Michael Ruhlman's Blog, page 4

Edna Lewis’s Southwestern Chicken with Hominy

Braised chicken with hominy.

One of the pleasures of quarantine, and there have been many unexpected ones, has been cooking from recipes rather than from a host of staple meals it was so easy to fall back on in our daily rush. My wife Ann is a devotee of the New York Times Cooking site and reads all of Sam Sifton’s splendid emails on what to cook. This one popped out, she mentioned it to me and, I, a devotee of hominy, first thought let’s give it a go.

Hominy—I buy mine from the great legume source Rancho Gordo—is a delicious and nutritious starch. I love to make pozoles, red and green, or grind the corn into grits. But I hadn’t thought of using them for the base of a braise before. And I never thought of the late, great Edna Lewis as cooking southwestern food.

Lewis (here’s her NYTimes obit) was a chef, most notably at Gage & Tollner (which was just about to reopen when the pandemic struck), but more influential were her four cookbooks, which revived for our country a nearly forgotten knowledge of refined southern cooking, beginning with The Taste of Country Cooking, edited by Judith Jones.

Below are my step-by-step pix. I make two notable changes to the recipe printed in the Times as I’ll describe below.

Cutting up a whole chicken is best for a variety of pieces; save the carcass (and gnawed on bones!) for stock. I left the bones in the breast to keep them juicy.

Salt and pepper and good browning = great flavor.

Remaining mise: diced bell peppers, onion, carrot, sliced shrooms, and whole jalapeños (recipe calls for diced but some in our house don’t like the heat; I love the heat and appreciated keeping them whole).

Make a bed of the cooked hominy (Times recipe calls for canned—but canned so pales in comparison I would only make it with dried, soaked and simmered hominy). Place your chicken on top.

Cover the chicken with the vegetables.

Top with cumin, oregano, pepper and bay. I doubled the spices as I always find recipes like these underspiced. Miss Lewis surely would have tasted and adjusted. Add a 1/2 cup white vermouth. Cover and put in a 325˚F oven for 40 to 50 minutes.

The last thing I did not do in the recipe was to uncover the chicken and broil. Because the chicken basically steams under all the vegetables, the skin comes out pale and flabby after you took such care to brown it. Re-browning it makes for a tastier better looking dish.

Miss Lewis enriched our culinary world beyond measure.

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Hominy Braised Chicken with Peppers (adapted from Edna Lewis


A great way to cook a whole chicken, especially with excellent hominy.

Course Main CourseCuisine AmericanKeyword butter chicken, edna lewis, hominy, rancho gordo

Prep Time 20 minutesCook Time 50 minutes

Servings 4




Ingredients1 3-4 pound chicken, cut into 8 piecessalt as neededfreshly ground pepper as neededvegetable oil for sauteing1 pound dried hominy (order from ranchogordo.com)1 medium onion, small dice1 red bell pepper, small dice1 carrot, small dice8 large brown mushrooms, thinly sliced5 jalapeño peppers (these can be diced or left whole)1 tbsp ground cumin2 tsp dried oregano2 bay leaves1/2 cup white vermouthchopped cilantro for garnish (optional, as my store was out of it)
InstructionsPreheat your oven to 325˚F.In a large skillet or Dutch oven, heat enough oil to brown the chicken over medium high heat.Season the chicken liberally with salt and pepper. Then brown it in the oil, a few minutes per side. Then remove the chicken to a plate, discard the oil and add the cooked hominy.Return the chicken to the pan and cover them with the vegetables. Add the jalapeños.Sprinkle the cumin and oregano over evenly over the top, add the bay leaves, and more black pepper.Cover and put in the oven for 40 to 50 minutes.Remove the pan from the oven and turn on your broiler. Uncover the chicken pieces or lift them up and put them on top of the vegetables. Broil until they're nicely browned.Top with chopped cilantro, if using, and serve.

Friday Cocktail Hour: The Martinez

The Martinez: gin, sweet vermouth, maraschino liqueur, bitters, orange twist.

