Am I doing this right? Regarding: Blending

Hey Folks,

I'm in a bit of quandary. I've noticed that many recipes (especially from the Bum) involve adding crushed ice to a blender with other ingredients.

When I do this, my blender (basically) makes everything pretty smooth and the ice melts and becomes water. There are virtually no ice pieces left.

Is this the purpose? Do we blend with crushed ice - to add water to a drink and make it cold? Should the consistency of most drinks be smooth?

Is that why we add additional crushed ice to our glasses/mugs? To maintain the right temperature?

I'm slightly confused, as I'm quite familiar with traditional cocktails and I usually find the dilution(water) added through shaking is minimal; not like the 1-2 ounces of crushed ice I see being added to Tiki drinks in many blended recipes.

Thanks for the help!

Hi Destro,
I'm no expert, but I think a lot of those recipes call for a "flash" blend of no more than five seconds. I know what you mean because I have done the same thing where virtually no ice was left in the drink. Actually, I just made some traditional daiquiri's the other night and they had almost zero ice because I blended to long. Try blending for just two or three seconds. Just long enough to combine, yet not long enough to lose all the ice.

Cheers and Aloha!

Q

Thanks Q-Tiki,

Here's the problem - the recipes usually call for crushed ice to be placed in the blender. As the ice is already crushed, 2-3 seconds turns it into water; especially with my Ninja Blender.

If I put it for 1 pulse, then the drink is not really mixed; especially with ingredients like coconut cream or bananas.

You are right, Destro. They almost always call for crushed ice.

Have you tried mixing the ingredients with out the ice first, then adding for the "flash"? If your mixer is super powerful, that may be the way to go.

The idea of adding the crushed ice to the blender was indeed to dilute the drink a bit. The addition of the water to the cocktail can help to release the scents and flavors of the ingredients. I think perhaps that your blender is more powerful than what they were using. Try cutting the time in half, pouring the cocktail into a shaker, quick shake to mix the ingredients and then pour into your glass. Or I would just purchase a cheap blender from the store to do cocktails in and save the Ninja for everyday kitchen use. :)

Dale

The best thing is to use a top-down mixer, or a milkshake blade on your blender. I got one based on the advice of this forum & never looked back.

Also, if yr blender has diff settings, make sure it's just on 'blend'. Then pulse it on high for 5 sec or less.

I'm sorry - a bit confused - does that mean that the drinks should still have some crushed ice in it after blending? The texture should not be completely smooth?

First, make sure you add the ice last, just before you blend.

Do not turn it on blend or hit any of the buttons and let it whirl for any amount of seconds. If you are using a top down mixer, that can be okay for a few seconds. If you use a blender, no.

Here is how to do it with a blender:

Put all ingredients in the blender, adding crushed ice last. (I actually add everything but ice, set the pitcher on the blender and set it to the lowest setting of "Stir" for a couple of seconds, before adding ice.)

With ice in it, hit the button and stop. On mine, there is a "Pulse" button. Some have just a high or low switch. Hit it as short as possible.

Let it stop.

Hit it again.

Let it stop.

Hit is again.

Done.

You are just swirling that ice around. You are NOT maknig a slushy. Above I said hit it 3 times. You may even cut it to 2. See what works. You should still have recognizable crushed ice in the glass.

Do NOT run the blender for 5 seconds.

Mai-Kai Memories Series Custom ceramic mugs!

[ Edited by: Swanky 2013-04-12 08:27 ]

I agree with happy buddha, Milk shake blender is the key with crushed ice. I have a vintage Hamilton, that not only looks cool, but works like a champ.

And Swanky is right, Mix everything without the ice, than blend.

On 2013-04-12 07:36, Destro100 wrote:
I'm sorry - a bit confused - does that mean that the drinks should still have some crushed ice in it after blending? The texture should not be completely smooth?

could be wrong, but that's always been my understanding. always thought point of blender was making a drink that was to some degree "frozen."

in any event, i prefer my tiki drinks on the rocks anyhow, with the sole occasional exception being the Mai-Tai (which I sometimes make in a cocktail shaker).

I crush my ice well in advance (in a Lewis bag), put it back in the freezer. Let it get really cold and hard, again. You don't want your ice to be "warm" or "wet" - solid, but soft and only a little below the melting point.

As Swanky said, when using the blender, always add the ice last.

I seem to be able to run the blender 3 - 5 seconds, and end up with a very cold drink, proper dilution and consistency, and with a good bit of ice left. I think this is because, 1) I use ice that is fresh from the freezer and still very cold, and 2) I use lots of ice, so that the liquid is cooled to 32°, before much of the ice warms to the melting point. If you're worried about using too much ice to fit the glass, you can always strain it, then dump in enough of the remaining ice to top off the glass. Too much ice is curable. Too little, and you have a cool (not cold), watery ruined mess.

(P.S. I got my "education" on ice in drinks, over 30 years ago, from the 1972 Trader Vic's Bartender's Guide, 'ICE', pages 25 - 26. Worth reviewing, if you have a copy at hand. It was my drink "bible", back in the pre-Grog Log days.
As I re-read it now, I note that his advice about julips and swizzles, in the last paragraph, is functionally correct. But his explanation reveals that ol' Vic wasn't much of a physicist. :wink: )

"The rum's the thing..."

