Pitcher Drink

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.

Lightly sweet and refreshingly tart, white sangria marries beautifully with just about everything Tex-Mex. It goes together easily in advance, making it one of my top picks for parties of any size.

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.

This is good for a lunchier-leaning brunch with steak and potatoes. I like to use Tempranillo or Rioja wine in this festive drink, which looks beautiful on the table. Start the sangría a day ahead of time so that the fruit can marinate. Once it’s made, sangría will keep for two days in the refrigerator.

This is just the kind of recipe found in a Junior League or church cookbook. It is greatly improved upon by using fresh juices and sorbet instead of canned juice and sherbet. But, one can also use the old canned standby.

Nothing says brunch like a perfectly spiked Bloody Mary. Bubby’s Bloody Mary is famous for being a cure for hangovers. Mostly, it gives a spicy kick that will help you sweat it out. Using a sixteen-ounce glass leaves you plenty of room for the ice and garnish.

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.

This refreshing drink needs just a hint of sweetener, as sassafras is naturally quite sweet.

Exotic, jewel-like, and demanding considerable labor to penetrate their maze of pulp, pomegranates are a ravishing winter treat. A constant on the Lucid Food cocktail menu during cold weather, this drink pairs well with food but also stands on its own. You can make the sangria the day before, but wait until the day you serve it to add the orange slices, as the pith can cause the drink to turn bitter. Use a cheap red wine; I prefer a rioja or a tempranillo.

My granny always made this punch. She practically raised me; we lived with her until my daddy bought us a house and moved us out when I was still a little boy. My grandmother was a hardworking Southern woman, always cooking and cleaning her house. This is her recipe for as refreshing and fragrant a summer drink as you can imagine—a really intensely flavored version of sweet tea, if you will. It’s a family favorite to this day. (It doesn’t call for Crown Royal, and I don’t even mind.) One thing, though: My granny’s last name wasn’t Jenkins, and she never did tell me who this recipe is originally named after; that’s a mystery for the ages, I guess.

If I’m working, which is to say I’m not drinking anything strong because I’m focused on winning a competition, I don’t drink anything besides sweet tea. I love sweet tea, truly. It’s the drink of the South, the drink of my home. Here’s how we do it.

We had lemon trees and mint all over our ranch when I was a kid. I don’t remember when I tasted the two together for the first time, but since then I’ve never liked lemonade any other way. For kids or anyone not drinking alcohol, it’s a fabulously festive and beautiful nonalcoholic treat. Or add a shot of rum or vodka to each glass and make a cocktail out of it!

The limes we grew in Texas are almost a hybrid lemon-lime and we used them to make “ades.” It wasn’t until I was much older that I realized other people usually used lemons, not limes. This is the recipe I grew up with, and it works just as perfectly with the limes you can buy at the store as it did with the limes we grew.

In the summertime this is a refreshing alternative to iced tea. I keep the cinnamon syrup in the fridge so when my girlfriends drop by we have something cool and delicious to sip in the yard under the hot California sun.

Pomegranates and cranberries are both widely available in the fall, making this the perfect cocktail for any holiday party.

Gina: This light-colored sangria, made with white wine, is as beautiful as it is refreshing and delicious. You can make and serve this drink immediately, but it’s even better if you can prepare it in advance, so the fruit flavors have a chance to permeate the wine.

You can also make these in a pitcher and serve them as the evening’s party drink. They have the perfect balance of tart and sweet. Great in the summer.

GLUTEN-FREE
SOY-FREE The Internet is filled with vegan nog recipes made with lots of tofu, but somehow, the thought of tofu in something other than a smoothie seems odd to me (and truth be told, I don't much care for tofu in smoothies, either). For a more elegant version, cashew butter gives a little body to the beverage without being overly filling.

This variation on the traditional Indian beverage is like a frosty cold, bright ginger beer. Cardamom gives the drink a floral undertone, and tart lime juice and sea salt add refreshing balance.