I’ve never been a fan of Bloody Marys. I don’t know why. I mean, I love tomato juice and I love vodka, but for some reason when those two liquids are mixed together it turns my taste buds cold. Then again, I’d never been a fan of bourbon until a friend introduced me to Woodford Reserve and now I love a good Manhattan. So I thought now that I was older and had developed a palate for cocktails, the same thing might happen. I was wrong. I’m still not a fan and unfortunately I can’t tell you why.

What I can tell you is that while the Bloody Mary is still not a favorite of mine, it is a classic. The cocktail has been around since the ’20′s. It was supposedly created by Fernand Petiot, an American bartender working at Harry’s New York Bar in Paris. Petiot said he came up with the name when a patron told him the drink reminded him of the Bucket of Blood Club in Chicago, and a girl there named Mary.

Petiot brought the drink to the states in the mid-30′s when he started working at the King Cole Bar in New York. The owners of the bar actually wanted to change the name to Red Snapper but that name didn’t have the same stickability as Bloody Mary. It was also in New York that the Bloody Mary became the cocktail we drink today all because Petiot’s patrons demanded a spicier drink. So since the customer’s always right, Petiot added black pepper, Worcestershire sauce, lemon, and Tabasco and voila, the Bloody Mary that most of us love today was born.

Although I put my own spin on the cocktail by using My Spice Sage’s Applewood Smoked Sea Salt, the rest of the ingredients are what were used during the ’20′s when the cocktail was created. And if you don’t have smoked sea salt, Kosher salt works just as well.

Bloody Mary

• 2 ounces vodka
• 3 ounces tomato juice
• 1/2 ounce of lemon juice
• 3 dashes Worcestershire sauce
• 2 drops Tabasco sauce
• 1 teaspoon smoked sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Rub the rim of a high ball glass with lemon juice and dip into smoked sea salt.

Combine all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake well and strain into a high ball glass over ice. Garnish with a lemon wedge and a celery stick.

A few weeks ago I made an impulse buy at the checkout of my grocery store. I picked up Better Homes and Gardens Sunday Dinners magazine. The cover recipe looked really good and when I flipped through there were several more recipes that looked just as scrumptious. One was a recipe for Summer Peach Pie Twisters that just sounded amazing, especially since peaches are in season right now.

In case you don’t already know, I’m a huge fan of summer for a number of reasons. I can finally bust out my sandals and show off my monthly pedicure, the beach becomes a regular hangout, and most importantly deliciously sweet fruit is back in season. Almost every Tuesday you can find me at my local farmers market buying enough fruit to open up my own fruit stand. One of my favorite fruits to stock up on are peaches. But they have to be yellow. I just don’t understand this white peach craze. Yes, they’re good, but in all honesty, they’re just too sweet for me. I like my peaches to have a little zing, a little pucker. In short, they need to be a little more tart for my taste, so I stick with yellow. But I digress.

While I love to eat peaches plain, I have no problem with a peach pie or tart. I saw this recipe for the Twisters and I knew I had to make them, especially since I had the perfect opportunity.

My friend, Ali, is a huge Sugarland fan and since they were going to be performing, she wanted to do a girls night out, complete with dressy outfits, cocktails, munchies, and yes, a limo. So of course I jumped on board. Since we would be in a car and then at an outdoor arena, I knew I needed to make something of the finger food variety. These twisters were almost the perfect answer. I say almost because BHG’s recipe called for folding back the dough to expose the yummy peach filling and that just wouldn’t work for me.

See, since we were all dolled up for our night without men, I knew we weren’t going to want anything messy. That meant hand pies would be the better choice since they’re completely sealed. Thanks to Deb over at Smitten Kitchen, I found a recipe she made where her pies were sealed and added a touch of bourbon; and since bourbon always makes everything better, I took Deb’s recipe and the recipe from BHG and made my own Summer Bourbon Peach Hand Pies. And Oh. My. God. were they good! The perfect no mess dessert for a delightful picnic on the beach or a rockin’ concert for the girls.

Summer Bourbon Peach Hand Pies

• 2 (15 ounce) packages rolled refrigerated unbaked pie crust
• 2 pounds peaches, peeled and chopped
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1-1/2 teaspoons bourbon
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup mini marshmallows
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons cinnamon sugar

Let pie crusts stand according to package directions. Preheat oven to 400°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

For the filling, in a medium bowl mix together the peaches, flour, sugar, bourbon, vanilla, mini marshmallows and cinnamon until well combined.

Unroll the pie crusts and cut into 4-inch circles. (If you re-roll the scraps of dough you should get 12 circles out of all four crusts.) Spoon 1-2 tablespoons of filling onto one half of each circle of dough. Brush a little water around the circumference of the dough and fold it in half so the dough comes down over the filling. Seal the hand pie with the back of a fork. Repeat the process with the remaining dough.