[ Edited by: Limbo Lizard 2013-04-12 11:05 ]

I was confused about this subject for quite awhile until I went to my first Beachbum Berry symposium. He used a Hamilton Beach top-down mixer and pulsed the drink 3 times. So when the recipe asks for a cup of crushed ice then blend....do it quickly and pulse away. Having crushed ice is the key and not crushing the ice while its in the cocktail is very important. This way your Zombie or whatever your in the mood for will come out great. I have found both of my mixers at garage sales for $5. Having 2 steel mixing cups comes in handy at parties also. Having an ice crusher is great and convenient. I use a Waring Pro I bought on eBay.

[ Edited by: Tonga Tiki 2013-04-13 04:46 ]

Swanky, your advice solves issue I have been having lately. Switched to a vintage Oster ice crusher recently which is great but ice is a lot finer now, even at the coarse setting. A five second continuous blend dissolves it too much. Your recommended three short pulse hits make a perfect mix.

Yes, Swanky is exactly right. That's what I meant by 'pulse for 5 sec or less'. Sorry if it wasn't clear. Five seconds on high on a regular blender will turned crushed ice to h2o.

For what it's worth, I often use an Osterizer chrome kitchen center. This comes w/ both types of blades (milkshake & ice crush) so you use up less counter space. It does the job pretty well imho

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for all the advice.

Let the intoxicating experimenting commence!

My cheap blender just died. My wife chose one of those "Ninja" blenders too. I haven't made any tiki drinks yet but am concerned because this thing is a beast. It has a long shaft with three LEVELS of cutting blades rising all the way to the top of the carafe.

On my old blender I HAD to hand crush the ice first because the blender would only pulverize the bottom 1/2" of the ice and the rest would just sit there and not mix at all. However, now I am afraid that I will not be able to serve these "frozen" tiki drinks because all I will be left with is a watered down drink with no ice to be found anywhere.

I will have to play the pulse game and see if I can duplicate my great results from my cheap blender.

Not sure if you want to go to the expense...but if you want to set your self up properly go with a separate ice crusher and a Hamilton Beach mixer. The mixer that looks like you make shakes with. This way you avoid any dilution of the drink, plus you get the correct mixing from a pulse without blades crushing the added ice even more.

I agree with Tonga Tiki . . .a seperate top-down mixer (with 2 or three speeds) is invaluable for mixing drinks. It beats the heck of a hand shaker, doesn't mangle up the ice too, and gives the drink a nice froth on top. Also, a seperate ice crusher is MUST - don't rely on a general blender to crush ice properly. When I make 'frozen' colada-type drinks, I crush the ice first in my Waring Pro ice crusher then blend the drink in my blender. The key: SEPARATES!

I bet you feel more like you do now now than you did when you came in.

GENT

[ Edited by: GentleHangman 2013-04-27 13:22 ]

The Waring pro is what I use. You can buy it on Amazon.

I have a Ninja and it works great for crushing ice and I've had no problems with it watering down drinks. Since the Ninja has the "tower of blades", you don't have to be so careful about adding crushed ice. You can use cubes and it crushes them to whatever consistency you like so quickly that you don't have to worry about over-dilution.

I bought an extra pitcher, and I can use that just for crushed ice when needed.

Seems like as good as anyplace to post this question.

Let's say I make my drink, add the specified amount of crushed ice(following Total Tiki app), mix for 5 secs with my top-down mixer, pour it into a mug and it turns out that I've chosen a mug that's a bit too big and leave too much head space.

Is it ok to add more fresh crushed ice to the top to make the drink more visually appealing? Or will this dilute the drink?

Thanks

The way I see it there are a few solutions:

• add more ice & reblend (as long as the drink doesn't become too diluted or the glass / mug too full of ice)
• add a large ice cube or some additional cubes to fill the glass / mug (it's worth giving the drink a quick secondary blend / shake so the ice isn't sitting on top)
• use a smaller glass / mug
• increase the proportions of the drink

two words:

massive 151 float...

It's pretty typical for a drink to not fill whatever glass you are using. Adding crushed ice to fill is the right thing to do.

The Trader Vic Mai Tai is blended with the blender spinning to the right,
While the Don the Beachcomber Mai Tai is blended with the blender spinning to the left.
You need a blender that can go in reverse to make a true Don Beach Mai Tai.

you spin my Mai Tai right round official video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGNiXGX2nLU

Actually, according to the Total Tiki app, the Mai Tai is shaken and poured. Why is it not blended? For more dilution?

Well my first post here was a joke.
"Why is it not blended?"

I think at the Kahiki Skip Davis the bartender put his Mai Tai in a blender and gave it a quick pop to make his Mai Tai.

On the last night they were filming a bit for the movie channel and skip made a drink and the guy goes "CUT"
Skip put his hand on top of the blender because they had lost the top to it some time ago and he just
used his hand to keep the drinks in as it blended, Yum!

I read that 3 times and still don't understand what you said.

But thanks anyway:)