One of Mexico’s many widely known and beloved tequila drinks, the Paloma cocktail, is a refreshing summertime highball featuring lime juice and grapefruit. Grapefruit-flavored sodas like Fresca or Squirt are common ingredients, but this version swaps in fresh juice and seltzer for a more balanced sweetness and maximum citrus flavor. For this Paloma recipe, we prefer an unoaked tequila blanco (also known as silver tequila), as opposed to tequila reposado or tequila añejo, which may be barrel-aged between two months and three years. The blanco’s clean taste and herbaceous quality make a perfect base for this drink’s sweet and sunny flavors.

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This silky, tangy eggplant dish is an iconic Sicilian specialty, typically served as an appetizer or side dish. Beautifully absorbent, eggplant does an excellent job of soaking up the sweetness of the caramelized onions and raisins and the briny pungence of the capers and olives. Eleonora Consoli, a cooking teacher in Sicily, includes the unexpected addition of chocolate in her signature version of the dish. This eggplant caponata recipe first appeared in our March 2011 issue with the story, “Home Cooking in Sicily,” by Nancy Harmon Jenkins.

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The lovechild of a mai tai and a Negroni, this fruity orgeat and Campari cocktail is a sweet and summery thirst-quencher.

Featured in: “21 Cocktails for our 21st Birthday“

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Equal parts gin, chartreuse, Maraschino liqueur, and fresh lime juice, The Last Word cocktail is a foolproof classic that goes down as easily as it is to make. This recipe takes well to scaling: Quadruple it for four, or for a party, make a pitcher for guests to pour over ice. It can also be adapted to individual tastes; for a less sweet result, up the gin to 1¼ ounces.

WATCH: How to Shake a Cocktail

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Various conflicting origin stories surround the classic sidecar recipe, which only adds to the throwback cocktail’s mystery and charm. It’s fairly certain that the bright and citrusy drink is a descendent of the brandy crusta, a groundbreaking 19th century classic that was one of the first to leverage techniques now considered commonplace. It incorporated a liqueur as a sweetener; it juxtaposed that sweetness with bitters; it wielded citrus peel as a means for opening up the olfactories; and it featured a sugared rim. Do these elements sound familiar? The crusta is also a precursor to the daisy cocktail, from which the hugely popular margarita was derived. 

These days, Cognac- and other brandy-based drinks are comparatively rare, but in a way, the sidecar is positioned squarely in its own sort of zeitgeist: The drink was created in the 1920s, when the popularity of rich, brandy-based cocktails was on the wane in favor of trendier gin drinks. With its crisp and refreshing flavor profile, the sidecar bucked expectations set by its sweeter and heavier ancestors, proving the grape-based spirit’s versatility once and for all. 
For best results, be sure to start with fresh citrus. And make your own simple syrup; stored in the fridge, it keeps well for up to a month.

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Mixologist David Welch pours this “broken Negroni,” a bubbly riff on the beloved Italian cocktail at Sunshine Tavern in Portland, Oregon. This recipe first appeared in the iPad edition of our December 2013 issue with the article “Bubblicious.”

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The Chandelier Bar at Las Vegas’s Cosmopolitan Hotel (winner for Best Hotel Bar in the 2014 Saveur Culinary Travel Awards) serves this alluring concoction, the “Planet of the Grapes,” which blends Pavan, an orange blossom–infused liqueur, with vodka, chamomile syrup, and sparkling wine.

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The old fashioned is a descendant of the even older “whisky cocktail”—a combination of grain spirit, bitters, sugar, and citrus that was popular in the early 19th century. This drink started out as an eye opener and hangover cure and the name evolved over the course of what David Wondrich describes as the “Golden Age” of cocktails (1830s–1860s), when bartenders began to incorporate various syrups and ingredients. To order the classic whisky cocktail, customers began to ask for it “the old fashioned way,” and so the spirit-forward staple was born.

The first written account of the old fashioned—though one made with gin—appears in Jerry Thomas’ 1866 bartending guide How to Mix Drinks: The Bon Vivant’s Companion. By the 1880’s, the whisky version was ubiquitous in bars from Manhattan to Washington D.C. to San Francisco. These days, most old fashioned drinkers opt for bourbon or rye, but it’s important to note that any aged spirit is suitable for this classic cocktail. In 2007, at New York City’s Death & Co., bartender Phil Ward created a delicious, mezcal-based version that has since been adopted as a standard serve around the world. Meanwhile, Korbel brandy is the popular old fashioned choice in Chicago and elsewhere in the Midwest. The State of Wisconsin even has its own variation, which includes a muddled maraschino cherry, an orange slice, and a splash of soda water or Sprite. Some purists object to this fruity and diluted formula, but as the whole point of the old fashioned is the freedom to enjoy your spirit just the way you like it, there’s technically no “right” way to mix one. 

For the traditional whisky recipe, many bartenders prefer rye over bourbon for its drier, spicier flavor profile. I particularly enjoy Rittenhouse or Old Forester 100. Whichever you choose, I recommend using a spirit bottled in the 50–52% ABV range; these stronger pours boast more intense aromas and flavors than lower-ABV options (and are less susceptible to over-dilution if you prefer to take your time enjoying your drink). I also like to sweeten my old fashioned with a “rich” simple syrup made from 2 parts sugar to 1 part water rather than the typical 1:1 ratio. This results in a less diluted drink with a better texture than one made with a more watered-down liquid. (To make your own, follow the standard simple syrup recipe—just double the sugar.)

Classic Old Fashioned Recipe

Wisconsin Old Fashioned

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It has been suggested that tuna tartare was invented in Beverly Hills in 1984 by a French-trained Japanese chef named Shigefumi Tachibe. By the late 1990s, this quintessential “fusion” dish had exploded in popularity and its presence on upscale restaurant and catering menus throughout the United States was emblematic of a decade of American cuisine.

I grew up in the 1980s and 90s and loved ordering this briny raw fish dish with my parents for special occasions. Now that sushi-grade tuna is readily available at Japanese grocery stores and online, it’s easy to recreate the brasserie classic at home. I developed this simple, wasabi-spiked recipe based on versions served widely throughout New England at the time.

If you prefer a bit of tropical sweetness in your tartare, feel free to toss a quarter cup of diced pineapple or mango in with the avocado pieces. When serving raw fish, freshness is essential for ensuring safety. Be sure to purchase sushi-grade tuna from a reputable source; the fish should be firm to the touch and deep red in color, with no trace of slime or fishy fragrance. And finally, serve it within 24 hours of purchasing.

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By using seasonal squash, this light and tasty dish—developed by Alex Saggiomo at Blue Apron—can be made year-round. Feel free to get creative with the topping for this tart, which will help stretch leftover squash and other vegetables.

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When grilling just won’t cut it, we’ve got you covered with these knockout recipes.

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