FROM THE TOP CLOCKWISE: SINGAPORE SLING | PAGE 59 • MINTED LIMEADE | PAGE 62 • MADRID-STYLE SANGRIA | PAGE 60 • PISCO SOUR | PAGE 58
“Leaded or unleaded?” asked the bartender at a grill shack in Nassau, Bahamas. Leaded or unleaded, indeed! In local parlance, leaded refers to a gin-spiked coconut punch called sky juice, while unleaded describes the same drink made without gin. How better to begin a barbecue?
You sure can work up an enormous thirst when grilling. First, because you’re outdoors, standing next to a powerful heat source. Second, because the food that comes off the grill demands a full-flavored libation that matches the smoky taste of the fire.
It’s hard to imagine a Brazilian barbecue without an icy pitcher of caipirinhas (Brazilian-style daiquiris) made with cane spirits and lime. Or Turkish kebabs without glasses of raki (an anise liquor) or a Caribbean cook-out without Planter’s Punch.
Here you’ll find some of the world’s best thirst quenchers, and not all of them are leaded.
Consider the Afghan Yogurt Drink, or doh, a refreshing Central Asian beverage made with yogurt, mint, and club soda and enjoyed in one form or another from Baghdad to Kabul. From Senegal’s gingere ananas (Ginger Pineapple Punch) to the bandung (Rose Water Cooler) of Singapore and Malaysia, you’ll find plenty of unleaded treasures to soothe the most stubborn thirst.
Every rum-drinking nation has a version of the daiquiri, and Brazil’s is the caipirinha (pronounced kaipir-EEN-ya). Made with only three ingredients—fresh limes, sugar, and cane spirits—the caipirinha seems simple enough and it goes down with astonishing ease. But woe betide the person who drinks several in rapid succession, for the caipirinha is made with one of the strongest spirits in the western hemisphere: cachaça.
Cachaça (pronounced ka-SHAH-sa) is a spirit made from sugar cane and it’s considerably stronger than rum. Cachaça can be found at well-stocked liquor stores, especially in cities with large Brazilian communities. If it’s unavailable, you can use 151 rum or regular white rum. A similar drink, called caipiroska, is made with vodka.
What distinguishes the caipirinha from the commonplace daiquiri is the conscientious crushing of the limes in the pitcher, an act that extracts the flavorful oils from the rinds. It’s hard to imagine a churrasco (Brazilian barbecue) that would not begin with a refreshing pitcher of caipirinhas.
8 large, juicy limes
1 cup turbinado sugar (Sugar in the Raw; see box, following) or granulated sugar, or more to taste
2 cups cachaça, 151 rum, or regular white rum
4 cups ice cubes
1. Roll the limes on a cutting board, pressing them with the palms of your hands to loosen the juices from the pulp. Cut each lime into 8 pieces, then place the pieces in the bottom of a sturdy pitcher. Add the sugar and pound the lime pieces with a pestle, potato masher, or wooden spoon to extract as much juice as possible.
2. Stir in the cachaça and ice, then taste for sweetness, adding more sugar as necessary for just the right balance of sweet and sour. Serve, if desired, in daiquiri glasses, but regular tumblers will do.
Ramon “Monchito” Marrero Perez knows a thing or two about piña coladas. The bar in San Juan where he works serves more than three hundred of these tropical refreshers a day. Perez claims to have invented the piña colada on a steamy summer day in 1954. Actually, according to Webster’s, the term piña colada first appeared in print in 1923. Rum and pineapple juice had been a popular Puerto Rican cocktail for decades (if not centuries). Perez’s innovation lay in adding coconut cream for richness and smoothness. Here is Perez’s original recipe. For an even more luscious piña colada, substitute one cup of diced fresh pineapple for the pineapple juice.
