Brunch Cocktails
High summer in Los Angeles is especially easygoing. Notices
for weekend house- and pool parties appear as early as Wednesday afternoon, while it is not uncommon for the weekend to begin Thursday at lunch time. That
Thursday kick start often happens at one of Los Angeles' legendary wine-soaked
lunches, from friends yooohooing across the room at The Ivy to rivals
evaluating each other at DTLA power tables. We do walk in LA, and as noted in
the previous column, John and I live walking distance from Boystown, that strip
of West Hollywood centered along Santa Monica Boulevard between La Cienega
Avenue and Doheny Drive, where brunch is not a weekend event but a daily meal.
It's appropriate that, after twenty-five years in New York City, John and I take brunch in Los Angeles, for one theory regarding brunch is
that it evolved during the golden age of Hollywood. Studios often worked around
the clock, and the commissary was an important partner in that industriousness.
Being able to wolf down an order of scrambled eggs at any time of day or night
is a no-brainer to anyone who's ever pulled a double or worked the night shift.
From there, it was easy progression to having breakfast available later in the
day whereas lunch started earlier. Brunch was also popular with film folk
because, the story goes, the overnight train from Los Angeles to New York City
arrived in Chicago about when bodies still on Pacific time were ready for
breakfast whereas those anticipating EST were ready for lunch.
That's just one story among the many that purport to account
for the origins of brunch. Like many cultural traditions, especially those at
table, modern brunch is its own practice that probably comes from the same
scramble of ingredients as the fillings in your omelet. English hunt breakfasts
were served in the lodge or on the grounds, beginning with hearty breakfast fare
in the English tradition including eggs, sausages, and sweets augmented with
potted meat, cheese, fresh fruit, pickled vegetables, and bread. Hunt breakfast
was replenished all the way through to the noontime meal. Devout Catholics
observe the practice of fasting until after morning mass. Often the meal to
break the fast is a mid-morning feast whose loaves and fishes represent the
Guild ladies' best efforts. And no unfolding menu from that great American
accomplishment the diner is complete
absent pages dedicated to BREAKFAST ALL DAY, BETWEEN THE BREAD, and THE SALAD BOWL, just as no diner tabletop is adequately populated absent representatives
from each.
Brunch as we leisurely take it today is the combination of
breakfast and lunch that the portmanteau describes. A brunch menu presents what
is, at its simplest, a hybrid meal. Both breakfast eggs and lunchtime
sandwiches are on the menu, as are local or seasonal specialties from New York
City's bagel all the way to California's Cobb Salad. Brunch is also an excuse
to drink coffee and cocktails at the same time. What's better than that?
Daytime drinking probably brought brunch to the American Table through its connection to the gracious living movement of the mid-century. Though breakfast and lunch had been important social meals from the ladies' luncheon room to men's prayer breakfasts, these were teetotaling events as befit the American mindset at that time. Such visionaries as Dorothy Draper, Julia Child, James Beard, Chuck Williams, and Russell and Mary Wright (to name but a few) showed us that there were ways of living other than Puritan modesty. At the time, the very idea was as ground-breaking as any of the more vivid revolutions being broadcast nightly on the news.
Daytime drinking probably brought brunch to the American Table through its connection to the gracious living movement of the mid-century. Though breakfast and lunch had been important social meals from the ladies' luncheon room to men's prayer breakfasts, these were teetotaling events as befit the American mindset at that time. Such visionaries as Dorothy Draper, Julia Child, James Beard, Chuck Williams, and Russell and Mary Wright (to name but a few) showed us that there were ways of living other than Puritan modesty. At the time, the very idea was as ground-breaking as any of the more vivid revolutions being broadcast nightly on the news.
The breakfast-lunches of the time were invariably dry,
attended by strong hot coffee, fresh juice, punches or sparklers, tea and
lemonade, consommé. The stalwart Bloody Mary had been a morning drink since the
days of the Prairie Oyster and the Corpse Reviver, but wine was probably the
first potent potable to find itself being placed at the American brunch table.
Brunch is primarily a social meal, but gracious living expanded the practice of
home entertaining beyond the obligations of social order. Even as brunch became
a meal that one made reservations for, it became a meal that home entertainers
could host without the strain of weeknight dinner parties or the ballyhoo of
Saturday night house parties.
It was done at those weekend brunches to offer a bar that
reflected the eclectic nature of the brunch menu. For brunches hosted at home, it
is understood that coffee, hot tea and juice will be available. Click here for
recipes for non-alcoholic party drinks from Italian sodas to rickeys. Every
home bar should have wine and beer available; no need to highlight them beyond
special uncorkings or the sparkling wine for the Mimosas and the Bellinis. Urban Home Blog has suggestions and educated reviews for numerous bottles of wine,
from special treat California reds to supermarket staples. If you're brunching
in autumn, we even have a roundup of pumpkin ales.
Aside from these basics, offer a brunch bar of at least one classic
brunch cocktail such as Bloody Mary or Screwdriver and one or two specialty cocktails.
Urban Bar is a library of cocktail recipes and stories to start cocktail conversation.
