Mai Tai Recipes?

I am having a few couples over next Friday for a Hawaiian themed evening and am looking for a good tried & true Mai Tai recipe to offer at the tiki bar. Just Wondering!

Thanks,
Pammy T.

2 or 3 Saturdays ago the Wall Street Journal had a recipe for fresh Mai Tai. My brother made some up and they were fantastic! Sorry I don't have the exact date, but it was definitely on a Saturday.
Good Luck

A little googling got me this link to the story and recipe:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1183163 ... DS=mai+tai

Well here's a pisser: I finished organizing my cookbooks today and pulled out Trader Vic's Pacific Island Cookbook (1968) specifically to answer your question. !No mai tai recipe! Everything else under the sun, but no luck there...darn it.

OK, first off- if you want the original recipe, no grenadine, no pineapple.

The ratio is as follows:

4:2:1:1

4 Parts rum
2 Parts lime juice
1 Part triple sec
1 Part orgeat syrup

Glass: should be a double old fashioned glass.

Some things you can do to up the quality of this drink- split your rum to half light and half dark. Instead of triple sec you can use grand marinier (use a touch less than 1 part).

To add to this, let me suggest another very hawaiian tasting drink that sounds somewhat unappealing until you taste it. Now this was intended originally as a shot, though I've made it inn a short glass over crushed ice and I love it.

Surfer On Acid

Ratio is 1:1:1

1 part Jagermeister
1 part Malibu rum
1 part Pineapple juice

Mahalo for the recipes & suggesstions, I am going to try a couple of different recipes to see what I like best. My goal is to premake a pitcher or two for the night of my party. I was also contemplating just running over to Bob Chinn's to buy theirs it's 32.95 (iincludes rum that you add into the juice mix) but I thought it might get too $$$ as it is not my only alcohol that I am serving. I got a recipe from a friend of mine similar to the one above it is used with a liquor you may know called Hpnotiq (blue in color looks very tropical). You need to be very careful drinking this because the effects sneek up on you! OK as a sidenote: I've heard of the dreaded Jagermeister, what does it taste like? Enlighten me!

pammyt wrote:Mahalo for the recipes & suggesstions, I am going to try a couple of different recipes to see what I like best. My goal is to premake a pitcher or two for the night of my party. I was also contemplating just running over to Bob Chinn's to buy theirs it's 32.95 (iincludes rum that you add into the juice mix) but I thought it might get too $$$ as it is not my only alcohol that I am serving. I got a recipe from a friend of mine similar to the one above it is used with a liquor you may know called Hpnotiq (blue in color looks very tropical). You need to be very careful drinking this because the effects sneek up on you! OK as a sidenote: I've heard of the dreaded Jagermeister, what does it taste like? Enlighten me!

Jagermeister is basically an anise flavored liquor. It's not as bad as some think it is, but it must be deep chilled in order to be mixed into another drink otherwise its flavors can overwhelm your taste sensations.

Something to remember, when premixing liquors do it in containers that can be sealed to be shaken again (all of these drinks require shaking, not stirring). Over the course of an evening you will see some separation of these mixes, even though orgeat is a stabalizer (I use orgeat in grapefruit sorbet as a binding agent among other things).

Buying that mix is significantly more expensive than making it yourself, which will take you 15 minutes at absolute most to make a LOT of mai tai's.

If you like super fruity drinks like that (not pejorative, but trying to describe the flavor sensation you are seeking) let me offer a few suggestions: when making rum drinks use Malibu- it's very cheap and offers a taste of the tropics in its nose and sugar. For fruits you want things like pineapple and strawberries. The easiest way to get strawberry flavor into a drink is to slice up your strawberries and basically muddle them and push them through a medium fine strainer. This might be too much work for what you want to do.

Finally, think to pina coladas and daquaris. These are classic, but can be made very easily. An even easier way to make them than a blender that tastes better is by using a homemade ice cream maker- you can make the mix in the bowl and only let it set to where you want it to be as far as consistency.

I'm here to help in any way I can for your drink recipes.

jpschust wrote:OK, first off- if you want the original recipe, no grenadine, no pineapple.

The ratio is as follows:

4:2:1:1

4 Parts rum
2 Parts lime juice
1 Part triple sec
1 Part orgeat syrup

You've left out the rock candy syrup and the mint.

