How to throw a vodka and zakuski party

A vodka party sounds dangerous, the sort of idea you used to come up when you were a student but think Russian- or Ukrainian-style hors d’oeuvres, or zakuski as they call them, and you’ve got a great theme for an evening with friends.

I threw one because I had a LOT of vodka in the house having just written a column on the subject. I admit that’s an advantage and that it could get expensive if you’re not in that fortunate position but you can always ask friends to bring a bottle if they’d like to share a vodka they’re enthusiastic about

I had shot glasses for those who wanted to taste different vodkas and bigger tumblers for those who wanted a longer drink like a vodka tonic, vodka and lime or a Bloody Mary. You could also put out a few martini glasses if you have them. (Don’t have enough of the right kind of glasses? Borrow them as I did!)

I set a table aside as a simple bar so that people could make their own drinks (or have them made for them by my more expert friends). There was ice and lemon available. Ideally I’d have frozen at least some of the bottles as frozen vodka is so delicious but there was no room in the freezer post-Christmas. I also laid in a stash of lager for which I also didn’t have room in the fridge so left in the cold outside the front door where it fortunately remained unspotted by the local student population. My guests were ready to switch to them after a few vodkas.

On the food side I had loads of smoked fish including smoked mackerel and smoked eel (served with horseradish and quark or sour cream) rollmop herrings (GREAT with vodka) smoked salmon and herbed cheese blinis (I’d have made home-made blinis if I’d had time but if you warm the bought ones through they’re fine).

I made some wonderfully retro stuffed eggs topped with lumpfish roe and a couple of salads - a beetroot, potato and gherkin salad from Olia Hercules’ Mamushka (and the addictively spicy Korean carrots from the same book) and a simple cucumber and dill salad.

A chef friend brought a borscht but we forgot to eat it. It’s now in the freezer for the next vodka party. Another friend Dan who works at Grillstock in Bristol brought Polish snacking sausage and barbequed chicken thighs, admittedly better suited to a bourbon bash but the everyone fell on them. Vodka can handle a bit of spice.

We had a couple of marmalade vodkas - Chase and Fortnum & Mason - which I’d got into my head would go brilliantly with florentines and managed to inveigle my friend Elly into making some. (They do). An alternative would be scoops of lemon sorbet with frozen vodka poured over them. Or maybe just on their own …. (too much vodka: ed)

There are plenty of other possibilities as you can see from this post on vodka pairings. Just make it as uncomplicated as possible and get your friends to pitch in and help. 

See also this account of a Polish vodka feast I attended back in 2007 and a vodka and caviar tasting at Petrossian in New York.

Photo ©golubovy at fotolia.com

3 peachy cocktails to celebrate the 4th of July

Fresh peaches are bang in season right now so use them to make these summery cocktails that I think are quite perfect for this week's Independence Day celebrations.

Peach Bellinis
The classic Venetian drink invented by Giuseppi Cipriani the founder of Harry’s Bar. The best way to make them is to juice the peaches or squeeze them by hand which gives you a clear juice. Make them just before you serve them or the peach juice will discolour (you can add lemon juice to prevent that but it detracts from the pure peach flavour).

For 6 glasses
4-6 peaches depending on size and ripeness (ripe ones will obviously yield more juice)
A well chilled bottle of good quality prosecco or champagne

Juice or purée* the peaches. Pour the juice just over a third of the way up a champagne flute and carefully top up with prosecco or champagne, tilting the glass towards the bottle as you pour. (The juice may make the wine fizz up more than usual so you may have to wait for it to settle before topping up.) Taste to check the proportions of peach juice and prosecco which will vary depending how ripe your peaches are then pour the remainder of the glasses out in the ideal proportions. (*Puréeing results in a less aesthetic but equally delicious drink)

Peach Julep
A great variation on the classic Mint Julep

For each cocktail
6-8 fresh mint leaves
2-3 tsp sugar syrup (see below)
A quarter of a ripe peach, cut into cubes + another quarter, sliced for serving
2 shots of bourbon
A couple of drops of vanilla extract
A sprig of mint and a slice of peach for garnish

Lightly crush the mint leaves with the sugar syrup in a cocktail shaker, add the cut up peach quarter, bourbon and vanilla extract and lightly muddle (crush) again. Strain the mixture into a highball (tall) glass full of crushed ice and stir well. Add the peach slices, stir, top with a little more crushed ice and garnish with a sprig of mint. Serve immediately.

(If you can’t get hold of really ripe peaches you could boost their flavour with 2-3 tsp of peach-flavoured liqueur or schnapps instead of the sugar syrup)

* To make a sugar syrup put 150g of sugar in a small saucepan with 175ml of water and place over a low heat, stirring occasionally until the sugar has dissolved. (Brush any grains of sugar that stick the side of the pan into the syrup so that it doesn’t crystallise) Bring the syrup to the boil without stirring and boil for 2-3 minutes. Take off the heat and leave to cool. Any you don’t use can be kept in a sealed container and refrigerated for 2-3 weeks.