¼ cup light rum (Perez uses Bacardi)
¾ cup unsweetened pineapple juice
3 tablespoons coconut cream, such as Coco López
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 cup crushed ice
1 stick or thin wedge fresh pineapple
1 maraschino cherry with stem
Combine the rum, pineapple juice, coconut cream, and heavy cream in a blender with the ice and process until smooth. Pour into a large glass. Garnish with the pineapple stick and cherry and serve immediately.
Planter’s punch is found throughout the Caribbean. Back in the days of the great plantations, it was the traditional beverage of welcome. The basic recipe calls for orange juice, pineapple juice, guava nectar, and rum, but there are as many variations as there are individual bartenders. Serve it with any of the West Indian–style barbecue dishes in this book.
ADVANCE PREPARATION
2 hours to 2 days for steeping the punch
FOR THE PUNCH
1 cup dark rum
1 cup fresh orange juice
1 cup unsweetened pineapple juice
1 cup guava nectar
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons sugar, or more to taste
½ teaspoon Angostura bitters
½ vanilla bean, split
2 cinnamon sticks (each 3 inches)
2 whole cloves
Ice cubes, for serving
FOR GARNISH
4 orange slices
4 maraschino cherries with stems
Freshly grated nutmeg
1. Combine the rum, orange juice, pineapple juice, guava nectar, lime juice, sugar, and bitters in a pitcher and stir until the sugar dissolves. Add the vanilla bean, cinnamon sticks, and cloves. Let the punch steep, covered, in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or as long as 2 days.
2. Strain the punch into tumblers filled with ice. Garnish each glass with an orange slice and a maraschino cherry. Grate some nutmeg over each serving and serve immediately.
No Bahamian barbecue would be complete without sky juice, a potent brew of coconut water (the clearish liquid inside the coconut), evaporated milk, and gin. When I say potent, I mean potent—it goes down effortlessly and will turn your knees to rubber effortlessly, too.
Sky juice is generally made with gin in the Bahamas—odd for the rum-loving Caribbean, yet logical, given the islands’ British heritage. But, I can report that it’s equally delightful made with rum. I like to serve sky juice right in the coconut shells—a presentation that’s especially festive at a cookout. Also, I like my sky juice on the sweeter side, but many people don’t, so I’ve made the sugar optional.
4 ripe (hard) coconuts (see box, page 114)
1 cup evaporated milk
1 cup gin or rum
3 tablespoons sugar (optional)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1. Using a screwdriver and hammer, poke through the “eyes” of the coconuts and drain the liquid from each through a strainer into a mixing bowl. You should have about 2 cups of coconut water. Set aside the emptied coconuts. Add the evaporated milk, gin, sugar (if using), cinnamon, and nutmeg to the coconut water and stir until the sugar dissolves. Refrigerate the sky juice until cold (at least 2 hours) or stir in a few ice cubes.
2. Using a funnel or squirt bottle, pour the sky juice into the reserved coconut shells. Insert straws and serve.
NOTE: When buying coconuts, shake them to hear if the water sloshes around inside. A dry coconut is sometimes rancid and is certainly past its prime.
Pronounced ba-CHEE-do, batido is the name Brazilians give to a variety of alcoholic milkshakes. The liquor of choice for this recipe would be cachaça (a potent Brazilian cane spirit). If it’s unavailable, you can use regular white rum instead. I serve this exotic creamy milkshake with any barbecue that features Brazilian fare, for example the Brazilian Stuffed Rib Roast (page 139) and Brazilian Pork Rollatini (page 179).
⅓ cup coconut cream, such as Coco López
⅓ cup cachaça or regular white rum
¼ cup sweetened condensed milk
4 cups crushed ice
Combine the coconut cream, cachaça, and condensed milk in a blender with the ice and process until smooth. Pour into tall glasses and serve immediately.
The daiquiri originated at the turn of the century in the nickel-mining town of Daiquiri in southeast Cuba. You don’t need a degree in mixology to know that its principle ingredients, then as now, are lime juice, sugar, and rum. Today daiquiris made with a multitude of fruits are enjoyed throughout the Americas. The passion fruit daiquiri here will give you a whole new perspective on, and appreciation for, a Caribbean classic.
