Indian. From Charles W. Campbell’s 1867 American Barkeeper , we collect another West Indian variation, the Tamarind Punch . Make as the Brandy Punch, cutting the brandy back to 2 ounces, substituting 1 tablespoon of tamarind jelly for the lemon juice and dashing a fragrant Jamaica rum liberally on top at the end.
NOTES ON EXECUTION: Begin by squeezing the lemon into the glass. Add the sugar and the water and stir. Then pour in the syrup and the brandy. The orange slices and the pineapple are a matter of taste and conjecture. The engraving accompanying the recipe shows them as a mere garnish, but there’s every possibility that that was mere artistic license and everything, berries included, was all shaken up together; that’s what the 1869 Steward & Barkeeper’s Manual states, anyway, and very clearly at that. If done in a Boston shaker with plenty of ice, the result would be a gooey mess. But rolled back and forth with shaved ice, which lacks the kinetic energy to break up fruits, it would be rather more attractive. In short, I’ll use the fruits as garnish if all I’ve got is bar ice; if I’ve got shaved or finely cracked ice, I’ll give everything a gentle shake, reserving a couple of berries for the top.
The jellies in Barbadoes Punch and Tamarind Punch take special handling, since they will not readily dissolve in cold water. Put the jelly in the glass first and add a splash of hot water (½ to ¾ of an ounce), stirring well before adding the rest of the ingredients (the water should be reduced accordingly). If making a bunch of these, you can do this in advance, preparing a sort of syrup with equal parts water and jelly.
VANILLA PUNCH
One more quick Brandy Punch variation from Professor Thomas. Clearly it was a specialty of his, and I’ll respect that. This one is simple and very tasty. The 1869 Steward & Barkeeper’s Manual published by Haney & Co. in New York calls this a “Scadeva Punch” and notes that “this drink is seldom called for at a bar, and is known to only a few prominent bartenders” (the name is either a typo or a mangling of something intelligible or it’s the Italian word for “it fell off,” which is hard to explain unless the recipe fell off the back of a dray-wagon).
(USE LARGE BAR-GLASS.)
1 TABLE-SPOONFUL [2 TSP] OF SUGAR
1 WINE-GLASS [2 OZ] OF BRANDY
THE JUICE OF ¼ LEMON
Fill the tumbler with shaved ice, shake well, ornament with one or two slices of lemon, and flavor with a few drops of vanilla extract. This is a delicious drink, and should be imbibed through a glass tube or straw.
SOURCE: JERRY THOMAS, 1862
NOTES ON INGREDIENTS: If at all possible, use a good vanilla extract, such as the one made by Charles H. Baldwin & Co of Stockbridge, Massachusetts, an old Yankee brand if ever there was one.
PISCO PUNCH
“You should have had a snort of Mrs. Sykes’ Pisco Punch. . . . It was said New York had not before ever seen or heard of the insidious concoction which in its time had caused the unseating of South American governments and women to set world’s records in various and interesting fields of activity. In early San Francisco, where the punch first made its North American appearance in 1856, the police allowed but one drink per person in twenty-four hours, it’s that propulsive. But Mrs. Sykes served them up like pain , à discrétion , as the signs used to say in front of the little restaurants in Paris, meaning you could have all the bread you wanted. As a consequence, discretion vanished.”
In 1950, when A. J. Liebling’s pal James A. MacDonald, alias Col. John R. Stingo, was recalling these events (which transpired when a party of San Francisco con artists came to New York), Pisco Punch was the mixological equivalent to a lost Mozart symphony. Before Prohibition, this particular twist on the old Brandy Punch had been San Francisco’s secret weapon, a drink so smooth, delightful, and potent that, well, as the Colonel says
NOTES ON EXECUTION: Begin by squeezing the lemon into the glass. Add the sugar and the water and stir. Then pour in the syrup and the brandy. The orange slices and the pineapple are a matter of taste and conjecture. The engraving accompanying the recipe shows them as a mere garnish, but there’s every possibility that that was mere artistic license and everything, berries included, was all shaken up together; that’s what the 1869 Steward & Barkeeper’s Manual states, anyway, and very clearly at that. If done in a Boston shaker with plenty of ice, the result would be a gooey mess. But rolled back and forth with shaved ice, which lacks the kinetic energy to break up fruits, it would be rather more attractive. In short, I’ll use the fruits as garnish if all I’ve got is bar ice; if I’ve got shaved or finely cracked ice, I’ll give everything a gentle shake, reserving a couple of berries for the top.
The jellies in Barbadoes Punch and Tamarind Punch take special handling, since they will not readily dissolve in cold water. Put the jelly in the glass first and add a splash of hot water (½ to ¾ of an ounce), stirring well before adding the rest of the ingredients (the water should be reduced accordingly). If making a bunch of these, you can do this in advance, preparing a sort of syrup with equal parts water and jelly.
VANILLA PUNCH
One more quick Brandy Punch variation from Professor Thomas. Clearly it was a specialty of his, and I’ll respect that. This one is simple and very tasty. The 1869 Steward & Barkeeper’s Manual published by Haney & Co. in New York calls this a “Scadeva Punch” and notes that “this drink is seldom called for at a bar, and is known to only a few prominent bartenders” (the name is either a typo or a mangling of something intelligible or it’s the Italian word for “it fell off,” which is hard to explain unless the recipe fell off the back of a dray-wagon).
(USE LARGE BAR-GLASS.)
1 TABLE-SPOONFUL [2 TSP] OF SUGAR
1 WINE-GLASS [2 OZ] OF BRANDY
THE JUICE OF ¼ LEMON
Fill the tumbler with shaved ice, shake well, ornament with one or two slices of lemon, and flavor with a few drops of vanilla extract. This is a delicious drink, and should be imbibed through a glass tube or straw.
SOURCE: JERRY THOMAS, 1862
NOTES ON INGREDIENTS: If at all possible, use a good vanilla extract, such as the one made by Charles H. Baldwin & Co of Stockbridge, Massachusetts, an old Yankee brand if ever there was one.
PISCO PUNCH
“You should have had a snort of Mrs. Sykes’ Pisco Punch. . . . It was said New York had not before ever seen or heard of the insidious concoction which in its time had caused the unseating of South American governments and women to set world’s records in various and interesting fields of activity. In early San Francisco, where the punch first made its North American appearance in 1856, the police allowed but one drink per person in twenty-four hours, it’s that propulsive. But Mrs. Sykes served them up like pain , à discrétion , as the signs used to say in front of the little restaurants in Paris, meaning you could have all the bread you wanted. As a consequence, discretion vanished.”
In 1950, when A. J. Liebling’s pal James A. MacDonald, alias Col. John R. Stingo, was recalling these events (which transpired when a party of San Francisco con artists came to New York), Pisco Punch was the mixological equivalent to a lost Mozart symphony. Before Prohibition, this particular twist on the old Brandy Punch had been San Francisco’s secret weapon, a drink so smooth, delightful, and potent that, well, as the Colonel says
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