We’ve tried to keep the equipment used as everyday as possible, and only listed the more unusual items. We haven’t included household basics such as cling film (plastic wrap), pans and knives. Everyone has those, right?
BLENDER A top-loading jug is better than a stick blender, as it processes more evenly.
COFFEE FILTERS These are essential when straining off ingredients in various recipes. You might find smaller, ‘one-cup’-sized filters in the supermarket, but they don’t hold much liquid at a time – the bigger ones are better. Your local specialist coffee shop will probably stock them. For more on this, see Straining.
COOKING THERMOMETER Essential for when you’re heating liquids to infuse flavours. Alcohol boils at 78ºC/172ºF, so keeping under that is key to making sure the recipes work. Digital thermometers are easier to read and more accurate.
DIGITAL SCALES Probably our most-used bit of kit when prepping ingredients in the bar. We would recommend buying one that can weigh up to 3kg/6½lbs with one decimal place.
ELECTRIC JUICER Centrifugal juicers are great for extracting juice from fruits such as apples and other ingredients such as ginger.
EMPTY GLASS BOTTLES For storing your cocktails, there is nothing better. There are shops where you can buy them empty, but we would always recommend reusing bottles. Once you’ve finished a bottle of wine, gin or other spirit, keep the cap or cork and soak off the label. Before you fill it with your delicious homemade cocktail, it’s vital to sterilise it, if the cocktail contains fruit juice or another fresh ingredient. Do this with a sterilising agent bought from a chemist or homebrew supplier, or with heat: wash the bottles in hot, soapy water and bake in a preheated oven (140ºC/280ºF/Gas Mark 1) until dry. Bottled cocktails and cordials should always be sealed.
FUNNELS Obviously useful for getting liquid into a bottle, but also very handy for straining off solids. Funnels support coffee filters perfectly.
JIGGERS/MEASURES These are ideal for adding volumes of liquid under 100ml/4oz. Most supermarkets now stock them.
KILNER JARS OR SIMILAR These are great for storing liquid. They are also amazing for fermenting fruit, as they are easy to release pressure from. Having a few is always handy. You can use an alternative container, but it must be made of a non-reactive material (i.e. glass or plastic) and have a tight-fitting lid. They should be sterilised before use with either a sterilising agent bought from a chemist or homebrew supplier, or with heat: wash them in hot, soapy water and bake in a preheated oven (140ºC/280ºF/Gas Mark 1) until they’re dry. If they have rubber seals, take those off and boil them separately – the hot oven will damage them.
MEASURING JUGS Having a range of sizes, from large to small, helps with making batches of drinks.
MEASURING SPOONS These are very handy if you want to add small amounts of potent ingredients to large batches.
MUDDLING In bars we use a little tool called a muddler to gently crush ingredients, but at home you can use a rolling pin or pestle.
PIPETTE It’s what we use for adding very small volumes of liquid, such as orange flower water, to drinks. But a teaspoon or measuring spoon will work.
CARBONATING
Carbonation is what makes things fizzy, and it happens when carbon dioxide (CO2) is dissolved into liquid under pressure. When pressure is released (i.e. a cap is unscrewed or a cork is taken out) the CO2 escapes in the form of bubbles. This happens because there is an imbalance between the level of CO2 in the liquid and the air around it. Bubbles form at nucleation points: either tiny (invisible to the naked eye) pockets of air attached to the inside of the glass, or microbes of sediment on the inside of the glass with trapped air. The CO2 in the liquid moves into these pockets, so they grow in size. As they become larger, their lower density relative to the surrounding liquid forces them to rise to the surface of the liquid. This is great as the CO2 bubbles trap aroma molecules and bring them to the top of the liquid where they burst, launching the aroma of the drink up into your nose. When you drink a carbonated liquid the CO2 forms bubbles inside your mouth; when it comes into contact with saliva it produces carbonic acid, a pleasant tang that adds an extra dimension to the drink.
Clarity and temperature are the key factors, so keep those in mind. If a liquid is cloudy, there will be lots of nucleation points. This means that while there may be a good amount of CO2 dissolved into the liquid, as soon as the container is opened it will escape at a much faster rate, making it taste less fizzy. It’s also so important to carbonate liquid when it’s cold: water at 0ºC/32ºF can absorb five times more CO2 than water at 60ºC/140ºF.
Below is a description of different carbonation methods. You can buy all the equipment online, or visit a homebrew store and they’ll talk you through it. It can be a bit daunting at first, but when you’ve done it once it’s a breeze.
CARBONATION RIG
This is the most efficient way to carbonate without buying a massive carbonating unit. To put one together, you need a CO2 gas canister (you usually pay a deposit for the canister, then the gas is pretty cheap and lasts a long time), a length of ⅜inch plumbing tube and a CO2 regulator, and carbonator cap with a ball lock, both of which are available at homebrew shops.
To set it up, attach the regulator to the CO2 canister. Then attach the plumbing tube to the regulator with the same-sized ‘John Guest fitting’. This then connects to the carbonator disconnect, and you’re ready to go. You can adjust the pressure of the system with the regulator. We recommend starting at 30psi and working up until you get your desired level of carbonation.
To carbonate a liquid, fill a soda bottle two-thirds full with chilled liquid. Old, plastic fizzy drink bottles are fine. We use 1.5 or 2 litre bottles at the bar for batching. Squeeze any remaining air out of the bottle and attach the ball lock carbonator cap. Click the carbonator cap onto the rig and open the gas up. The bottle will quickly expand with CO2 until it is under pressure. Disconnect the cap and screw the top on. Give the plastic bottle a good shake and place in the fridge for 30 minutes. Grab the bottle and in the fridge for 30 minutes. Grab the bottle and check if it is still under pressure by squeezing it. There should not be much movement. If there is, reattach it to the carbonation rig and repeat the process. If there isn’t, give it another shake and allow to settle in the fridge for another 30 minutes. Open carefully, and you will have a perfectly carbonated beverage.
This is a more compact way to carbonate than a rig. However, the results are less effective and can be more expensive in the long run, as gas cartridges are costly.
SODA SIPHON/CREAM WHIPPER
These are great for charging batched cocktails (like the Cold Brew Martini) or for whipping up cream instantly. They are a little simpler to set up than a carbonating rig, but the ongoing costs are higher, as you have to buy individual canisters for every use. But they are pretty easy to get hold of online, or in any decent cook shop.
The process is easy: fill the siphon with cold liquid and screw the lid on. Screw the canister into the siphon using the canister holder, wait until you hear fizzing. Shake the siphon and place the whole thing in the fridge to settle.
There are two main types of canister – carbon dioxide (CO2) or nitrous oxide (NO2). CO2 will carbonate a liquid, making it like cola, say, or champagne. NO2 will have a similar effect but with a much tighter bubble structure, so will end up with something more akin to Guinness.
Once the fizzy liquid has settled – about half an hour – pour out the liquid according to the type of canister you’re using. With CO2, expel the gas first by gently squeezing the release valve with the siphon the right way up over the sink (trust us on this one). Once all the the gas is gone, unscrew the lid and you will have a fizzy liquid. Do this just before you serve. If you have uncarbonated liquid left over, you can repeat the process. If you’re using NO2, to pour you should invert the siphon and squeeze the nozzle to release the liquid directly into a glass. Again, do this gently or you will end up with a face full of bubbles. This won’t need to be recharged between serves.
MAKING 2:1 SUGAR SYRUP
One of the most-used ingredients in cocktail making is sugar syrup, sometimes called simple syrup. Weigh out two parts sugar to one part water (i.e. 500g/20oz sugar to 250g/10oz water) and combine in a bowl. Stir it sporadically over 15 minutes or so to dissolve it. Then use a funnel to transfer it to a sterilised bottle, and seal. Once bottled it will last for up to three weeks in the fridge.
Sous vide is a quick and effective way of infusing flavour into liquid. Temperature and time can be controlled precisely, so it’s super-consistent. You can get a domestic sous vide water bath for an affordable price these days, and it will also be a useful addition to your kitchen arsenal. But the recipes in the book also gives instructions for achieving similar results without a sous vide machine.
STRAINING
Depending on the viscosity of a liquid and its solids, from thin to thick, we use three different methods of straining.
Coffee filter and funnel: put the coffee filter in a funnel and run some cold water through it to remove any lint. Then put the funnel over a jug or bottle and pour through the liquid that needs to be strained.
Cheesecloth or clean tea towel (dish towel): suspend a sieve over a jug or bowl and line it with a cheesecloth or tea towel so the whole sieve is covered. Pour the liquid into the centre and let it collect in the vessel below.
Sieve: as above, but without the cheesecloth or tea towel.
WEIGHING LIQUID
Some recipes advise adding a weight by percentage of sugar or acid to a liquid. To weigh a liquid, place a bowl on a set of scales and zero them. Pour the liquid in and note the weight. To figure out how much sugar or acid to add, multiply the weight of the liquid by the percentage advised in the recipe converted into a decimal. For example, if the recipe says to add 50% sugar, multiply the weight of the liquid by 0.5 and add that weight in sugar.
We work with percentages this way because with fermenting, infusing and fat-washing you will get slight variations in the yield through absorption or evaporation, so it’s can be hard to give precise volumes.
UK/USA MEASURES
We created these recipes using the metric bar measurements we’re most familiar with. But we want our North American friends to enjoy them too, so to simplify conversions we rounded everything up to the bar measurements they’re most familiar with, namely ounces. You’ll end up with slightly more liquid to drink each time, but the ratios and therefore deliciousness will be the same!