Today’s cocktail is another gin-based elixer, the Martinez. Taditionally this cocktail is equal parts gin and sweet vermouth with a soupçon of maraschino liqueurr and a dash of bitters. An excellent cocktail. But for me, it’s a little on the sweet side, what with all that vermouth and the sweet Luxardo, bitters not withstanding. Can’t add more bitters in the form of Campari because then it would be a Negroni! But I do think that you are justified in finessing the amounts to taste–as long as you don’t change the ingredients.

Many will cry foul on that (see Jorge Luis comment in the Negroni post). I believe a Martinez denotes specific ingredients, not proportions (unless they’re way out of whack). Is a 6:1 Martini a real Martini whereas a Martini with a drop of vermouth is not a Martini? A martini with vodka instead of gin is a Kangaroo, as everyone knows, just as a Manhattan made with scotch is a Rob Roy and a Negroni made with whiskey we call a Boulevardier. (It’s a losing battle I know, trying to rid the term vodka martini from the language, but a guy’s gotta try.)

It seems I was more strict back when I lived on Berkshire Road in Cleveland Heights. Because I used virtually these very same proportions many years ago and called it a Berkshire Martinez. I was further honored when Paulius, owner of the best bar in the world, put it on the menu.

Now I will simply call it an adapted Martinez. The combination of flavors remain solid and delicious.

Mixing a Martinez adapted for our times. Video by Katherine Guanche. Thanks Kat!

We live in deeply troubled and divisive times. I hope you’ll enjoy a calming cocktail with loved ones either near or Zoomed and have faith that the America will one day reunite as our forefathers so brilliantly and heroically foresaw.

Until then, a cocktail, and this lovely poem by Wendell Barry. (Thanks, Elizabeth.) The Peace of Wild Things.

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The Martinez (adapted for our times)
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Classic cocktail of gin and sweet vermouth

Course CocktailCuisine AmericanKeyword bitters, Gin, maraschino liqueur, sweet vermouth

Prep Time 3 minutes

Servings 1




Ingredients2 ounces gin1 ounce sweet vermouth1/2 ounce maraschino liqueur (such as Luxardo)3 dashes bitters1 orange twist
InstructionsCombine the fluids in a mixing glass. Fill it with ice, stir and strain into a thoroughly chilled glass. Garnish with a twist.

NotesAs noted in the post, the proportions for a classic Martinez are 1.5 ounces gin and sweet vermouth each, 1/4 ounce Luxardo, and bitters. Try it both ways!
Also, this is classically served up, but I wouldn’t criticize anyone for serving it on the rocks.

The Roast Chicken, Forever

A roast chicken dinner has never been more comforting than now. (Photograph by Quentin Bacon)

Last month I got an email from Vic Matus, deputy editor of The Washington Free Beacon and author of the book Vodka, asking to discuss my book From Scratch, especially in light of the fact that everyone is cooking more in quarantine. He decided to roast a chicken and write about it. When he called afterward to discuss it and the book, he was astonished how easy roasting a chicken is. He even made the overnight stock.

How did we ever get to the point where we thought roasting a chicken was difficult?

In my book, I look at 10 staple meals and show all the things that you can make if you know how to make that one meal. I thought now would be a good time to look at this iconic home meal, the roast chicken, and all that it leads to.

How to make a simple pan sauce after it’s roasted. How to make gravy (and how to make beurre manié to thicken it with) or an elegant tarrargon sauce or sauce fines herbes. If you want to learn to truss the chicken for better cooking and appearance, now’s the time! (Here’s a great video of Chef Brian teaching it.) And, of course, chicken stock, that wonder of a byproduct. We think of stock making as a “project,” but it needn’t be–put your chicken carcass in a 2 liter pan with two carrot and a halved onion, cover with water and put the pan uncovered in a 180˚F to 200˚F for 8 hours. (Vic was nervous about leaving oven on while he slept. Now that we’re home all day, you can refrigerate your carcass and make the stock the next day.)

