in a teaspoon of sugar and then tossed back and forth with a bunch of crushed ice.  Garnished with a couple strawberries, some blackberries and a couple sprigs of grapefruit mint.

[...]

←

BTW, sorry to disappoint on the yankee doodle macaroni front.

I thought I had some perciatelli in the cupboard; but, it turns out we had used it.

Anyway, the holes in perciatelli are prolly too thin. I think Bucatini would be a better choice for a cobbler straw.

Further experimentation is obviously required (and perhaps some liquor).

Jerry Thomas' Cobbler Receipts (via Darcy O'Neil's The Art of Drink)

[ThinkingBartender]

Heres a good quote to put on a cocktail menu:

"Zanesville Courier," 26th August, 1853

"A sherry cobbler! Bacchus! what a luxury. I believe Satan suggested the thought to me."

[ThinkingBartender]

Erik,

Do you suppose that the sugar in the cobbler is there to make the drink sweet or to re-balance the liquid due to its ice-cold temperature. My thinking behind this is that things taste more bitter the lower their temperature.

Cheers!

George

[eje]

Do you suppose that the sugar in the cobbler is there to make the drink sweet or to re-balance the liquid due to its ice-cold temperature. My thinking behind this is that things taste more bitter the lower their temperature.

←

I just broke down and got an ice crusher a couple weeks ago, and have never been much of a tiki drink fancier, so someone else is probably much better suited to answering this question.

I see J. Thomas uses 2 tsp of sugar in his sherry cobbler, and only calls for 1 in most of the rest of them. I wish I had read that page more closely before making my cobbler.

Also, since drinks usually served over crushed ice are usually pretty large and often served in hot climates, it seems like they would need to be sweeter so they remain drinkable as the ice melts and dilutes them.

[eje]

Couldn't really find a more appropriate thread to post this; but, I thought it was amusing to see that sherry cocktails were being served at a New York restaurant.

Rejiggered, Jonathan Miles

The result — a short but stellar cocktail list featuring wine-based and nonalcoholic drinks — made its debut last weekend. Among the highlights: Le Petit Hiboux, a tart combination of white wine, Lillet Blanc and green apple juice; and the Duke of Bedford, a mixture of Dry Sack sherry, mint, bitters and a splash of the beloved Aranciata that sprang from Mr. Stulman’s efforts to replicate the zing of a Pimm’s Cup cocktail, sans the gin.

Duke of Bedford

Published: October 22, 2006

Adapted from the Little Owl

3oz. Dry Sack sherry

6mint leaves, crushed

1oz. San Pellegrino Aranciata or orange soda

1tsp. sugar

Dash of Angostura bitters

Mint sprig and cucumber slice, for garnish

Fill a rocks glass with crushed ice. In a cocktail shaker, muddle the sherry and mint, then add the Aranciata, sugar and bitters and shake well. Strain over the ice and garnish with the mint and cucumber.

Yield: 1 serving

[andiesenji]

I recently purchased the book "Convivial Dickens The Drinks of Dickens & His Times" by Edward Hewett & W. F. Axton. Published in 1983.

On page 144 is an illustration titled: "Sharing a Cobbler"

It depicts a young man and a young woman drinking with long straws from the same glass.

"One of the New World's most popular gifts to the Old was the Cobbler, a sweetened wine drink served on ice, that got its name from a Hudson River Valley Dutch dialect work for a heap of rocks..........

The drink was much favored by romantic young couples. The couple pictured are at "The Casino" in Holborn, one of the new dancing salons that became popular about the same time.

On page 154 is this recipe for

Sherry Cobbler

2 tsp. powdered sugar;

2 or 3 small pieces lemon;

crushed ice;

2 wineglasses Sherry;

1 tbsp. brandy;

6 strawberries.

Into a tumbler three-quarters full of crushed ice put sugar, Sherry, brandy and lemon. Pour back and forth between a second tumbler to mix. Add strawberries and drink through a straw.

Provide a long-handled spoon to get the strawberries.

On pages 156-157 it is noted that Dickens discovered this drink on his visit to America in 1842 and included a mention in his book when this drink was served to Martin Chuzzlewit after he discovers the property he had purchased in Illinois was swampland.

About Dickens himself is written, on page 163, "Everywhere he was pressed to sample what to him were novel mixed drinks. The Sherry Cobbler, which we have already met, was becoming the rage in London in 1842, along with that new dance sensation, the polka. The dialect of Dutch America seems to have supplied the name: a "cobble" was a lump or a stony hill - in this case, of broken ice. When young Chuzzlewit is introduced to one Major Pawkins - " 'One of the most remarkable men in our company, sir!' " - he holds the private view that the Major

… could hang about a bar-room discussing the affairs of the nation, for twelve hours together; and in that time hold forth with more intolerable dullness, chew more tobacco, drink more run-toddy, mint-julep, gin-sling and cock-tail, than any other private gentleman. . .

Note: the reference to "powdered sugar" in the recipe does not mean confectioner's sugar.

At that time sugar was sold in "loaves" that were cone shaped with a rounded top. A grater or a rasp was used to remove the desired amount from the loaf and was then pounded in a mortar to "powder" it so that it would dissolve more rapidly.

The sugar contained a large percentage of molasses and had a stronger flavor than the refined sugar of today. A comparable substitute would be the light brown sugar, or if you want to be truly authentic, you can get jaggery in a chunk and grate off the amount you need.

jaggery

Edited October 22, 2006 by andiesenji (log)