COCKTAILS.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 260, 2 November 1929, Page 16 (Supplement)

COCKTAILS.

It lias come to be the fashion to serve a cocktail rather than a soup as a cur-tain-raiser to the meal. Webster defines a cocktail as "a horse with its tail docked; a person passing for a gentleman, but underbred; a,rove beetle; u beverage of spirit, iced and flavoured with bitters; .a preparation of raw oysters or clams in ketchup and lemon juice, seasoned with tabasco sauce am! server! in a glass; or a kind of cloud." It is cusy to pick out from these motley definitions the ones used as an appetiser —but one marvels at the name.

The fruit cocktail, which can be served before the .first course, is not quite any of the above articles. It is made by cutting a variety of fruit'into rather small pieces, putting all together and serving in liqueur glasses, when they have been filled from the cocktail shaker. Tinned peaches or pears, raw apples, pineapples, orange, grapefruit, bananas, cherries or almost any fruit is appropriate for the cocktail. Whipped cream may be added if desired.

The true origin of the name "Cocktail" is probably ,known to many, but we repeat it for the benefit of those who may not have heard how it originated. A party of English officers, so the story goes, had stopped at an inn for refreshments. Mine host's cellar being small but varied, they mixed their drinks into one hurried liqueur, for they had no time to tarry, and, raising his glass to a couple of resplendent stuffed pheasants under a glass-case on the sideboard, one of tliU officers drank "To the Cocks' Tai/s!"