A roast chicken teaches you variations, that you can add jalepenos and lemon and garlic to your pan; or you can spatchcock it and roast it that way. Learn to make a salsa verde to go with it. Learn different ways to use the leftover meat, in a soup, in a pot pie, how to make a simple 3:2:1 crust for that pie. And if you like to have fun in the kitchen, learn how to turn that easy, overnight chicken stock into crystal clear consommé.

Next week I’ll get into how to make the simple pan jus or gravy, or with a couple extra steps, an elegant sauce.

One of the great things about roasting a chicken, which people don’t even think about, is how it fills the home with such comforting aromas. The smells of cooking help to relax us. That’s never been more important than now in these, the most trying times for our nation in my lifetime, and my parents’ life time, since the Great Depression and WWII.

Stay safe, stay healthy.

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Ruhlman’s Simple Roast Chicken
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For a perfect roast chicken, salt it, put it in 450F oven for one hour, let rest 15-30 minutes. That's it!

Course Main CourseCuisine AmericanKeyword Chicken, easy, roast chicken, salt

Prep Time 3 minutesCook Time 1 hourResting time 15 minutes

Servings 4 people




Ingredients1 3 to 4 pound chickencoarse kosher salt as needed (about a tablespoon)1 lemon (optional, if you aren't trussing the chicken)
InstructionsPreheat your oven to 450˚F (or 425 if it's dirty as it will smoke). Either truss your chicken (see video link) or put the lemon in the cavity. Salt the chicken so that it has a nice coating all over (be generous). Put the chicken in an ovenproof skillet and put it in the oven for 60 minutes. Remove the chicken and let it rest for 15 to 30 minutes. Devour.

NotesBoth trussing and adding a lemon to the cavity help to prevent hot air from circulating in the cavity and overcooking the breast from the inside.
Be sure to let it rest at least 15 minutes and up to 30 minutes, or more. I’m amazed by how long it stays hot inside.
I take the legs from the carcass, then separate drumstick from thigh. I remove the breast from the carcass, sometimes slice the breast. But you can just tear it apart with your hands if you want.
If you’re not making a sauce, spoon some of the cooking fat over the pieces or serve with butter and mustard.

How To Perfect the Gin and Tonic

No doubt about it the Gin and Tonic is one of the most refreshing cocktails there is on a warm summer evening—cold, bitter, sweet and herbaceous. And it’s so basic, it doesn’t even have a name. It is what it is.

There are many of these, of course. My wife, Ann, and I once walked into a sports-ish bar near where we were staying in New Orleans’ Garden District and ordered a Negroni. The bartender wearily said he didn’t know what that was. “We only serve ‘n’ drinks here.” When we asked “What’s an ‘n’ drink,” he said, “You know, gin n tonic, rum n coke.” I believe we had a gin and tonic, but it wasn’t perfect.

The problem with a gin and tonic, almost always, is that the first sip is heavenly, because it’s a gin n tonic. But in moments that warm gin and (often) warm tonic turn so much of the ice to water that the drink is woefully dilute.

To combat this, I have come up with my own persnickety way of making a gin and tonic that totally satisfies. All it takes some planning: Freeze your gin and freeze the glasses, already filled with ice, and make sure your tonic and the lime itself have been refrigerated.

Of course, even strong, if diluted, gin n tonics are extraordinary given the right place. Some of the best gin n tonic’s I’ve had have been on the porch of Treman Cottage on the Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference campus, where I lived one summer as a fellow there. And I would be there as a guest of Ann’s who has been on the faculty regularly since the year I met her, 1988, having just published her first novel, Somewhere Off the Coast of Maine.

What a lovely time those days were, chatting easily with poets such as Carl Phillips and Jane Hirschfeld, fiction writers Charles Baxter and Luis Urrea, and non-fiction writers such as Jane Brox (highly recommend her book Silence). Sadly, the gin n tonics will have to be remote this year, but follow them on Instagram and Twitter for online programs the week of June 9.

Herewith, the FHC video by Katherine Guanche, on perfecting the common g-n-t, and a favorite poem by Bread Loaf’s founder, Robert Frost, aptly suited to these trying times.

