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The Book of Cocktail Ratios

The Surprising Simplicity of Classic Cocktails

Book #2 of Ruhlman's Ratios
Illustrated by Marcella Kriebel

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About The Book

New York Times bestselling author Michael Ruhlman applies the principles of his innovative book Ratio—about the relationships of ingredients to each other—in this delightful back-to-basics cocktail book, sharing the simple recipes and fundamental techniques that make for delicious and satisfying libations.

Did you know that a Gimlet, a Daiquiri, and a Bee’s Knees are the same cocktail? As are a Cosmopolitan, a Margarita, and a Sidecar. When hosting a party wouldn’t you enjoy saying to your guests, “Would you care for a Boulevardier, perhaps, or a Negroni?” These, too, are the same cocktail, substituting one ingredient for another. Or if you’d like to be able to shake up a batch of whiskey sours for a party of eight in fewer than two minutes, then read on.

As Michael Ruhlman explains, our most popular cocktails are really ratios—proportions of one ingredient relative to the others. Organized around five of our best-known, beloved, classic families of cocktails, each category follows a simple ratio from which myriad variations can be built: The Manhattan, The Gimlet, The Margarita, The Negroni, and the most debated cocktail ever, The Martini.

A practical reference of cocktail classics, a source of inspiration for putting a new spin on the usual gin and tonic, and an affable tribute to the pleasures of the cocktail hour, The Book of Cocktail Ratios shows you how to serve up delectable drinks in no time. Cheers!

About The Author

Photograph by Catherine Sebastien

Michael Ruhlman is the author of award-winning cookbooks and nonfiction narratives. He is the author of chef Thomas Keller’s seminal The French Laundry Cookbook as well as the highly successful series about the training of chefs: The Making of a Chef, The Soul of a Chef, and The Reach of a Chef. He is also the author of The Elements of Cooking and Ratio. Ruhlman has worked at The New York Times and as a food columnist for the Los Angeles Times. He has attended the Culinary Institute of America and is the author of eighteen books—about food and cooking, and also such wide ranging subjects as a pediatric heart surgeon and building wooden boats. Michael lives with his wife in New York City and Providence, Rhode Island.

About The Illustrator

Product Details

  • Publisher: Scribner (May 23, 2023)
  • Length: 288 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781668003398

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Raves and Reviews

“Leave it to Ruhlman, a relentlessly helpful and smart food writer, to give us a relentlessly smart and helpful primer for cocktails.” Esquire

“Making a good drink is just a matter of proportions... The recipes for the variations on each drink are straightforward, very doable and delicious.” Wall Street Journal

“Ruhlman’s writing is funny, engaging, extremely informative, and is peppered with a ton of great info... The Book of Cocktail Ratios is a home bar essential, and overall, an extremely interesting book offering a deep grasp of the basics of a ton of classic cocktails. It will leave you feeling empowered to pull them out of your pocket at any moment, or to work to come up with your own interesting variations.” —Vice

“If memorizing dozens of cocktail recipes seems a daunting task, do not fear! In The Book of Cocktail Ratios, Michael Ruhlman distills dozens of classic drinks to their basics and shows us that by learning five simple formulas and a few techniques, you can simultaneously simplify your thinking of cocktails while vastly expanding your repertoire. It’s as essential to the home bartender as his book Ratio was to home cooks.” —J. Kenji López-Alt, author of Food Lab

“Once again, Michael Ruhlman brings order and reason to a culinary realm once ruled by confusion, and madness. The Book of Cocktail Ratios is the cocktail book most of us never knew we needed.” —Alton Brown, author of Good Eats

“Michael Ruhlman is wickedly smart, engaging and eternally curious, sure in his opinions but not too dogmatic to learn. The same holds true for this book: it's so pleasantly conversational; so easy to get sucked into, that it almost makes you forget how unfailingly useful and instructive it is.” —David Wondrich, Editor in Chief, Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails

“Like much of what Michael has written, it makes other books on the subject redundant. Filled with history, information and great recipes, it will definitely improve your parties.” —Ruth Reichl

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