¾ cup frozen or bottled passion fruit juice, or 15 passion fruits
⅓ cup light rum
6 firmly packed tablespoons light brown sugar
3 cups crushed ice
1. If using frozen or bottled passion fruit juice, proceed to Step 2. If using fresh fruits, cut them in half and scrape out the pulp. Force the pulp through a strainer; you should have about ¾ cup.
2. Combine the passion fruit, rum, and brown sugar in a blender with the ice and process until smooth. Pour into martini glasses and serve immediately.
Steak is back. So are cigars and martinis. After a decade of rabid health consciousness, Americans seem to be relaxing a bit about food and eating wisely, without forsaking a sense of enjoyment. This martini is fortified with a drop of liquid smoke, which makes it perfect for a barbecue.
PASSION FRUIT DAIQUIRI | PREVIOUS
½ teaspoon dry vermouth
1 drop liquid smoke
1 cup ice cubes
Strip of lemon zest
Combine the gin, vermouth, and liquid smoke in a shaker with the ice and stir (do not shake) to mix. Strain the drink into a martini glass. Twist the lemon zest, shiny side down, over the martini, then drop it into the drink. Serve immediately.
’Ti punch (short for petit punch) is the most elemental of the French West Indian rum drinks—sipped with equal enthusiasm at casual cook shacks and tony restaurants. To partake of ’ti punch properly, the drinker squeezes the lime in the drink, then stirs it to dissolve the sugar. Some people add an ice cube or two, but most Guadeloupeans sip it straight.
Some versions call for the suavity of cane syrup, but most of the ’ti punch I had in Guadeloupe consisted simply of rum, lime, and sugar. Use either white rum or dark, depending on your taste.
3 tablespoons rum
2 teaspoons turbinado sugar (Sugar in the Raw; see box, page 54) or granulated sugar
1 lime wedge, for garnish
Place the rum and sugar in a glass (the locals prefer small brandy glasses) and stir lightly with a spoon. Rub the lime wedge around the rim of the glass, then press it onto the rim. Serve the ’ti punch with a small spoon or stirrer and a lime wedge for squeezing into the drink.
The pisco sour isn’t what you’d call a hot seller these days, but in the boom time following the California gold rush this lively cocktail was one of America’s most popular drinks. Pisco is the name of a robust brandy made in Peru and Chile from muscat grapes. Serve pisco sours with any of the anticuchos (Peruvian kebabs) in this book or with any other South American barbecue.
½ cup sugar
1 lemon wedge
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
¾ cup pisco brandy
½ teaspoon Angostura bitters
White from one large egg (see Note)
3 cups crushed ice
4 fresh mint sprigs, for garnish
1. Spread ¼ cup of the sugar in a shallow dish. Rub the rims of 4 martini or whisky sour glasses with the cut side of the lemon wedge and dip each glass rim in the sugar, shaking off the excess.
2. Combine the remaining ¼ cup of sugar, the lemon juice, pisco brandy, Angostura bitters, and egg white in a blender with the ice and process until frothy.
3. Pour the mixture into the prepared glasses, garnish each with a mint sprig, and serve immediately.
NOTE: If you feel nervous about consuming a raw egg white, use 1 tablespoon egg substitute instead.
It was a typical day on the barbecue trail, hours spent touring cook stalls, sampling satés under the blazing equatorial sun. Actually, tougher than it sounds. So I offered my wife and myself a treat at the end of the day: cocktails at the ultraluxurious Raffles Hotel, where legend has it, in 1915 the Singapore sling was invented by a Hainanese bartender named Ngiam Tong Boon. Today the hotel serves the drink in special monogrammed glasses in the vertiginously high-ceilinged Bar & Billiard Room. You can serve it with any of the Singapore- or Malaysian-style satés in this book.
