Shaking

The aim of shaking is to mix, texture, chill and dilute. There’s three kinds of shakers: Cobbler, Parisian and Boston.

Boston shakers seem to be the way to go. They’re the ones you mostly see in bars: one large metal tin and either a pint glass or a smaller metal tin, called a cheater tin. I prefer two tins; they don’t seal quite as well on a dry shake but are much easier to break after shaking. They’re also indestructible.

These two aren’t fancy but work great.

Dry Shaking

Dry shaking means shaking without ice. Do this any time you’re adding egg to a drink. It allows the egg to emulsify with the other ingredients. Just shake for about 10 seconds then add ice and shake as usual.

Shaking with ice creates a vacuum that holds the tins together. This doesn’t happen when you’re dry shaking so hold on tight.

Shaking With Ice

Use big ice, especially when making cocktails with egg white. One large chunk of ice thunking back and forward creates a better texture than small ice. Even if you can’t be bothered cutting your own large clear ice cubes, 2” silicon ice cube trays are cheap.

10 seconds of shaking should be sufficient. The tin should be frosted.