Cold Drink

Horchata (which can be used to describe any sweet drink, but has come to mean, by default, this one) is sold all over Mexico (and throughout southern California). It’s an addictive, deliciously creamy drink that contains no dairy but is based on ground rice. Traditionally it’s made in a mortar and pestle; you’ll be glad you live in the age of blenders.

Great at a barbecue, with or without rum.

Add sparkling water and ice to this easily made syrup to produce the best ginger ale you’ve ever tasted. Incredible with rum, the syrup is also a quick way to add ginger flavor to stir-fries and other dishes.

Limeade is popular throughout Asia and often served salty. It will take some experimentation on your part to determine whether you like it really salty—in which case you should reduce the sugar substantially—or sweet, like lemonade. You might be surprised; salty limeade is usually considered more refreshing (and makes a good substitute for sports drinks). You can omit the salt entirely to make standard limeade.

Make this mysterious and delicious herbal iced tea in advance, because it’s best cold. You can buy dried hibiscus (known as jamaica) flowers at almost any Mexican market.

It’s long been believed that ginger is a digestive aid, but this drink would be popular in any case. If you like ginger ale or candied ginger, you owe it to yourself to try this.

Health claims aside, this is delicious, hot or iced, sweetened or not. You can make another interesting tea by omitting the lemongrass and serving the brew with milk instead of lime juice.

Like most iced teas from Asia, this has no caffeine and is not a true tea—more an herbal infusion. Because of the natural sweetness of lemongrass, it needs less sugar than most other iced beverages.

In Thailand, this refreshing drink is served at many stands in little plastic bags with straws so you can drink it on the go, but Thai iced tea has soared in popularity at Thai restaurants across America—and for good reason. Thai tea leaves, which can be found at most Asian groceries, combine black tea leaves, star anise, orange flowers, vanilla, cloves, and cinnamon. This blend gives the tea its distinctive taste and orange color, but the technique and style of the drink will work with any good black tea, or you can use black tea with added herbs, in the style of chai (page 668).

In ancient times, an elixir was thought to cure anything, make one immortal, or turn metal into gold. And this elixir, a seasoned purée of really ripe raw homegrown tomato, certainly can turn ordinary vegetables into something delectable. I’ve paired it here with caramelized cauliflower, but it will make even a boiled potato an exciting dish. This is a great way to use very ripe homegrown or farm-stand tomatoes that are almost too juicy to cut up—and are often a bargain at the farm stand. If you have a lot of tomatoes, you can easily multiply this formula for larger quantities. Store elixir in the refrigerator for a week and enjoy it as a beverage as well as a vegetable sauce. I’ve been told it makes a great Bloody Mary. But my favorite is a small glass of chilled tomato elixir in the morning. Try it—it will change your day!

This is a wonderful beverage made from toasted ground corn sweetened with sugar or piloncillo. You can find it prepared, already ground and ready to be mixed with water or milk. Additional flavors vary depending on the region and include anise, oatmeal, allspice, chocolate, and cinnamon, the most common. It is a very tasty, refreshing, and energizing drink, especially when served cold.

PAT One of the things I truly love about Gina is that she is so creative when it comes to beverages. This lemonade is as sparkling, stimulating, and sexy as my darling wife. The seltzer water gives this refresher a great bubbly taste. Gina uses raspberries, but you can substitute any fruit you love and you’ll still be singing, “Oh, happy day!”

PAT Now, y’all know I’m crazy about my ice cream, so sometimes I disregard the set quantities in this recipe and put in ten scoops. Sorry, I just can’t help myself. Gina says I got a real problem. The first step is to admit you have a problem, so here it is. “Hello, my name is Pat, and I’m an ice-cream-holic.” GINA To make this PG drink a little more R-rated, add a shot of orange-flavored liquor (such as Absolut Mandarin) or vanilla-flavored vodka to the juice.

When Southerners say “tea,” they mean basic black—as in Lipton or Tetley, not English Breakfast or Earl Grey—iced and sweet. It is the ubiquitous, unofficial drink of the South.