There are recipes for an entire spread of Bloody Marys, including a brunch
friendly pitcher recipe. Build your Bloodies with infused vodka, and do the
same with the Screwdriver's wacky cousin, the retro Harvey Wallbanger. Welcome brunch-time
sunshine with a golden Tequila Sunrise or a flaming orange Negroni. Surprise
guests with a heady Kir Royale or a swank Blood and Sand. Offset a bowl of
fruit salad with a pitcher of Rose Sangria, a tray of icy French Martinis, or
sweet-tart Gimlets in classic gin or flirty raspberry, crafted by hand down
to the lime simple syrup. Finally, in celebration of spirits lightened by
daytime drinking, here are recipes for five classic cocktails with a light vibe
that nicely accents the convivial spirit of brunch.
Brunch Cocktails
To learn about infusing vodka, including the cranberry,
citrus and cucumber flavors used below, click here. Otherwise, use a premium flavored
vodka such as Absolut. To learn about setting up a wet bar, click here. Each
of these recipes makes two cocktails.
Cosmopolitan
3 shots citrus vodka
1-1/2 shots Cointreau
2 shots cranberry juice
1 lime
Small dish of superfine sugar
- Wash the lime with vegetable cleaner and dry with a clean bar towel.
- Safely use a citrus- or paring knife to exise two strips of lime peel. Place the peels in the sugar dish while you build the drink.
- Safely cut the lime in half and use a citrus press or citrus reamer to juice the lime into a small glass.
- Fill a cocktail shaker with cracked ice.
- Measure the vodka, Cointreau, and cranberry juice into the shaker.
- Measure 1/2 shot fresh lime juice into the shaker
- Affix the shaker with its lid and vigorously shake the drink until the top of the shaker is too cold to touch.
- Carefully pour the cocktails into two martini glasses. Garnish each with a sugared lime peel and serve immediately.
4 shots citrus vodka
1 shot Cointreau
1 lemon
Soda water
Small dish of superfine sugar
- Wash the lemon with vegetable cleaner and dry with a clean bar towel.
- Safely use a citrus- or paring knife to cut the lemon in half crossways. Cut two wheels from the lemon and set aside.
- Run the cut edge of one of the lemon halves along the rim of two martini glasses. Carefully roll the lemoned edge of each glass in the sugar to create a sugared rim. Place the glasses into the freezer while you build the drink.
- Use a citrus press or citrus reamer to juice the lemon halves into a small glass.
- Fill a cocktail shaker with cracked ice.
- Measure the vodka and Cointreau into the shaker.
- Measure 1/2 shot fresh lemon juice into the shaker.
- Affix the shaker with its lid and vigorously shake the drink until the top of the shaker is too cold to touch.
- Carefully pour the cocktails into the chilled, rimmed martini glasses. Top each drink with a splash of soda water. Garnish each with a lemon wheel and serve immediately.
3 shots cucumber vodka
1-1/2 shots St. Germain
Soda- or tonic water
1 Cucumber
1 Lime
Salt
- Wash the cucumber with vegetable cleaner and rinse under cool water until skin feels clean.
- Remove the stem and blossom ends from the cucumber. Cut the trimmed cucumber into thirds. Cut two rounds of cucumber (skin on) and set aside.
- Roughly chop one third of the cucumber (skin on). Transfer the chopped cucumber into a cocktail shaker. Sprinkle the chopped cucumber with a dash of salt.
- Use a citrus knife to cut the lime in half. Use a citrus press to squeeze the lime, one half at a time, into the cocktail shaker containing the cucumber.
- Use a muddler to mash the cucumber, lime juice, and salt together until pulpy and fragrant.
- Measure the vodka into the cocktail shaker and use the muddler to mix the vodka and the muddled ingredients together.
- Fill the shaker with crushed ice.
- Drizzle the St. Germain onto the ice.
- Affix the shaker with its lid and vigorously shake the drink until the top of the shaker is too cold to touch.
- Carefully pour the cocktails into two martini glasses. Garnish each drink with a cucumber round and serve immediately.
1 bottle California Chardonnay such as Bridlewood, Mark West, or Josh Cellars
1 bottle club soda
1 lemon
- Wash the lemon with vegetable cleaner and dry with a clean bar towel.
- Safely use a citrus- or paring knife to exise two strips of lemon peel.
- Carefully fill two white wine glasses halfway with crushed or cubed ice.
- Fill each glass 3/4 with Chardonnay.
- Fill each glass 1/4 with club soda.
- Garnish each drink with a lemon strip and serve immediately.
2 shots vodka
Pink grapefruit juice
1 orange
- Wash the orange with vegetable cleaner and dry with a clean bar towel.
- Safely use a citrus- or paring knife to cut the orange in half crossways. Cut a wheel from the orange and cut the wheel in half to form a half-moon. Set aside.
- Fill two tall glasses with crushed or cubed ice. Measure 1 shot vodka into each glass.
- Fill each glass with pink grapefruit juice.
- Use a bar spoon to gently stir each drink.
- Garnish each drink with one of the pieces of orange and a preserved cherry. Serve immediately.
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