The Essence of Simplicity
To quote a recent New York Times article by Pete Wells, “If it’s purple and looks like it came from Mr. Softee, it’s not a daiquiri, no matter what the bartender says.”
David Wondrich, in his regrettably out-of-print book Esquire Drinks, has the daiquiri as one of his four pillars of the cocktail world. It is a little odd to write about the daiquiri, the essence of simplicity, a couple of years after writing about the more complicated Hemmingway Daiquiri, which contains two citrus juices and an extra screwball liquor.
The magic of the daiquiri (and what makes it a respectable cocktail, unlike those “blenderific” cloying concoctions from the 70s) is the balance between just four ingredients: rum, lime juice, sugar and ice. Unfortunately most of the recipes I ran accross are a bit vague for my taste, specifying juice from 1/2 lime or 1 lime. I just bought limes today. They were 8/$1, really nice looking, but small. For this reason I would prefer a volume. So here’s what I have come up with…
The Daiquiri
- 3 oz. rum
- 1 oz. fresh lime juice
- 1/2 oz. simple syrup
Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a wheel of lime.
I did deviate a little from the light rum used in daiquiris, which makes a fine drink. Instead I used an aged rum from the Dominican, and a very pleasant substitution it was. Must remember to thank the inlaws again for that nice little stocking stuffer.
We too are big classic daiquiri fans, and we think that a well made La Floridita #3 (aka hemingway daiquiri) can also be a treat. We’ve noticed that many white rums are becoming more and more vodka like, so we are now using Flor De Cana which was recommend by Jeff Berry (quoted in the Underhill Lounge blog)
[...] going to be sweet. The problem is you could just leave out the triple sec but then you have a daiquiri-a legendary cocktail in its own right. So for this to be its own cocktail, I think we have to [...]
Beachcomber Cocktail « Cocktails with M said this on August 30, 2009 at 7:49 pm |
Sounds lovely. Simple is often delicious.
I completely agree. I think that is in part what makes a cocktail classic. That ability of just a couple of ingredients to come together and spectacularly harmonize. Gestalt as it were. It’s why lumping some of the blender creations under the same name kind of irks me. It’s not that on a hot summer day they aren’t enjoyable, but they just don’t have that simple magic. Cheers.
[...] Daiquiri (the real one… no blender, no [...]
On the way to ten… « Cocktails with M said this on January 31, 2010 at 8:46 pm |
[...] Market on Sunday. They look like a round lemon. We decided to give them a whirl tonight with a Daiquiri. I even decided to break out a decent rum (Appelton Estates). I went with the basic daiquiri [...]
Mexican Sweet Limes « Cocktails with M said this on January 17, 2011 at 11:51 pm |