½ cup gin
¼ cup cherry brandy
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons unsweetened pineapple juice
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1 tablespoon Cointreau
1 tablespoon Bénédictine
4 dashes Angostura bitters
Ice cubes, for serving
3 cups club soda, or more as needed
4 maraschino cherries, for garnish
4 fresh pineapple slices, for garnish
1. Combine the gin, cherry brandy, lime, pineapple and orange juices, Cointreau, Bénédictine, and Angostura bitters in a pitcher and stir to mix.
2. Place the ice cubes in tall glasses, then divide the gin mixture equally among them. Add club soda to fill each glass and garnish with a cherry and a slice of pineapple. Stir with a long-handled spoon and serve immediately.
The potent tequila and lime thirst quencher known as a margarita is synonymous with good times and Mexican grilling. But, the best margarita I ever tasted was made not by a Mexican but by a gringo, Rick Bayless, owner of two popular Chicago restaurants, Frontera Grill and Topolobampo. Rick lets his tequila steep in the lime juice and lime zest for a good part of the day before mixing the drink, which creates a margarita with an uncommon depth of flavor.
ADVANCE PREPARATION
6 to 8 hours for steeping the tequila
INGREDIENTS
1¾ cups tequila (Rick uses Cuervo Especial gold)
¼ cup orange liqueur (Rick uses the Spanish liqueur Gran Torres)
½ cup fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon finely grated lime zest
⅓ cup sugar
¼ cup coarse sea salt
8 lime wedges, for garnish
3 to 4 cups ice cubes, for serving
1. The morning before you plan to serve the margaritas, combine the tequila, orange liqueur, lime juice and zest, sugar, and 1 cup of water in a pitcher. Stir until the sugar dissolves, then let the margarita mixture steep in the refrigerator, covered, for 6 to 8 hours.
2. Spread the salt out in a shallow dish. Rub the rims of 8 martini glasses with the cut side of a lime wedge and dip the rim of each glass in the salt, shaking off the excess. Add the ice to the margarita mixture and stir (or combine in a shaker and shake), then strain the margaritas into the prepared glasses. Drop a lime wedge in each glass and serve at once.
Sangria is one of the most popular beverages for a barbecue, but over the years there’s been a tendency to turn it into a sort of wine-drenched fruit salad. Here’s a sangria that’s prepared in the style of the tapas bars of Madrid—minimal fruit, not too sweet, and very potent. My wife, Barbara, happens to like a fruity sangria, and when my back is turned, she’s apt to add grapes and diced bananas to this recipe. If you like a fruity sangria, do the same.
1 bottle (750 milliliters) dry red wine, preferably Spanish
1 cup gin
1 cup Cognac
1 cup sugar, or more to taste
1 whole lemon
1 whole orange
½ cup fresh lemon juice
½ cup fresh orange juice
3 cinnamon sticks (each 3 inches)
Ice cubes, for serving
1. Combine the wine, gin, Cognac, and sugar in a pitcher and stir until the sugar dissolves. Cut the peel, including the white pith, off the lemon and orange, exposing the flesh. Cut the flesh into ¼-inch dice. Discard any seeds.
2. Stir the diced fruit, lemon and orange juice, and cinnamon sticks into the wine mixture. Taste for sweetness, adding more sugar to taste. You can serve the sangria right away, but it will be better if chilled for an hour or so to “ripen.”
3. Serve the sangria in wine glasses over ice.
It may be stretching it a bit to call this simple drink a recipe, but raki (and its Greek counterpart ouzo) is so essential to the enjoyment of barbecue in the eastern Mediterranean and Near East, I’d feel remiss if I didn’t include it. Raki is a strong, clear, anise-flavored spirit. By some mysterious chemical reaction, it turns milky white the moment you add water.
1 cup raki or ouzo
1 to 2 cups water
Ice cubes, for serving
Pour two or three fingers (¼ cup) of raki into each of 4 tall glasses. Add water and ice to taste, then stir and serve.
Mango and other tropical fruit punches are found throughout the Caribbean, where they make a refreshing nonalcoholic alternative to the knee-weakening rum drinks associated with the region.
