This section is from the book "The Epicurean", by Charles Ranhofer. Also available from Amazon: The Epicurean, a Complete Treatise of Analytical and Practical Studies on the Culinary Art.
Iced drinks are those to which plenty of ice is added, then covered with a tin shaker and shaken until the contents are very cold and iced.
Cold drinks are those mixed into chopped ice with a spoon.
A glass of vermuth equals half a gill and is the glass meant in the recipes when not otherwise specified.
Five small glassfuls equal a gill.
Six dashes fill a teaspoon.
Put some fine ice into a large glass, add a glassful of Italian vermuth and one dash of Boker's bitters; mix the whole together with a spoon, strain and serve in small glasses. Another kind of vermuth cocktail is made by replacing the Italian vermuth by French vermuth, and having orange bitters instead of Boker's.
Sherry into which a little bitters is mixed.
Put some very finely broken ice in a large glass, add a glassful either of brandy, whiskey or Holland gin, one dash of Boker's bitters.
and two dashes of sweetening (gum syrup); mix well together with a spoon, strain and serve in small glasses. Tom gin cocktail is made exactly the same, only using old Tom gin and suppressing the sweetening.
Mix in a large glass some finely chopped ice, a vermuth glassful of calisaya, one dash of orange bitters and a little vermuth; mix well, strain and serve in small glasses.
Add to some finely chopped ice in a glass, a vermuth glassful of Peruvian bitters, one dash of orange bitters and a little vermuth; mix thoroughly, strain and serve in small glasses.
Have some broken ice in a large glass with the third of a glassful of Tom gin and two-thirds (making a glassful in all) of vermuth, and one dash of Boker's bitters; mix well, strain and pour into small glasses.
Place some very finely broken ice in a large glass, add the third of a glassful of whiskey and two-thirds of vermuth, also one dash of Boker's bitters; mix properly, strain and serve in small glasses.
For three cocktails put into a vermuth glass some apple jack and two glassfuls of Italian or French vermuth, adding three dashes of Angostura bitters and finely pounded ice. Cover with a tin shaker, toss, strain and pour into small glasses.
Put some finely chopped ice in a large glass, add a small glassful of absinthe, two dashes of orange bitters and two dashes of sweetening; mix properly, cover with a shaker, toss, strain and serve in small glasses.
Have some finely chopped ice in a large glass, add a small glassful of absinthe and water, cover with a tin shaker, toss thoroughly, strain and serve in medium-sized glasses.
Put some finely broken ice in a glass with two-thirds of a glass of Hostetter's bitters, half a teaspoonful of Horsford's acid phosphate, two dashes of French vermuth; cover with a tin shaker and toss until the cocktail is iced, then strain and pour into small glasses.
For all cocktails a piece of lemon peel is generally twisted over the cocktail.
 
Continue to: