Post #355540 by Chip and Andy on Thu, Jan 17, 2008 10:20 AM

On 2008-01-17 07:57, DJ HawaiianShirt wrote:
Again, I'll ask this question, because I'm not sure it's been answered directly.

I have a freezer that makes whole ice cubes only. Is there a way I can make a blended drink without filling my counter with appliances?

From what I can tell now, this would require having an ice-crushing appliance and a blender, am I right? Anything else? Is anyone here in my predicament?

If I may divert the conversation back to Bigbro's point about Top Mixers....

Sherman, set the controls of the Time Machine for 1950.....

Consider the drinks we all love and their origins. Most of the Tiki Drinks were created in 'Commercial Bars' using professional tools and industrial size ingredient availability. We like to think that Trader Vic and Donn Beach sat behind a bar like we have in our homes and did the mad-scientist thing to come up with the Zombies and Mai-Tais. But they didn't. The mad-scientist thing is probably correct, but not the secretive bar/lab in the basement thing.

So, with that in mind.... the ice available/used in the drink, the blender/mixer used, the quality and quantity of the ingredients used were all of a Professional Bar level. Lets look back a bit, shall we?

Ice

Commercial Ice Makers crank out ice in large volumes, usually VERY large volumes. One of the ways the machines are able to do this is to make a smaller cube. Look at the ice in your glass next time you are at the local watering hole, it will be smaller and probably round-ish. It will probably look a lot like the Party Ice you pick up at the corner market for about a dollar a bag for five pounds.

From that machine, it is a small step mechanically to Crushed Ice. I have seen machines that can crank out a pound of crushed ice in just a very few minutes and I have read of machines that can generate ten or more pounds in less than fifteen minutes. If I were running a bar and needed crushed ice you can bet I will have one of those!

So... We can surmise that the ice used in most of the tiki drinks would be either small-cube (Party Ice) or crushed ice. If you are trying to replicate as best as you can the entire experience of a Tiki drink in your average home-bar you should go for cracked ice (to mimic the smaller cube typical of a commercial ice maker) or crushed ice because it blends easier/better in the drink.

Blender vs Mixer

This one is a bit more difficult, because most bars had both. Top Mixers were more common 'then' because they could be used for more things (milk-shakes anyone?). And, using a Boston Shaker makes it a snap to use a Top Mixer so that would be the most likely candidate to use in blending a drink.

Blenders, on the other hand, are harder to use and clean (generally) and because of that would be used far less than the top mixer. And, if you have equal access to cubed and crushed ice, you don't need the blender to crush your ice in your drink.

This obviously favors the Top Mixer as the tool of choice. If you have access to crushed ice in sufficient quantities and are trying to be as authentic as your home-bar will allow, get a Top Mixer.

Your Home-Bar

Still under the assumption that this discussion is for the Home-Bartender, what do you need to recreate Tiki drinks as authentically as counter space and budget allow? You need access to sufficient quantities of crushed ice, a Top Mixer, some premium ingredients to mix together, and a commitment to devoting that kind of counter space to your home-bar.

How do you do it without one or more of those things? You do the best you can with what you have.

An Ice Crusher is an invaluable tool to have for the bar (manual or electric), but you can do pretty well with a wooden spoon and a bar towel to get cracked ice. Search ice crusher on ebay, you will be amazed at what is available.

No blender is going to do a 'good' job on crushing ice, but they will all give you enough cracked ice to make just about anything you want in very short order. Add your ice and spin, then add your drink and spin again.

Getting back to the 'general rules....'

When your recipe calls for a cup of ice and Blend for 5 seconds, you want to start with cracked ice, crushed being even better. 5 seconds with typical freezer-sized cube ice isn't going to do anything but give you huge chunks of ice.

And then, getting back to the original question of what to have at home....

My recommendation is a Blender (nothing too fancy, see tips earlier in thread) and an Ice Crusher (I like manual, electric is preferred by others).

In an effort to do it with one appliance, get a blender (see tips earlier in this thread). All you have to do is add ice to blender and spin to get cracked/crushed ice as best as the machine will handle. Then, add drink ingredients and spin again. You will have to experiment a bit to get the consistency of the drink where it is desirable. (drats! you mean I have to make more than one drink? :) )

So, my overly long answer to your question is get a good blender. I like my Westbend and it is cheap enough that I can get a new one if I burn it out.