Place the hand pies on the parchment lined baking sheets. Prick each pie 2 or 3 times with a fork so steam can escape. Sprinkle with 2 teaspoons of cinnamon sugar.

Bake for 15-18 minutes or until filling is bubbly and pastry is golden brown. Cool on baking sheet and serve plain or with vanilla ice cream.

Psst… I have a secret to tell you.  I love to swing dance. Don’t tell, but I’ve been swing dancing since before Swingers and the big swing craze that followed in the 90′s. It’s actually how I met my husband. Yes, just like that couple in the movie.

Anyway, during all my club hopping there were a few drinks that were commonly imbibed. The martini, of course. The cosmopolitan and the Manhattan. The cosmo was usually my drink of choice, but several of my swinging friends were manhattan drinkers. I never really went in for the manhattan because it’s whiskey based and I’m not a big whiskey fan. But now that I’m a little older and enjoy an occasional bourbon-based cocktail, I thought it was time to give the Manhattan another try, especially since I’ve created my own maraschino cherries.  And boy am I happy I did. Because I got a smoother rye whiskey, the Manhattan was mellow, rich and seriously smooth. It went great with a delicious piece of rich chocolate.

Like most cocktails, the taste is going to depend on the alcohol you use. If you like a cocktail with more bite, you’re going to want to go with a more bold, hearty whiskey. But if you’re like me and enjoy a cocktail with a smooth finish, then I’d recommend going with a quieter, mellow tasting whiskey. The rye I purchased for my manhattan was a brand called Redemption.  It was recommended to me because I’m a fan of Woodford and Bulleit, both of which are more mellow bourbons.

Rumor has it the Manhattan was first created by a bartender in 1846 trying to revive an injured duelist by mixing rye, sugared syrup, and bitters.  There’s another, more popular story that the Manhattan was created at the Manhattan Club in the early 1870′s  during a party for potential presidential candidate, Samuel J. Tilden. Supposedly Dr. Iain Marshall created the drink for the hostess of the party, Lady Randolph Churchill (Winston Churchill’s mother).  The party was such a big success that people started ordering the cocktail and calling it by the name of the bar where they’d first tasted it. Whichever the real story, the Manhattan has stood the test of time as one of the true classics battling only the martini in its strength and popularity.

Manhattan

• 2 ounces rye whiskey
• 1 ounce sweet vermouth
• 2 dashes of Angostura bitters
• 1 maraschino cherry

Pour the whiskey, vermouth, and bitters into a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake well and strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with the cherry and serve.

Once a month there’s a twitter chat I participate in called spice chat that’s sponsored by the spice company My Spice Sage. It’s a chat that lasts about an hour and is all about a particular spice and different ways to cook with it. As an added bonus, My Spice Sage gives away spices to its chat participants. During last month’s basil chat, I was lucky enough to win one of these spice sets and included in the set was a bottle of Applewood Smoked Sea Salt. I love sea salt, but the way this sea salt smelt was out of this world. One whiff and I knew I had to use it… like immediately.

I added the salt to my scrambled eggs, and while they were yummy, they weren’t quite what I was looking for. Then it came to me: ribs. A dry rub for ribs would be a perfect way to use the salt. So I came up with a dry rub, covered the ribs with it and then realized I had one huge problem: I’d never cooked ribs on a grill before. I didn’t let that deter me, though. I was desperate to taste that rub on my ribs, so I scoured the internet and found a step by step guide on how to grill ribs on the barbecue at About.com. Thanks to their guide, which I’m about to share with you, I not only overcame my fear of grilling ribs, I ended up with an amazing Memphis-style rib dinner.

Step by Step Guide to Grilling Memphis Style Ribs on a Gas Grill

First off, make sure your grill has at least two burners, as you’re going to be cooking the ribs with indirect heat, which means the flames won’t be directly under the ribs but off to the side of them.