Peach Mint Crush
A fabulously refreshing hot weather drink from cookery writer Signe Johansen
Serves 2

10 mint leaves
2-3 tsp sugar or, even better, a simple sugar syrup (see above)
1-2 peaches, peeled and roughly cut up
juice of 1/2 lime
4-6 crushed ice cubes (or, if you have a blender that can crush ice, then just chuck them in)
200ml iced green tea

Muddle the mint and sugar together as if you were making a mojito, to release the mint oils, then put this in a blender with the rest of the ingredients, whizz up and serve immediately

Photo ©lilechka75 at fotolia.com

How to make a perfect G & T

In case it's escaped your notice today is International Gin and Tonic Day - a rather bizarre notion but then every food and drink seems to have its own day these days. However it does provide an excuse to re-run this article on how to make the perfect gin and tonic, under the guidance of the great Salvatore Calabrese:

"Salvatore Calabrese puts two ice cubes in a tumbler, pours over half a measure of gin, adds a dash of tonic and gives it a stir. “Try that”, he says. I take a tentative sip. “Right, that’s NOT the way to make a gin and tonic. It’s too warm and too oily. Because there isn’t enough ice it dilutes the drink. Now here’s what you should do . . .”

He fills a tall glass full of ice cubes - I count about 8. Twice the amount of gin goes in - a full 50ml measure. He tops it up with a small, freshly-opened can of tonic right up to the rim, drops in a half slice of lemon, stirs and offers it to me again. It’s just gorgeous. Cold, citrussy, fragrant, refreshing. “THAT’S what a gin and tonic should taste like.” London’s most legendary barman allows a small smile of satisfaction to pass his lips.

I have come to pick Salvatore’s brains on the subject of gin in his eponymous bar at the exclusive Fifty club in Mayfair (he's now at the members' only Salvatore's at the Playboy Club at 14 Park Lane FB). It is, he says, the first bottle he would pick for any home bar. “You simply can’t make cocktails without it.” So how do you know which to choose I ask, eyeing the large selection behind the bar.

For a barman it’s a question of the type of cocktail you’re going to make, Salvatore explains. “Many barman would use Beefeater or Bombay Sapphire for a G & T and a more powerful gin like Tanqueray for a classic dry martini. But at home you should simply choose the brand you enjoy most.”

The quality of the other ingredients are important too. For a gin and tonic for instance the tonic should be standard not slimline and - most important - freshly opened. The ice should be made with still mineral water. Lemon is preferable for the garnish even though some producers recommend lime. “A wedge gives more of the essence of the skin but a slice is more elegant” says Salvatore who has obviously given a great deal of thought to such matters.

As one of Britain’s oldest spirits gin has had its ups and downs. Brought to England in the early 17th century by the Dutch who were the first to flavour a spirit with juniper, by the 18th century gin drinking had become a virtual epidemic. “By 1730 in London alone there were over 7000 dram shops. Gin was sold everywhere: in taverns, alehouses and squalid gin shops, in chandler’s merchants and corner stores, tobacconists, barbers, as well as by street hawkers and pedlars” writes Geraldine Coates in Discovering Gin. In 1733, it was calculated that London produced 11 million gallons of gin, 14 gallons for every adult in the city. It was only when the government succeeded in restricting sales to licensed premises and raising taxes that the rot was stopped. By contrast the ‘gin palaces’, the elaborately decorated bars of the Victorian era were perceived as highly glamourous as were the cocktail bars of the 1920s and 30s when gin-drinking was the height of chic.

Over the years the style of gin changed too from being a comparatively sweet drink, distilled, like vodka, from grain to a bone dry one, the style now described as ‘London Gin’ (London always having been the centre of gin production in this country). It relies for its character on the so-called botanicals (plants and spices) that are used to flavour it. Apart from juniper the essential flavouring ingredient of all gins, the most common are coriander, angelica and orange and lemon peel but some producers use more exotic ingredients like Javan cubeb berries, grains of paradise from West Africa and Orris root (the root of irises).

More recently there has been a fashion for adding distillations of fresh ingredients such as rose petals, cucumber and lemon grass, a development that has revived interest in gin in fashionable style bars. Sales of premium gins have increased by 12% in the past year. “It’s similar to what was happening with vodka 10 years ago” says Geraldine Coates. “Bartenders are becoming bored with vodka because it doesn’t have much flavour and are turning to gin instead”.

They also like the high strength of many contemporary gins which makes the spirit hold its character well in a cocktail. Plymouth for example, is 41.2%; Tanqueray an even higher43.1%. Gordon’s was much criticised a few years ago for reducing its strength to 37.5% but it still shows up well in blind tastings, says Coates.

Salvatore Calabrese agrees that it’s a matter of taste. “You should try different gins until you find the one you like.” And what does he like? “I like them all” he says diplomatically, glancing at his line-up of bottles. “Otherwise they wouldn’t be here.”

This article was first published in Sainsbury's magazine. Salvatore Calabrese is the author of Classic Cocktails (Prion 9.99) For more information about gin and cocktail recipes visit www.gintime.com