Andrea Nguyen
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Recent PostsChile Salt for Fruit and Veggies (Bot Muoi Ot)Stir-Fried Pork with Black Beans and Green Beans Recipe15th Anniversary Mai Tai RecipeThai Melon SaladSpicy Sardine Corn Empanadas RecipeRockin’ Ramen Chef: Noodle Soup Making VideoNavigating Food Safety in Chinese IngredientsPandan Chiffon Cake RecipeTasting Texas Part 2: Houston’s Big Little SaigonTasting Texas 1.5: Bread and Butter Pickles RecipeAwards + Praise
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July 17, 201115th Anniversary Mai Tai Recipe
Last week marked our fifteenth wedding anniversary. Because I was busy with and out of town for the Asian Tofu photo shoot, Rory and I had a belated celebration. I was too pooped to go out to a fancy restaurant. Instead, we celebrated at home with a simple-and-somewhat sinful dinner of fried spring rolls (there were frozen oyster spring rolls in the freezer) and fried Baja fish tacos.
To go along with that deep-fried menu, I asked Rory to make Mai Tais. We’d gone to a couple of Tiki bars in Southern California recently and carted back a souvenir tiki head goblet (above) from the Disneyland Hotel's new Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar (below). Our plan was to fill the goblet with one of our favorite summer cocktails, the Mai Tai, and sip it on the porch as if we were vacationing in some island paradise.
The classic cocktail of rum and tropical fruit juice was supposedly invented at Trader Vic’s, the Oakland, California, uber original Tiki bar that also spawned deep-fried crab Rangoon wontons. Don the Beachcomer in Hollywood may have created the drink earlier but no one knows for sure. Nevertheless, the Mai Tai is synonymous with Tiki culture and the tropical good life. In fact, maita’i is the Tahitian term to describe something that’s good.
There are many versions of the Mai Tai, but we gravitate toward the one from the Royal Hawaiian in Laguna Beach, California. Rory had gone there since he was a kid and introduced me to its kitschy, bamboo-laden bar over twenty years ago. We ate many wiki-wiki steaks and sipped many of their Mai Tais, watching their bartenders carefully, trying to figure out the Royal Hawaiian secret. Alas, they always had their base premixed and simply poured it into glasses, adding a last minute float of dark rum to create an attractive result. With all the liquor involved, their Mai Tai always packed a punch too.
Needless to say, we’ve attempted to make countless Mai Tais at home. One of the ingredients in the Trader Vic’s version is orgeat, an almond-flavored syrup. It’s not readily available and my friend, Jeff Bareilles, the sommelier and beverage director at Manresa restaurant, suggested substituting a bit of the almond syrup that’s commonly used for coffee drinks. Rory and I tried it and decided that orgeat gives Mai Tais a cloying quality that frankly, kind of turns in our stomachs. We even tried Amaretto and it overpowered. We don’t have a big sweet tooth, and in the end simplified matters by omitting the almond component altogether.
However, Rory had read that a little fragrant bourbon is sometimes added to the Mai Tai. We had a bottle of decent bourbon and gave it a go. This is the liquor that went into the goblet:
The Mai Tai was so wonderful – the most maita’i of our Mai Tais that we’ve ever made! It was good that Rory jotted down the recipe for me to share with you because we uh, drank too many of them. Enjoy with a date or a group for a fun time.
RECIPE
Mai Tai
Makes 1 big cocktail
For the pineapple juice, we use Watt’s, which comes in a box that’s labeled as ‘pina’ nectar. I imagine that it’s sold at Latin markets but we get ours at a mainstream, local market.
Ice Cubes
3 ounces unsweetened pineapple juice
1/4 ounce bourbon
3/4 ounce triple sec
1 ounce golden rum
1 ounce dark run
Fresh mint or wedge of fresh pineapple, for garnish (optional)
Put the ice cubes in a glass. Add the pineapple juice, bourbon, triple sec, and golden rum. Give the ingredients a stir to combine. Gently pour on the dark rum to create a rich brown ‘floater.’
Garnish and serve. Because the dark rum can be intense, I like to give things a stir before sipping to comingle all the elements.
Are you a Mai Tai maker? What’s your recipe?
P.S. If the Mai Tai isn't your thing, try the Rangoon ruby made with vodka!
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Happy belated Anniversary!
That drink looks delightful!