2 cups diced ripe mango (1 large or 2 medium-size fruits)
2 tablespoons sugar, or more to taste
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, or more to taste
Ice cubes, for serving
Combine the mango, sugar, and lime juice with 2 cups of water in a blender and process until smooth. Add more water as needed to thin the punch to a pourable consistency. Taste for sweetness, adding more sugar and lime juice as necessary. Pour the Mango Nectar into tall glasses over ice and serve immediately.
Spicy, sweet, and refreshing—that’s gingere ananas, a popular Senegalese drink that combines the fruitiness of fresh pineapple with the peppery bite of ginger. Serve it with Lamb with Onion-Mustard Sauce (page 209).
1 piece (4 inches) peeled fresh ginger
3 cups diced fresh pineapple
3 tablespoons sugar, or more to taste
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
4 cups cold water
Ice, for serving
1. Cut the ginger into ¼-inch slices, then add it and the pineapple, sugar, lime juice, and cold water to a blender and process until smooth.
2. Strain the pineapple mixture into a pitcher, pressing the pulp against the strainer with the back of a spoon to extract all the juice. Taste for sweetness, adding more sugar, if necessary, then pour into tall glasses over ice and serve immediately.
Peanuts turn up throughout the world of grilling—as a coating for kebabs in West Africa, for example, or as a sauce for satés in Southeast Asia. I discovered this unusual peanut punch at a rough-and-tumble eating pavilion called the Breakfast Shed in Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad. I guarantee this will forever change the way you think about peanuts.
½ cup creamy peanut butter
½ cup sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon Angostura bitters
Ice cubes, for serving
Combine the peanut butter, condensed milk, vanilla, Angostura bitters, and 4 cups of water in a pitcher and whisk until well combined. Pour the punch over ice in tall glasses and serve immediately.
Visit the Indian section of any of Singapore’s hawkers’ centers and you’ll find drink vendors purveying a rainbow-colored assortment of exotic drinks. Bandung may look like Pepto-Bismol, but its perfumy rose water flavor is as refreshing as it is unique. Serve it with Singapore- or Malaysian-style satés.
3 cups cold water
⅓ cup sweetened condensed milk
2 tablespoons rosewater (see Note)
2 tablespoons banana liqueur
2 tablespoons grenadine syrup
Ice cubes, for serving
Combine the water, condensed milk, rose water, banana liqueur, and grenadine syrup in a pitcher and stir to mix. Pour the cooler over ice in tall glasses and serve immediately.
NOTE: Rose water is available at Middle Eastern and Indian markets and many specialty food shops.
This summery refresher takes advantage of the perfumed oils in the skin of the limes as well as the sour juice of their pulp. The mint adds a cooling touch that’s most welcome next to a hot grill.
1 bunch fresh mint, rinsed and spun dry
8 limes (for about 1 cup juice)
1 cup sugar, or more to taste
Ice cubes, for serving
1. Set 6 to 8 sprigs of mint aside for garnish.
2. Using a vegetable peeler, remove the zest (the green oil-rich outer peel) from 4 of the limes, then set the limes aside. Combine the lime zest with the sugar, the remaining mint, and 1 cup of water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Reduce the heat to low and let simmer gently for 5 minutes. Remove the sugar mixture from the heat and let it cool to room temperature, then strain it into a pitcher.
3. Squeeze the juice from all of the limes; you should have about 1 cup. Add the lime juice and 4 cups of water to the sugar mixture. Taste for sweetness, adding more sugar if necessary. Pour the limeade over ice in tall glasses, garnishing each serving with a sprig of mint.
Mint tea is more than the national drink of Morocco, it’s the very lifeblood of this North African country, an elixir served to guests and family, in restaurants and private homes, at the beginning of a business negotiation or at the end of a meal. The tea contains only three ingredients, but its preparation has the solemnity of a religious rite. For best results, use a heavy teapot, preferably a metal one.
