Beginners guide to drinking - Tiki Drinks and Food

TG The Gnomon Member MD-DC-VA Joined: May 01, 2007 Posts: 1293	TG The Gnomon Posted posted on Fri, Dec 14, 2007 2:12 PM Pitchers of Mai Tais Due to the nature of the Mai Tai, specifically, the adverse results that occur from pre-mixing, another way to deal with it is to make pitchers of them specific intervals. Every 30 minutes is better for the drink because of the lime, but once every hour isn't bad really and, if people are going to be drinking lots of them, an hour is better for the one who has to make them. People will have to wait a little sometimes, but they know a decent Mai Tai is just around the corner. A fresh pitcher (or set of pitchers) every hour is better than having to make them individually on a more or less continuous basis. I like to do them at a time when everyone knows a batch is about to erupt; like every hour on the hour, or every time the minute hand crosses the hour hand (e.g., 4:20, 5:25, 6:30, etc), or when the sands of my hourglass run out (except it's buried in storage right now). Because the drink needs to be chilled by shaking with shaved ice before being poured over the rocks (or cracked ice, if you must), I make the unchilled batch in one pitcher and then transfer it all into a second pitcher chilling it with the shaved ice one shakerful at a time. Once the entire batch is in the second pitcher, I'll swirl it around a few times to even it all out nicely. Then it's ready to set down into a bed of crushed ice or put in the fridge to be served as needed over the next hour. Making two or three pitchers at a the same time using an assembly line procedure is not that much more trouble than making one pitcher, except for the shaking. That can be a real workout. I suppose that most people will not care that the liquid is chilled in that fashion, in which case the quick and dirty alternative is to just dump the shaved ice into each pitcher and stir it in instead of shaking, or else use a blender. At some point though, to avoid waste you'll have to decide when to go back to making them individually. You don't want to have a half-pitcher of Mai Tais sitting in the fridge over night (or do you). Get a set of popsicle molds and make Mai Tai pops with anything that's left over. Then you don't have to worry about the lime going bad.

Pitchers of Mai Tais

Due to the nature of the Mai Tai, specifically, the adverse results that occur from pre-mixing, another way to deal with it is to make pitchers of them specific intervals. Every 30 minutes is better for the drink because of the lime, but once every hour isn't bad really and, if people are going to be drinking lots of them, an hour is better for the one who has to make them. People will have to wait a little sometimes, but they know a decent Mai Tai is just around the corner.

A fresh pitcher (or set of pitchers) every hour is better than having to make them individually on a more or less continuous basis. I like to do them at a time when everyone knows a batch is about to erupt; like every hour on the hour, or every time the minute hand crosses the hour hand (e.g., 4:20, 5:25, 6:30, etc), or when the sands of my hourglass run out (except it's buried in storage right now).

Because the drink needs to be chilled by shaking with shaved ice before being poured over the rocks (or cracked ice, if you must), I make the unchilled batch in one pitcher and then transfer it all into a second pitcher chilling it with the shaved ice one shakerful at a time. Once the entire batch is in the second pitcher, I'll swirl it around a few times to even it all out nicely. Then it's ready to set down into a bed of crushed ice or put in the fridge to be served as needed over the next hour.

Making two or three pitchers at a the same time using an assembly line procedure is not that much more trouble than making one pitcher, except for the shaking. That can be a real workout. I suppose that most people will not care that the liquid is chilled in that fashion, in which case the quick and dirty alternative is to just dump the shaved ice into each pitcher and stir it in instead of shaking, or else use a blender.

At some point though, to avoid waste you'll have to decide when to go back to making them individually. You don't want to have a half-pitcher of Mai Tais sitting in the fridge over night (or do you). Get a set of popsicle molds and make Mai Tai pops with anything that's left over. Then you don't have to worry about the lime going bad.

Post #349574 by The Gnomon on Fri, Dec 14, 2007 2:12 PM