HOW TO BLEND A DRINK

A newcomer on the technique front, blended drinks rose to popularity in the 1960s and 70s with fruit-flavored versions of the margarita and the Strawberry Daiquiri becoming universal phenomena.

With blending, the ingredients are poured into a blender cup with ice and then placed on the electric blender base unit, which is then turned on. The steel blades inside the blender cup ensure that the drink is blended to a smooth, thick consistency.

The thoroughly blended mixture is then poured into an empty frozen drink glass – preferably stemmed so that the customer's hand doesn't warm the drink too much. A perfect consistency is reached when a straw can stand up in the middle of the drink. Blended drinks can be poured right to within 5mm of the top of the glass.

Blending dilutes drinks by up to 40%, so blended drinks require very strongly flavored ingredients to create a good final drink. Blenders affect the taste of a drink completely, creating a drink that would be impossible to make in any other way: pureed fruit can combined with ice cream, creating such dreamy cocktails as the Strawberry Margarita or Strawberry Shortcake.

THE SECRET

The key to a great blended drink is knowing how much ice and liquid to put in. It is better to underestimate, because you can always add more liquid to make the drink just fluid enough so that it can be poured; too much liquid however, will ruin a blended drink.