Stay safe and happy Friday!

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Gin and Tonic, perfected


The best way to make this standard summer elixer

Course CocktailCuisine AmericanKeyword beefeaters, breadloaf writers conference, gin and tonic, robert frost

Prep Time 8 hoursCook Time 1 minute

Servings 1




Ingredients1 bottle gin1 highball glass filled with ice4 ounces refrigerated tonic, or to taste I'm fine with diet because I was a fatso even before the pandemic, but many, including my wife, insist on regular tonic (which really does make a difference)1 hefty wedge of lime
InstructionsPut the bottle of gin (it doesn't need to be full, just enough for a 2 ounce pour for all per drink) in your freezer 8 hours or more before you intend to serve your cocktail. Put the highball filled with ice into the freezer at least an hour before you intend to serve your cocktail. When it's gin and tonic time, remove your glass (or glasses) from the freezer along with the freezing cold gin. Pour two, or a Bread Loaf three, ounces of gin into the highball, add 4 ounces of tonic or to the brim. Squeeze the lime into it, adding the lime to the glass. Cheers. (Recite your favorite poem.)

Friday Cocktail Hour: The Bourbon Arnold Palmer

So delighted was I by Kevin O’Connor’s promotion of Persimmon restaurant’s curbside cocktail program (see video below), that I asked him for a cocktail for today and he sent a Persimmon’s cocktail for this Sunday. He had already made the labels for the bottles: an Arnold Palmer. Brilliant.

We’ve come to love flavoring our simple syrup—with leftover squeezed lemons and limes for citrus simple syrup, rosemary for David L’s Rosemary Gimlet—so were were eager for Kevin’s suggestion of making a tea simple syrup, and making a bourbon sour using lemon for a bourbon Arnold Palmer. It’s fabulous.

Kevin he’d be using a black tea. All I had in the way of dark teas was Earl Grey, my go-to tea in the afternoon. Keven said it would be most excellent, if I used Earl Grey, to garnish with fresh bergamot of you had access (pronounced bur-guh-maat, btw). Excellent call but hard to find right now on the west side of Providence.

Happily, a twist works just fine.

Hope you’re all supporting your local restaurants so that they’re here when it’s safe to go back. And cheers to lasting through another week of quarantine. Happy Friday everyone!

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Bourbon Arnold Palmer


The lemon-iced-tea refresher becomes a cocktail

Course CocktailCuisine AmericanKeyword arnold palmer, bergamot, Bourbon, cocktail, earl grey, FCH, lemon iced tea

Prep Time 15 minutes

Servings 2




Ingredients1/2 cup strong Earl Grey tea1/2 cup sugar1/4 cup lemon juice1/2 cup bourbon2 lemon twists
InstructionsCombine the tea and sugar in a glass measuring cup and heat in microwave until sugar is dissolved. (It's best to do this well in advance and chill the simple syrup.) Combine 1/4 cup of the simple syrup with the lemon juice and bourbon in a mixing glass. Fill it with ice, stir and strain over ice into two glasses. Garnish each with a twist.

Chicken Tikka Masala and Red Dal

Chicken tikka masala, roasted cauliflower with black cumin, red dal, rice, papadums.

On Sunday, we decided to have an Indian meal. One of our combined favorites is Chicken Tikka Masala. I still remember Chef Heston spending days perfecting this dish. But it’s super easy, as the video shows. Make a spice blend, mix half of it with yogurt and marinate the chicken (you can just cover and refrigerate; I have a sealer so used a bag). Broil the chicken to get some color on it and cook it in a sauce of onion, canned tomatoes, the rest of the spices and a goodly amount of cream.

We also made a dal. My producers at iHeartmedia and I have been putting together a series of mini podcasts called “From Home” on my From Scratch podcast page, featuring chefs and food pros who self-record to tell us what and how they’re cooking durning the pandemic. One of them was Simon Majumdar, a British author and frequent food TV judge, now based in Los Angeles. The way he spoke of his dal on the show made me want to make one (or a version, I’m terrible at following recipes). Always papadums, as fun to make as they are to eat. And basmati rice. It was fantastic!