Cheers,
Rosa
Posted by:Rosa |July 17, 2011 at 10:32 PMHappy belated Anniversary, Andrea & Rory.
Cheers,
Tuty
Happy Anniversary!
Unfortunately, I've never had a mai tai but feel inspired to have one now, especially if there's a chance that I can find one of those tiki head goblets from which to drink such a festive drink.
Happy Anniversary, Andrea.
Since I used to work for an alcohol beverage company called Diageo here in Korea, We used to have a bartending school called Johnny Walker School where anyone with a passion to become a bartender go through all-expenses paid 8-week training program.
Here is the Mai Tai recipe from Johnny Walker School:
1 oz. White Rum
1/2 oz. Triple Sec
1t Lime juice
1t Grenadine Syrup
1t Pineapple juice
1t Orange juice
1t Powdered Sugar
1/4 oz. Dark Rum
Ice cubes
1. Chill old-fashioned glass with ice.
2. In a shaker, add white rum, triple sec, lime juice, grenadine syrup, pineapple juice, orange juice and powdered sugar then about 4 ice cubes and shake well.
3. Empty the ice cubes from the chilled glass then add about ice cubes.
4. Pour in the mix to the glass then add dark rum into the glass.
5. Add Cherry or Pineapple wedge as garnish.
Cheers,
Yun Ho
Posted by:Yun Ho Rhee |July 18, 2011 at 06:58 AMOops, it's about 4 ice cubes in #3.
Posted by:Yun Ho Rhee |July 18, 2011 at 07:00 AMThanks for the good wishes, everyone! Oye, after taking the weekend off -- I'm faced with edits for the book manuscript.
Next week, when I turn the darn thing back to my editor, I'll be making Yun Ho's Johnny Walker Mai Tai! Thanks for the recipe, YH.
Posted by:Andrea Nguyen |July 18, 2011 at 09:40 AMIt's good to see that someone with such good taste has discovered how good the Costco branded liquors are. We just bought the Costco bourbon a week or two ago and my husband says that it's really good. We're trying to figure out who makes it for them, Knob Creek or Woodford Reserve.
Thanks for the recipe, we'll give it a shot! (so to speak!)
Posted by:Helen |July 18, 2011 at 10:53 AMHelen: Thanks for picking up on the Costco bourbon. The private reserve is really quite nice. We think it's Knob Creek or Woodford Reserve too. Some say it's Jim Beam. Who knows, it's just fine for sipping and mixing, especially when you don't want to fork out the dough for Pappy Van Winkle -- which you wouldn't want to mix.
Posted by:Andrea Nguyen |July 18, 2011 at 02:22 PMMy favorite place to have a Mai Tai, so far, is the Royal Hawaiian Hotel on the island of Oahu. Your recipe sounds like it would be close to that one: sweet from fresh pineapple juice and a potent punch from all the rums.
Good to know about the Costco bourbon!
Posted by:Teresa F. |July 18, 2011 at 08:25 PMTeresa: You are spot on in the comparison. The Royal Hawaiian on Oahu adds a splash of Trader Vic's orgeat syrup. Ummm, we sat at the bar and had a number of them last January. Love that pink historic hotel. And the sunset views are killer like their Mai Tais!
Posted by:Andrea Nguyen |July 18, 2011 at 09:59 PMMmmmm---all those come-hither descriptions, sultry beverage components whispering deep secrets, a sense of exotic lands all connoting a maddening, must-have adult experience are---driving me to drink!
Uh, one Mai Tai over here, please....
Posted by:wotten1 |July 19, 2011 at 01:48 AMThank you for the recipe.
Posted by:Savio |July 19, 2011 at 03:44 AMAndrea, Thanks for the tip on the Royal Hawaiian Mai Tai that it includes a spalsh of orgeat. I haven't tried to replicate that recipe. Being that I don't have a sweeping beach, views of Diamond Head, or balmy breezes at my home, it would be way impossible to reproduce the experience properly. Sigh.....
Posted by:Teresa F. |July 21, 2011 at 08:18 PMCongratulations and I have to know where you got those great glasses. We have a Hawaiian themed family reunion coming up and they would make great prizes. Thanks for the recipe too!
Posted by:Magnetic Bracelets |July 25, 2011 at 04:22 AM Verify your Comment Previewing your CommentPosted by: |This is only a preview. Your comment has not yet been posted.
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