How To Shake Cocktails

Many cocktail recipes call for the ingredients to be shaken using a cocktail shaker. Of all the cocktail preparations, shaking is by far the most enjoyable and entertaining for you and your guests. Shaking is a simple technique that, with a little practice and by following a few tips, you'll master in no time. Once you get your personal shaking style down your cocktails will emerge crisp, cool and concentrated.

Difficulty: Easy

Time Required: 2 minutes

Here's How:

1. Place ice cubes in the shaker first. This will chill the shaker and cool the liquids as you add them.
2. Use 5-6 ice cubes for one drink.
3. When making two drinks at once use less ice to make room in the shaker.
4. Don't overfill the shaker. Give the ingredients plenty of room to move around.
5. Shake most drinks vigorously to a slow count of ten.
6. Shake drinks longer and harder that have many ingredients or ingredients that don't mix well such as eggs or cream.
7. Shake to a rhythm. Hum a tune and shake to the beat.
8. Shake frozen or blended drinks like daiquiris and coladas with crushed ice.
9. Don't add fruit to the shaker. Instead add it to the glass after straining.

What You Need:

• Cocktail Shaker
• Ice Cubes
• Spirits, Liqueurs and Mixers as called for in the recipe
• Strainer (If using a Boston Shaker)

A.B.S