Here’s how the entire meal went, thanks to videographer in quarantine Katherine Guanche.

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Chicken Tikka Masala


Classic Indian beautifully spiced chicken dish

Course Main CourseCuisine IndianKeyword chicken tikka masala

Prep Time 45 minutesCook Time 15 minutes6 hours






Ingredients2 tbls grated ginger2 tbls minced garlic2 tbls garam masala2 tbls coriander2 tbls cumin2 tbls turmeric1.5 tbls kosher salt2 cups yogurt3 pounds boneless skinless chicken breastghee, butter or vegetable oil as needed1 medium onion, thinly sliced1/2 cup tomato paste6 cardamom pods crushed3-4 dried red peppers1.5 cans whole peeled tomatoes (42 ounces)2 cups cream or more to taste1/2 cup cilantro, coarsely chopped
InstructionsCombine the garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander, garam masala, turmeric, and salt in a bowl and mix them well. Remove half of this mixture to another bowl and reserve. Add the yogurt to the halved spices. Whisk till the spices and yogurt are combined. Add the chicken to the yogurt, toss, cover and refrigerate for six hours or up to two days. (I have a vacuum sealer so we put them in a bag in the video–I also forgot to show the salt being added!) To make the sauce, add enough ghee or butter or oil to coat the bottom of a large pan over medium high heat. Add the onion and give them a hit of salt. When they're tender add the tomato paste and cook it, about a minute. Then add the cardamom, dried red peppers, and the reserved spice mixture. Stir and cook to bloom the spices. Add the juice from the tomatoes and deglaze the bottom of the pan. Squeeze in the tomatoes—you want them good and crushed. Bring the mixture to a gentle simmer for 15 minutes or so, then stir in the cream. Keep the heat on low. Turn your broiler to high. Remove the chicken from the marinade to a sheet tray lined with foil. When the broiler is hot, broil the chicken to give it color and cook the marinade, a few minutes per side. Remove the chicken to a cutting board (it need not be fully cooked inside). Cut it into large, bite-sized pieces, and add them to the sauce. Return the sauce to a gentle simmer to finish cooking the chicken. Remove the pot from the stove, garnish with the cilantro and serve straight from the pot.

NotesI’m by no means an expert at Indian cuisine. But we all love this dish and my wife Ann found a recipe she liked from Bon Appetit. I used that as a base butI always improvise according to our tastes (I find most recipes that are heavy on the spices, aren’t nearly heavy enough.





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Red Dal


A variation of Simon Majumdar's life saving dahl

Course Side DishCuisine IndianKeyword Dal, Indian cuisine, red dal

Prep Time 15 minutesCook Time 1 hour

Servings 4




Ingredients2 cardamom pods1/2 cinnamon stick2 cloves2 tbls ghee or vegetable oil1 small onion, minced1-1/2 cups red lentils, toasted in a dry pan till hot1 lemon1/2 tsp salt or to taste1 tsp cumin1 tsp coriander1 tsp turmeric1 tsp minced garlic1 tsp grated ginger1/2 tsp Indian chile powder (or cayenne)3 tbls whole butter
InstructionsCombine the cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, and ghee in a 2 liter sauce pan over medium high heat and cook the seasonings for a minute or two. Add the lentils and stir to coat with the oil. Add 3 cups of water, half the lemon (cut through the equator), and salt, and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes. Add more water if it goes below the level of the lentils. Remove the lemon and discard. Combine the cumin, coriander, turmeric, garlic ginger, and chile powder in a ramekin or small bowl. In a saute pan, over medium high heat, add the whole butter. When it begin to froth and turn brown, add the ramekin of spices. Stir to cook for 30 seconds or so. Squeeze in the other half of the lemon (1 to 2 tablespoons). Add this to the simmering dal. Cook for another ten minutes for the seasonings to develop.

