Journal

Best Tomato Juice for Bloody Mary

Ask ten bartenders which tomato juice makes the best Bloody Mary and most will land on the same answer: Sacramento. It has the body, the clean flavor, and none of the salt bomb that ruins your seas...

Tajín: What It Is and How to Use the Chili-Lime Seasoning

Tajin is a Mexican chili lime seasoning made of three core things: chili, lime, and salt. It is the reddish powder you see dusted over mango from a street cart and crusted around the rim of a miche...

Tamarind

Tamarind is a sweet and sour fruit that grows in a pod, and you have almost certainly tasted it without knowing. If you have ever used Worcestershire sauce, splashed it into a Bloody Mary, or eaten...

Horseradish

Horseradish is a root, and it is the reason a good Bloody Mary bites back. Whole and uncut it smells like nothing. Grate it, and within seconds it clears your sinuses and stings your eyes. That sud...

Quinine

Quinine is the compound that makes tonic water bitter. It comes from the bark of the cinchona tree, a South American evergreen, and it is the single ingredient that separates tonic water from plain...

What Is Soda Water? A Complete Guide to the Cocktail Essential

Soda water goes into a vodka soda, a whiskey highball, a spritz, a mocktail. Most people pour it without a second thought and assume it is plain water with bubbles. It is more than that. Soda water...

Worcestershire Powder: What It Is, How to Use It, and Why It Belongs in Your Kitchen

Worcestershire powder is the dehydrated, shelf-stable form of Worcestershire sauce. It has the same complex flavor profile, savory, slightly tangy, with notes of tamarind, molasses, and warm spice,...

Best Alcohol Alternatives: What to Drink Instead of Alcohol

The best alcohol alternatives don't try to trick you into thinking you're drinking. They give you something worth reaching for on its own. That's the part most lists get wrong. They treat "alcohol ...

Margarita Salt

Margarita Salt Salt does more for a margarita than most people realize. It is not decoration. It is not tradition for the sake of tradition. Salt brightens the citrus, softens the bite of tequila,...

Olive Brine

Olive brine is the salty, tangy liquid that olives sit in during the curing process. You know it as the juice in the jar. Most people pour it down the drain. That's a mistake. This stuff is one of ...