The delicate, orange like flavor of Meyer lemons is what sets this mellow lemonade apart. For a cocktail version, spike the punch bowl with a glug or two of Jack Daniel’s.

Those of us who grew up within spittin’ distance of Louisiana know that unsweetened iced tea is practically un-American. Furthermore, a family get-together in Texas just isn’t right without a big, fat, sweating pitcher of sweet iced tea. So here’s my latest, most favorite iced tea recipe, inspired (ironically) by a vendor at New York City’s biggest farmers’ market—the Union Square Greenmarket. I discovered it on a broiling August afternoon after buying a paper-cupful for one dollar. It was beyond refreshing, with a hint of mint, a kiss of citrus, and just the right touch of New England maple syrup. Naturally, I substitute Texas honey for my version. My mother always made iced tea the old-fashioned way, by boiling water, steeping the tea, and cooling it off with loads of ice. But my coauthor’s mother, Patricia Oresman, gave me a better idea. She used to make sun tea by leaving a pitcher full of water and tea bags in the sun for several hours. One day she put the tea bags in a pitcher full of water but never did get around to setting it out on her sunny backyard porch. She returned to the kitchen a few hours later to find perfectly brewed no-sun sun tea. Now she makes kitchen-counter iced tea year-round, no solar energy needed. How long does she let the tea bags steep? “I let it sit until it gets the color I think it should be,” she says.

Concord grapes are one of the greatest things on God’s green earth. There really is no substitute for their fresh grapey flavor. Make this juice when the grapes are in season and then freeze it so you never have to live without it.

We use the cereal milk ice cream base (the unfrozen ice cream; stop after step 2 in the ice cream recipe) to make white Russians because it stands up to the Kahlúa and vodka better than regular cereal milk does. The liquor in this recipe dulls the cereal milk flavor, so we add freeze-dried corn powder to bring it back. Why Ruskies? Because I have a younger sister from Kazakhstan and a younger brother from Russia, whom my family affectionately called our “little Ruskies” when they were kids. Here’s to Zha-Zha and Dima.

Named after the golfer who declared his love for it decades ago, this libation is a classic and refreshing tea and lemonade combination with a special little Bubby’s twist: pink lemonade with rose hip and mint teas. Few beverages are more refreshing.

Make this in the summertime, when sweltering days coincide with watermelon season. It’s a beautiful and thirst-quenching drink that everyone loves, so make plenty. The watermelon adds a lot of beautiful pink color.

Lemonade is reminiscent of sultry afternoons and evenings spent on a screened-in porch in the days before air conditioning, when it was so hot no one wanted to move off the porch for anything more than a lemonade refill. This is my basic lemonade, which Bubby’s make lots of in the summer. You can make it a few days ahead and store it, tightly covered, in the refrigerator. Pink lemonade gets its rosy color not from a chemist’s kit, but from fresh cranberry juice. Sweeten this ade with a light or heavy hand, depending upon your taste. One of the great things about homemade lemonade is that you can customize it to how much of a sweet tooth you or your guests have.

Fresh cranberry juice is worth learning to make for its vibrant flavor and color. We use frozen berries most of the year, and they actually make a more consistent juice than fresh, which are available only six or eight weeks of the year. A pound of frozen or fresh cranberries should give you about 2 cups juice. It is important to strain the juice through a very fine sieve. We use a fine chinois, also known as a China cap, to strain our juice. A chinois is actually a conical sieve with a very fine mesh. Use a spoon or even a pestle to press the juice through the chinois.

This recipe was inspired by a visit to the Middle East. The day was hot and dry, and someone gave me lemonade with basil and mint. I have been putting herbs in tea and lemonade ever since. Although you can experiment using all sorts of different fresh herbs, this combination makes for a relaxing tonic, as both lemon balm and lemon verbena are known for their calming properties. On a warm night, substitute this lemonade for a glass of white wine, or turn it into a cocktail by adding white wine or champagne.

This drink is best in the summertime, when watermelons are at their sweetest and most flavorful. For cooling off and rehydrating on a hot day, there is simply nothing better. Because watermelons are huge, relatively inexpensive, and have a high water content, they make a good base for drinks. Experiment with using different varieties of tart and sweet apples.