NotesThis is a deeply aromatic and flavorful dal, stronger than traditional dals well suited to being a main course. Simon Majumdar stirs in spinach and adds hard cooked eggs to his version. Thanks for the inspiration, Simon!

The Friday Cocktail Hour: The Negroni

Photo and video by Katherine Guanche.

My second favorite cocktail and hands down the most complex and interesting of the three-ingredient cocktails is the Negroni. I had never heard of it (though it’s apparently more than a hundred years old having jumped the pond from Italy) in the mid aughts when Tony Bourdain ordered one after an event at the 92nd St. Y.

I’d been moderating of panel composed of him, Eric Ripert and Gabrielle Hamilton, during which I asked a lot of questions, and yet I did not ask him at the restaurant after, “Dude, what’s with the pink drink?” I sipped my martini quietly but made sure order a negroni next time around.

Indeed, it proved to be revelatory, what with bitter aromatic campari offset by the sweet vermouth and the heady gin. It has since found, of course, a regular rotation in the evening cocktail repertoire. (Traditionally, a negroni is equal parts gin, vermouth and Campari. I find this too sweet, and the Campari too strong so I like to dilute these two elixers with extra gin.)

A small gift relative to the greater gifts he brought to me with millions of others. It was we drank the last time I saw him. Gabrielle and her wife Ashley Merriman brought a big batch of Negroni’s to his memorial, bless them.

Nearly two years gone and still the missing is too great to look at head on. So instead, I look today ti Tony’s first book. I read Kitchen Confidential when it came out in 1999, when I was working with Thomas Keller who was kind of a Bourdain antithesis, with his precision, cleanliness, professionalism, and paradigm-shifiting food.

Curious about this Bourdain fellow, nevertheless, I picked up Bone In the Throat. I was only a few pages in, when I read a passage describing three cooks arguing about beurre blanc. Now this was how cooks talked to one another. When I read that passage I thought, this guy is the real deal.

I’m learning more and more how deep an imposter complex he had. He always told me he was happy to get as much out of this ride as possible before people wised up. But I didn’t really know how deep it went. And he just grew and grew. Not one gram of an imposter in that whole lanky frame. How we could all use his intelligence and his big fat mouth right now.

This Friday Cocktail is dedicated to Bourdain and The Negroni.

Mixing one of the world’s great cocktails and a brief reading from Anthony Bourdain’s first book the novel Bone In the Throat.





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The Negroni


The classic cocktail, a heady mix of bitter, sweet, and gin.

Course CocktailCuisine ItalianKeyword Bourdain, Campari, Gin, sweet vermouth



Servings 1




Ingredients2 ounces gin1 ounce sweet vermouth1 ounce Campari1 orange twist
InstructionsCombine the liquids in a glass, add ice and garnish with the orange twist. Now wasn't that easy?

NotesTraditionally, a negroni is equal parts gin, vermouth and Campari. I find this too sweet, and the Campari too strong so I like to dilute these two elixers with extra gin.

How To Make the Best Pasta Carbonara

This is my wife Ann’s carbonara method and I haven’t found a better one. She writes and essay about it in her book Kitchen Yarns: Notes On Life, Love, and Food. She grew up in Rhode Island eating southern Italian food, red sauce Italian. But when she found herself in Rome, as a young flight attendant for TWA, she ordered the dish for the first time. No red sauce! No nothing but for guanciale, cheese and pepper. It was a revalation.

Back home, determined to make it and found a little pamphlet style cookbook with an utterly simple recipe from which she developed the following recipe. It couldn’t be easier and makes the most rich, moist, satisfying carbonara I know. And here she teaches me to make it, in a video by Katherine Guanche and Sam Hood Adrain, mixed and edited by Katherine.

She does make the good point that “perfect” carbonara would use guanciale, or jowl, which has more fat and a deeper more porky flavor, so if your butcher as that, snatch it up!