Victor J. "Trader Vic" Bergeron wrote:I took a fresh lime, added some orange curacao from Holland, a dash of Rock Candy Syrup, and a dollop of French Orgeat, for its subtle almond flavor. A generous amount of shaved ice and vigorous shaking by hand produced the marriage I was after. Half the lime shell went in for color ... I stuck in a branch of fresh mint and gave two of them to Ham and Carrie Guild, friends from Tahiti, who were there that night. Carrie took one sip and said, "Mai Tai - Roa Ae." In Tahitian this means "Out of This World -- The Best." Well, that was that. I named the drink "Mai Tai."

Trader Vic's mai tai original recipe

2 ounces 17-year-old Jamaican rum
1/2 ounce French orgeat
1/2 ounce orange curacao
1/4 ounce rock candy syrup
juice from one fresh lime
shaved ice
fresh mint sprig

Hand shake the rum, orgeat, curacao, syrup and lime juice with the ice. Garnish with half of the lime shell inside the drink and float a sprig of fresh mint at the edge of the glass.

Of course, now they use bottled mix:

Trader Vic's mai tai

Ice cubes
4 ounces Trader Vic's Mai Tai Mix
2 ounces fine dark rum
juice of 1 fresh lime
fresh mint sprig
pineapple spear
cherry
wedge of lime

Fill a double old-fashioned glass with ice cubes and add the Mai Tai Mix, rum and lime juice. Stir well and garnish with fresh mint sprig, pineapple spear, cherry and lime.

DBigg wrote:2 or 3 Saturdays ago the Wall Street Journal had a recipe for fresh Mai Tai. My brother made some up and they were fantastic! Sorry I don't have the exact date, but it was definitely on a Saturday.
Good Luck

I really liked the article. He quotes Jim Bouton from Ball Four (one of my favorite books,) and also talks about how Nixon liked Mai Tais. I bought all the stuff today, chilled them, and mixed one up. Very tasty and very potent! Much better than the ones at Chinns, which are the only ones I've had since my honeymoon in Hawaii 24 years ago!

Where do you buy Orgeat syrup? Binny's?

I saw it at the Clark & Wellington Binny's 2 weeks ago, I'd call first to make sure they still have it. I would think the south loop Binny's might also have it.

I hope you can find Small Hand Foods or BG Reynold's brand orgeat in your local stores. Both are handcrafted and made by bartenders.

You could make a batch from scratch! I've been meaning to do it, and it doesn't look very hard or time consuming, and from what I've been told, it makes a world of difference.

http://fxcuisine.com/Default.asp?langua ... ution=high

I will not have time to make the home made this week

leek wrote:Where do you buy Orgeat syrup? Binny's?

per Binny's website, Collins orgeat is "in stock" downtown, "limited - please call" @ lakeview/Lincoln park/S. loop; small hands "in stock" @ lakeview, "L-PC" @ other City locations

So basically, it's around, but call.

Roger Ramjet wrote:

leek wrote:Where do you buy Orgeat syrup? Binny's?

per Binny's website, Collins orgeat is "in stock" downtown, "limited - please call" @ lakeview/Lincoln park/S. loop; small hands "in stock" @ lakeview, "L-PC" @ other City locations

So basically, it's around, but call.

Sadly, the Collins is a pretty low-end version. If you can find the Fee Brothers brand, you'll be way better off. I ordered it over the net a while back. It's not as good as homemade (or some of the smaller brands mentioned above) but I think it's at least 2 steps up from Collins.

=R=

Wilks & Wilson (based in Indianapolis) also makes a fine orgeat that you can find a few places around town.

http://wilksandwilson.com/elixir-locator/

Oh, cool, Provenance is close to me (for the Wilks one)

Small Hands Orgeat purchased via Lincoln Park Binny's (closest one to me). Next question, what are peoples' preferred Triple Sec/Orange Curacao(s)?

You can get Orgeat which is almond syrup at Binny's and it really really does make a difference in the way this drink tastes.
Once I had it, I started trying it in other drinks and punches, and it's a nice, unique flavor, the kind of thing people will say- That takes great, but I can't quite place why.....

For Triple sec- fir price is no object, my fave is Grand Marnier, but if you're looking to save $ anyone will do since you're mixing it up w juices.
And even tho it's not in the original recipe, I like my Mai Tai w pineapple juice ....

I have Grand Marnier, but since it's brandy-based, and (most) Orange Curacao and Triple-sec are not, I figured it would be crisper with the neutral spirits. But I don't want to get the cheapest out there if it's not good tasting. I figured that with Cointreau I'm probably paying for marketing, but if people who know say it's significantly better than others, I'd go for that.