Here’s What You’ll Need

• 1 rack of ribs
• a good dry rub
• 1/2 cup apple juice
• aluminum foil

Here’s How to Do It

1. Trim the ribs of any excess fat. Rinse the ribs with cold water and pat dry with paper towels.
2. 30 minutes before the ribs are to go on the grill, apply the rub all over the rack. That means not only the front and back of the ribs but the side and ends as well. Press the rub into the meat to adhere and set aside.
3. Where you place your ribs on the grill is most important. We need indirect heat to cook the ribs without drying them out or overcooking them. Your grill will also have to be able to hit at least 375°F. The burners on my grill run side to side, so I placed the ribs on the right side of the grill while the burners on the left were burning. If however your burners are front to back, place the ribs at the back of grill and light the burners in the front.
4. Place the ribs on the grill plate bone side down, close the lid and adjust the heat until it holds a temperature of 300°F. Cook the ribs for 30 minutes. Do not open the lid as this will hold in as much smoke as possible.
5. Once the ribs have been cooking for 30 minutes, it’s time to wrap them in aluminum foil. The ribs should be browned on all sides. If there are any raw spots, continue to cook the ribs for another 10-15 minutes. When they’re ready, place the wrack in the middle of a large piece of aluminum foil. Pour in the apple juice and seal the foil around the rack as tightly as possible. Steaming the ribs with the apple juice will make them nice and tender but won’t ruin the flavor of the rub at all.  Place the wrapped packet back on the grill where it was, close the lid, increase the temperature to 375°F, and cook for another 40 minutes.
6. After the ribs have been steaming for 40 minutes, unwrap the foil, place the ribs back in their indirect grilling spot, close the lid and lower the temperature to 250°F. Now you have two options, sauce or no sauce. If you choose to grill your ribs Memphis style (that is without sauce) then cook your ribs for another 30 minutes without opening the lid. If you’re going to sauce your ribs, however, baste one side of the ribs with sauce, close the lid and cook for 5 minutes. Flip the ribs over, baste the other side, close the lid and cook for 5 more minutes. Continue to do this for 30 minutes and you’ll have a nice thick barbecue sauce coating your ribs.
7. After 30 minutes, whether basting the ribs or not, transfer them to a platter and serve.

I know Fridays are usually dedicated to classic cocktails here on Kitchy, but today, I’m doing a garnish for those cocktails instead. Today I bring you maraschino cherries. While it’s true, they’re not a cocktail, the cherries are soaking in liqueur and are then used as the finishing touch in several cocktails.  As a matter of fact, these babies are the reason I haven’t made some of the more standard classics. I wanted to wait to make a Manhattan or Old Fashioned until I actually had maraschino cherries. And I’m not talking about those sicky sweet, neon red ones. I’m talking about the real thing: cherries soaked in Maraschino liqueur.

Hard to believe isn’t it? I mean, these cherries don’t look like the maraschino cherries we all know so well. That’s because I made them the way they used to be made, pre Prohibition. Yes, these garnishes are themselves a classic. They’re actually from Italy originally and were made by marinating Marasca cherries in Maraschino liqueur which is itself a liqueur that’s made from the crushed pits of the aforementioned Marasca cherries.  How’s that for a roundabout way of creating something. They were imported to American in the 1890′s and could be found at the most luxurious hotels and restaurants. But once the cherry became popular, American found a way to make a cheaper version.

At first we just replaced the cherry. Instead of using the Marasca, Americans tended to use the Queen Anne.  They also started using less liquor and almond oil instead of the cherry pits. Then the Prohibition hit and as you all know, liquor was banned, which meant the Maraschino cherry was banned. But two things happened to prevent the Maraschino from only appearing in historical bartending books. First, maraschino cherry producers replaced the liqueur entirely with an almond brine, and then they started selling the cherries to soda counters in order to make a little extra cash. This is why those bright red cherries can now be found on every sundae from Hawaii to Cape Cod.

You’re probably thinking, “but Prohibition was repealed. Why do we still have those bright red cherries instead of the liqueur infused ones?” Simple. Money. It was significantly cheaper to produce the almond brine soaked version. So much so, that those same cherry producers lobbied the government to call those bright red, sicky sweet cherries we all know so well “maraschino cherries” even though there’s no longer a drop of maraschino liqueur anywhere near them. That is, unless you do what I did and make them yourself.

I’d never even considered making maraschino cherries until I heard from Pamela over at My Man’s Belly and Andrew at Eating Rules how easy they were to make. So, I ran right out and bought everything I needed to make my very own liquor-infused cherry.

And… Oh.  My.  God.

I can’t believe it took me this long to make them. I honestly don’t know how I’ve gone all these years without ever having eaten a real maraschino cherry. They are soooooo good. And what a kick! They definitely add a little extra something to all those classic cocktails.  But if you’re not in the mood to shake up a drink, the cherries aren’t too bad on their own, especially with a nice piece of dark chocolate.

Maraschino Cherries

• 1 pound of bing cherries, pitted
• 1 bottle of Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur

Place the cherries into a large mason jar. Pour the entire bottle of liqueur over the cherries.  Place the jar in the refrigerator and chill for at least 2 weeks.  (But they’re better if you can wait four weeks.)

Once they’re ready, add them to all your classic cocktails that call for a cherry or eat them by themselves.