America I AM Pass It Down Cookbook (39 page)

Watermelon Iced Tea

San Francisco, California

SERVES 8

Karen V. Clopton, a chief administrative law judge, says this recipe was passed down to her through her father Julius Clopton and one of his best friends, Frank Jimenez, who was from Mexico. “Almost every weekend our family and the Jimenez family got together and had dinner, alternating and merging the cooking honors. My father and Uncle Frank concocted this delicious refreshment from their two heritages: Uncle Frank’s Mexican Agua Fresca with watermelon and my father’s Southern sweet tea tradition and his love of watermelon,” says Clopton. “Of course, now and then the adults would supplement their watermelon iced tea with a shot of tequila.”

6 cups fresh brewed India black tea
6 cups fresh watermelon
1 cup of ice
2 cups distilled water

Make ahead: Fill ice cube trays with watermelon puree to freeze for a nice decorative and delicious addition to glasses when served.

Brew fresh pot of India black tea. Allow to cool to room temperature. Puree the fresh watermelon and cup of ice. Mix pureed watermelon and tea and pour into a 2-quart pitcher. Ratio: 2 parts watermelon to 1 part tea, depending on how sweet you prefer it.

Add 2 cups of distilled water.

Serve in tall frosted iced tea glasses over ice.

Tom Bullock

Master bartender Tom Bullock was born just after the Civil War in Louisville, Kentucky. The exact trajectory to the height of his fame as master bartender of the St. Louis Country Club in St. Louis, Missouri is not clear, but what is certain is that his libations earned him praise from high society, politicians, and the common man alike. In 1917 he published a book called
The Ideal Bartender,
the first cocktail recipe book by an African American.

Among his most notable friends—and there were many—were August Busch of Anheuser-Busch, who had Mr. Bullock to thank for the creative uses he found for Bevo, the beer substitute the brewer created during Prohibition that kept the company in business and its workers employed.

“Who was ever known to drink just a part of one of Tom’s? Tom, than whom there is no greater mixologist of any race, color or condition of servitude was taught the art of the julep by no less than Marse Lilburn G. McNair, the father of the julep . . . To believe that red-blooded man, and a true Colonel at that, ever stopped with just a part of one of those refreshments which have made St. Louis hospitality proverbial . . . is to strain credulity too far.”

—
St. Louis Post Dispatch
editorial from
May 28, 1913, commenting on President Roosevelt’s claim
he merely had a small sip of one of Tom Bullock’s famous mint juleps

Lemonade Apollinaris

MAKES 1 SERVING

Patrons enjoy cocktails at The Palm Bar Taven,
a Chicago “Negro Restaurant,” in 1941.

Apollinaris is a sparkling mineral water that has been produced in Germany since 1852. It would have a been a key tool in the bartending kit of a master mixologist like Tom Bullock and he specifically calls for it in a number of recipes in
The Ideal Bartender.
The bubbles make for a refreshing take on lemonade.

2/3 cup crushed ice
1 tablespoon of bar (superfine) sugar
juice of 1 lemon
1 bottle of Apollinaris

Place the crushed ice in a tall glass and add the lemon and sugar.

Gently add enough Apollinaris to fill the glass. Stir gently with a long spoon. Serve.

Mint Julep–Kentucky Style

1 HEALTHY SERVING, OR 2 SMALL ONES

Easily Tom Bullock’s most famous recipe and the one that caused no end of publicity trouble for an abstaining President Teddy Roosevelt, this mint julep recipe calls for a “half pony” of water, which equals to about ½ an ounce or ½ a shot. In Tom Bullock’s day, as now, bartending terminology featured some creative terms like mickey, jigger, shots, jeroboams, and more.

1 sugar cube or 1 teaspoon of sugar
½ pony (½ shot) of water
2 jiggers (3 ounces) of bourbon
mint sprig

In a large mug or highball glass, mix sugar and water.

Fill the mug with crushed ice and add bourbon.

Garnish with mint sprig and serve.

Catawba Cobbler

MAKES 1 SERVING

Until Prohibition, the Hermann and Augusta areas just outside St. Louis were the country’s most prolific wine-producing regions, growing grapes that were a hybrid of sweeter native North American varieties and traditional European wine grapes. Among these was Catawba, a red grape that was used to produce a sweet red wine as well as a pink blush variety. Tom Bullock no doubt made use of these local wines in many of his concoctions. The St. Louis area wine industry virtually disappeared after Prohibition but has enjoyed a resurgence in the last twenty-five years, with many high-end wineries taking up the old standards. Although Catawba may be difficult to find these days, you can experiment with any semi-sweet red wine or rosé.

½ cup crushed ice
1 teaspoon bar (superfine) sugar dissolved in ¼ cup water
1½ jiggers (1½ ounces) Catawba wine
1 orange slice
raspberries and pitted cherries for garnish

Place ice in a tall glass, add sugar mixture and wine, and stir well.

Add orange slice.

Garnish with raspberries and cherries.

Pass It Down Classic: Georgia White Peach Sangria

SERVES 12 TO 14

Down South, folks don’t flock to beer or wine as a favorite refreshment. So if you really want to show the love and impress the host at a Southern family gathering or party, bring a flavored chilled drink like this Georgia White Peach Sangria.

3 ripe white peaches, halved, then sliced 1/3-inch thick
½ tangerine, halved, then sliced ¼-inch thick
1 lemon, sliced in 1/3-inch circles
2½ ounces of pineapple juice (for color)
¼ bottle choice of Riesling
1 bottle pinot grigio
½ ounce peach brandy
1½ ounces peach schnapps
1½ ounces Triple Sec
2 cups of 7UP

Mix all ingredients together in a large glass bowl. Allow to marinate in the ice box for 12 hours.

To serve: Add 5 ounces of mixture to glass (include 5–6 pieces of sliced peaches). Fill glass with ice and add a splash of soda water and a splash of 7UP.

Pomegranate Champagne Punch

SERVES 6

This contemporary update of Tom Bullock’s champagne punch uses the sweet taste of pomegranate to add even more flavor. Experiment with a wide variety of syrups to create your very own signature punch.

juice of 1 lemon
4 ounces of superfine (bar) sugar
1 jigger of 1883 Pomegranate Syrup
1 quart bottle of Champagne
1 sliced orange
3 slices pineapple

In a large glass pitcher, mix the lemon juice, superfine sugar, pomegranate syrup, and Champagne and stir slowly.

Stir and drop in orange and pineapple slices.

Garnish with fruit and serve in champagne goblets.