Other than that the method is this: cook pasta, pour beaten eggs over it, toss, pour cooked bacon and all its fat over it, toss with cheese, season with salt and plenty of pepper. It’s a fabulous comforting go to dish. For Ann though, it’s even more, as she writes in her the book:

“Spaghetti carbonara has become my comfort food, the food I make when I’m lonely like I was that long ago Rome afternoon; the food I make when I want to welcome others into my home. I still love my red sauce roots, and I dip my bread in that simmering pot on my mother’s stove. But to me, spaghetti carbonara is the food, not of my youth, but of my first steps into the big, wide world of adulthood.”

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Perfect Pasta Carbonara


Ann Hood's version of the classic Roman dish

Course Main CourseCuisine ItalianKeyword ann hood, bacon, guanciale, Italian, Pasta, Pasta Carbonara

Prep Time 5 minutesCook Time 20 minutes






Ingredients1 pound bacon, slided in 1/2-inch strips (If you have access to guanciale, use that!)1 pound dried pasta (whatever shape you fancy)drizzle of olive oil3 eggs, beaten (have an extra yolk on hand)1 cup freshly grated parmagiano reggiano (store bought generic is ok if you can't get the reggiano)salt to tastelots of freshly ground pepper
InstructionsCook the bacon with a drizzle of olive oil just until it's crispy and all it's fat has rendered, then remove it from the heat. Boil your pasta while the bacon cooks. Drain your pasta, reserving a cup of the pasta water, and put it into your prettiest bowl. Pour the beaten eggs over it and toss to combine and heat the egg. Pour the bacon and all the fat over the pasta and toss. Add the cheese. Toss and toss and toss to make it rich and creamy. If you think it could use it add an extra yolk. If it seems dry, add a little. reserved pasta water Season with salt and pepper. Season with more cheese. Eat and swoon.

NotesWe usually pair this with a simple arugula salad, tossed with lemon juice and olive oil.

The Friday Cocktail Hour: The Lemon Drop

The Lemon Drop: Vodka, Lemon Juice, Simple Syrup 2:1:1.

The Power of the Sour!

It takes a lot to get me to post a vodka drink. But this definitely one worth making, especially if your spirit of choice is Vodka.

Don’t misunderstand me. I drink vodka not infrequently, in a bloody Mary for instance, or a screwdriver (or its superior variation of my own devising, The Roberston).

But I find it hard to get behind a spirit that is defined by its lack of flavor. And one, moreover, that was embraced in this country because of a fantastically successful marketing campaign. Its whole story is laid out in a fascinating book by journalist Victorino Matus in his Vodka: How a Colorless, Odorless, Flavorless Spirit Conquered America.

“The strange thing about vodka’s dominance is how it transformed so suddenly,” he writes. “For two centuries America drank brown spirits—from the colonial rum trade and the Whiskey Rebellion to the Bourbon Trail and Prohibition. But in 1934, just after Prohibition ended, the first vodka distillery opened … and then almost closed down for lake of popularity.”

By 1967, however, vodka was the most popular clear spirit, and by 1970 was the most-consumed spirit in America. A fascinating story, from Smirnoff in the 1950s (Moscow Mule) to the Absolut bottle design and ad campaign to Sex and the City and its Grey Goose cosmos.

One of THE best vodka drinks in my opinion is the Lemon Drop, essentially a lemon sour, one favored by the novelist Charles Jackson, who wrote the most famous novel about alcoholism ever, the harrowing The Lost Weekend, about a colossal bender. Our pal Les Standiford makes what he refers to as a Lemon Drop Martini, and if I am not mistaken, includes both vodka and gin. Some people add a bit of Cointreau, or perhaps some orange bitters, both of which would be lovely.

But I like the simplicity of it, because what this cocktail is to me is a small miracle. How a dose of lemon juice and simple syrup turns a flavorless spirit into moan-aloud good. It is the power of the sour. And I urge you to give it a try on what is (for us at least) Day 55 in quarantine. This can be served up or on the rocks, but I should note that my wife Ann, who always orders drinks on the rocks, and won’t drink them when served up by mistake at a bar, always requesting ice…well I handed the glass in the photo, up, for a taste and she said, “I’ll take this one.”