Also, looking at scaling up - I've read that when you scale up a drink recipe you sometimes have to change proportions. But if I scale it up 4x let's say, and divide it between 4 people, don't they each get exactly the same proportions as if I were to have mixed each of their drinks individually?

I get orgeat and the equally hard to find passion fruit syrup at Cost Plus World Market. Torani makes it. Maybe not the best, but there is so much stuff in the average tiki drink it always seems to work out OK.

leek wrote:Small Hands Orgeat purchased via Lincoln Park Binny's (closest one to me). Next question, what are peoples' preferred Triple Sec/Orange Curacao(s)?

A bartender friend recommended Senor Curacao to me, so that's what we use.

I just checked and Marie Brizard and Senor Curacao are Jeff "Beachbum" Berry's preferred brands, followed by Bols.

Actually, he could probably answer your question about scaling as well.

[email protected]

We've done 4x or 5x the normal recipe, in a giant shaker, and never had anybody complain....

kathryn wrote:

leek wrote:Small Hands Orgeat purchased via Lincoln Park Binny's (closest one to me). Next question, what are peoples' preferred Triple Sec/Orange Curacao(s)?

A bartender friend recommended Senor Curacao to me, so that's what we use.

I just checked and Marie Brizard and Senor Curacao are Jeff "Beachbum" Berry's preferred brands, followed by Bols.

Actually, he could probably answer your question about scaling as well.

[email protected]

We've done 4x or 5x the normal recipe, in a giant shaker, and never had anybody complain....

Paul McGee used Combier back on those Tiki Nights at Whistler. Not sure if that's still what he's using at 3 Dots. Brizard products are very nice but they're virtually impossible to find in Chicago. I think that's due to some sort of rift between a couple of the consituents in the local supply line but I'm not entirely sure.

The only thing I might consider scaling back as I scale up a cockail recipe is bitters, if they're in the recipe, and even then, probably not. Otherwise, I'd just multiply it straight away.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote: Paul McGee used Combier back on those Tiki Nights at Whistler. Not sure if that's still what he's using at 3 Dots.

Paul is using Pierre Ferrand Dry Curacao which is considered the reference standard in most tiki circles. David Wondrich had a lot to do with the quality there. Binny's carries it: http://www.binnys.com/spirits/Pierre_Ferrand_Dry_Curacao_42980.html

If you can't find it in stock, use Cointreau, which also makes a hell of a Mai Tai.

No one else has mentioned it but if you're truly looking to recreate the original, don't forget to mix an ounce of dark Jamaican rum with an ounce of rhum agricole to simulate that original flavor profile.

Jackson's Perfect Mai Tai
1 oz. Appleton 12-yr
1 oz. Clement VSOP Rhum Agricole
1/2 oz. Pierre Ferrand Dry Curacao
1 oz. fresh lime juice
1/2 oz. homemade orgeat (or B.G. Reynolds)
1/8 oz. homemade rock candy syrup (2:1)

Combine in shaker and shake with cubed ice. Strain into mug full of crushed ice. Garnish with fresh garden sprig of mint.

That's about as close as you'll get to perfect. Very close to the ones Paul is making.

ChitownJackson wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote: Paul McGee used Combier back on those Tiki Nights at Whistler. Not sure if that's still what he's using at 3 Dots.

Paul is using Pierre Ferrand Dry Curacao which is considered the reference standard in most tiki circles. David Wondrich had a lot to do with the quality there. Binny's carries it: http://www.binnys.com/spirits/Pierre_Ferrand_Dry_Curacao_42980.html

Also an excellent product. Probably not mentioned in Berry's book because it's a fairly new one.

I purchased Marie Brizard orange curacao at the South Loop Binny's two weeks ago, so apparently they have worked out whatever supply issues they once had. Binny's website currently lists its as available at multiple locations.

I bought it specifically for Mai Tais, and it has worked out very well. Now I just need to upgrade my Collins-brand orgeat.

DJH wrote:I purchased Marie Brizard orange curacao at the South Loop Binny's two weeks ago, so apparently they have worked out whatever supply issues they once had. Binny's website currently lists its as available at multiple locations.

I bought it specifically for Mai Tais, and it has worked out very well. Now I just need to upgrade my Collins-brand orgeat.

Great news, thanks!

=R=