Traditionally, Moroccan mint tea is served in small, hand-painted glasses with gold rims. Serve it as a prelude or conclusion to Moroccan grilled fare.
4 cups boiling water, plus more for rinsing the teapot
1 bunch fresh mint, rinsed and spun dry
1 tablespoon loose black tea, such as Ceylon or English Breakfast
3 tablespoons sugar, or more to taste
Rinse out a 5-cup teapot with boiling water. Twist the bunch of mint a few times between your fingers to bruise the leaves, then place the mint, black tea, and sugar in the teapot. Add the 4 cups of boiling water and let the tea steep for 5 minutes. To serve, strain the tea into small heatproof glasses or small cups.
This probably isn’t like any iced coffee you’ve ever tasted—it combines strongly brewed espresso and sweetened condensed milk. For the Thai version, imagine you’re sipping the coffee from an ice-filled plastic bag through a straw—which is how it’s served by street vendors in Bangkok.
3 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk
¾ cup hot brewed espresso
Ice cubes, for serving
Place the condensed milk in the bottom of a tall heatproof glass. Pour in the espresso (in Vietnam it would be drip brewed right into the glass) and stir with a spoon to mix. Add enough ice cubes to fill the glass and serve immediately.
Traditionally served with Iranian (Persian) kebabs, dugh is a close cousin of the Afghani beverage doh, which you’ll find on page 65. Dugh is made with whole yogurt instead of whey and flavored with dried rose petals, available in Middle Eastern stores. Salted beverages may seem odd to most North Americans (not to mention ones with pepper), but they’re uncannily refreshing.
2 cups plain whole-milk yogurt
1 tablespoon dried mint, plus a pinch or two for garnish
1 tablespoon dried rose petals, plus a pinch or two for garnish
1 teaspoon salt, or more to taste
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or more to taste
1 quart club soda
Ice cubes, for serving
Combine the yogurt, mint, rose petals, salt, and pepper in a pitcher and stir to mix. Add the club soda. Stir gently, then taste for seasoning, adding more salt and pepper, if necessary. Pour the dugh over ice in tall glasses and garnish each with a sprinkling of mint and rose petals.
The national drink of Afghanistan, doh is one of a legion of sour, salted beverages popular throughout central and eastern Asia. I admit that the ingredient combination (yogurt whey, club soda, lemon juice, mint, and salt) may sound strange to a North American, but I promise that you will quickly grow to love it. The salt serves as a valuable rehydrating agent in warm climates.
To be strictly authentic, you’d need one special ingredient to prepare doh—yogurt whey, the clear sourish liquid left over when yogurt is drained, a procedure basic to many of the Afghan, Iranian, and Indian marinades found in this book. Fortunately, you’ll have plenty of yogurt whey left over from making them, but because you shouldn’t have to rely on whey to prepare doh, I call for an equal amount of undrained yogurt as a substitute.
½ cup yogurt whey or plain whole-milk yogurt
½ cup club soda
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, or more to taste
1 teaspoon dried mint
½ teaspoon salt, or more to taste
Ice cubes, for serving
Combine the yogurt whey, club soda, lemon juice, mint, and salt in a small pitcher or glass and stir to mix. Taste for seasoning, adding more lemon juice and/or salt as necessary. To serve, pour the doh over ice in a tall glass.
Lassi is India’s answer to the North American milkshake, and a splendid and refreshing response it is. It’s also the perfect beverage to serve with hot and spicy food. (Contrary to popular belief, dairy products are much more effective than beer at extinguishing chile hellfire.) The rosewater and cardamom add a perfumed flavor you’ll find exquisitely exotic.
1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
1½ tablespoons sugar, or more to taste
1 teaspoon rose water
¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
5 ice cubes, cracked with a mallet
1 teaspoon chopped unsalted pistachios, for garnish
Combine the yogurt, sugar, rose water, cardamom, and ice in a blender and process until smooth. Taste for sweetness, adding more sugar as necessary. Pour the lassi into a tall glass, sprinkle the pistachios on top, and serve immediately.
