If there’s anything that’s been consistent about this site in its near-20 years of beaming (babbling?) hypertext to servers and back to you, it’s that I’m very bossy when I get into something new, especially cocktails. When I fell in love with Porch Swings, I wanted you to as well. Ditto for Blood Orange Margaritas (but only when in season), a Perfect Manhattan era that spanned over a decade, Boulevardier that has been woven into almost every year since, and a Slushy Paper Plane phase last year. This past winter and spring still, it’s been Sidecars, 1920s-era cocktails with about as many conflicting stories as my kids regale us with when they didn’t do their homework.
In the one I find the most amusing, an American army captain in World War 1-era Paris would apparently roll up to a bar in a motorcycle sidecar — I have many questions including: who was the driver? — and became a regular at Hôtel Ritz Paris or possibly Harry’s New York Bar, depending on who is telling the story. The captain would order a mix of cognac, orange liqueur, and lemon juice and eventually, bartenders named the drink after his particular vehicular quirk.
In other origin stories, bartenders serve the drink with a little extra leftover from the cocktail shaker poured into a second glass… that they called the sidecar. Again, maybe it’s true, but I’m a skeptic, albeit a bemused one. I’m far more interested in its taste. I saw it referred to as the French cousin of a margarita, and honestly, I get it — it’s strong (from cognac), bright (from lemon), and slightly sweet (from orange liqueur) but balanced, as daisy drinks often are. Typically the sidecar is served with a sugared rim which I find completely unnecessary for taste (it is sweet enough) but cannot resist the way raw sugar gets a golden glint to it and include it here. We all need a little extra sparkle sometimes, right?
P.S. My cookbooks are on sale through the wonderful, independent Porchlight Books and if you order any one, two, or three of them, they will include a Mother’s Day card signed by me (and occasionally my 10 year-old). Order by Monday 4/27 to get the gift(s) in time for 5/10. [Smitten Kitchen Cookbook Sale]