That’s how good this cocktail. Video by the outstanding Kat Guanche will follow the recipe.

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The Lemon Drop


Essentially a vodka sour, with lemon juice and simple syrup.

Course CocktailCuisine AmericanKeyword charles jackson, Lemon, simple syrup, vodka

Prep Time 3 minutes

Servings 1




Ingredients2 ounces vodka1 ounce lemon juice1 ounce simple syrup1 lemon twist
InstructionsCombine the liquid ingredients in a glass. Add ice and chill. Pour into a frosty coup or martini glass and garnish with a twist.

NotesSome people prefer reducing the sweet sour components by 1/4. If it were me of course, I would simply raise the spirit part for a 3:1:1 ratio. It’s a matter of taste.
(And simple syrup is simply equal part sugar dissolved in an equal part of water. Make a batch and keep it in the fridge.)

Cinco de Mayo! (Margaritas and the BEST refried beans)

Happy Cinco de Mayo, everyone! Perhaps in this pandemic we can appreciate the day for what it is meant to be, a celebration of Mexico and Mexican American culture. Originally it was to honor an 1860s Mexican Victory over the French army (Wiki entry here), it’s now far more popular in America than in Mexico, in large part because it was hijacked by alcohol companies and used as a marketing gimmick.

The estimable chef and writer Shaw Lash (spent many years with Rick Bayless, then worked for Diana Kennedy in Mexico) was born in Texas, loves Mexico but hates what the celebration has become and wrote about it here for this site: “Should Cinco de Mayo Be Celebrated?”

If you know what you’re celebrating, then yes! During the past couple years my wife, Ann, and I have been to Mexico on three separate occasions, Oaxaca, Mexico City, and Patzcuaro, and I’ve come to appreciate the country in a huge way. So when I make us all a proper margarita tonight (recipe below), and when Ann makes the fish tacos and the BEST refried beans (recipe below), we will be appreciating the richness Mexican culture gives to us, particularly the culinary and artistic riches.

The BEST taco in Oaxaca: pork and chicharrons



I love the street corn there!



We found amazing back woods Mezcal thanks to Andrea Hagan who does Mezcal tours there.



A section of Diego Rivera’s astonishing mural of the history of Mexico, which David Lida brought us to on our food tour (see my NYTimes story on food tours here). Notice the image of his wife Frida Kahlo is in the center.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

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Classic Margarita


The classic proportion for a classic margarita.

Course CocktailCuisine AmericanKeyword cocktail, Cointreau, friday cocktail hour, Lime, lime juice, Mexican, simple syrup, Tequila

Prep Time 2 minutes

Servings 1 cocktail




Ingredients2 ounces tequila3/4 ounce lime juice3/4 ounce Cointreau or Triple Sec1 wedge or disc lime
InstructionsCombine the liquids in a glass, add ice and the lime. Enjoy! You've made it through another week of caronavirus quarantine.







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The BEST Refried Beans


This is general method for making fabulous refried beans.

Course Side Dish

Prep Time 15 minutes

Servings 4



Equipmentsome sort of masher, like a potato masher
Ingredients2 cups cooked creamy beans, black or red or even white1 small onion, small dice2 teaspoons fresh oregano, Mexican if you have it! (or 1 tbls dried oregano)1/4 cup olive oil, or to tastewater or bean broth (if you saved) as neededsalt to tastepepper to tastehot sauce to taste (optional)
InstructionsSet out your beans, the onion, and oregano while you heat a skillet over high heat. Add the olive oil and when it's hot, add the onion and cook it till tender, a minute or so, then add the oregano and stir. Add the bean and saute them. There should be plenty of olive oil so feel free to add more. Mash the beans with a masher or heavy spoon until half to two-thirds of the beans have been mashed. Season with salt and pepper. Add some water or bean broth so that they're nice and moist (but not soup). Serve with hot sauce, fish tacos and rice.

NotesThis is a great general method for anytime you have leftover beans of any sort! If you don’t have a masher, you can mash half the beans before recooking them.