Video Cocktail: Mother in Law Cocktail on Honest Cooking

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Sometimes, you want to do something elaborate and show-stopping with your cocktails. Sometimes you want to flame an orange peel, measure three different kinds of bitters with an eye dropper and squeeze kumquats one-by-one over hand-chipped ice.

Sometimes, you just want to pour something strong out of a big, manly bottle and drink it. Fast. Which is why we’re presenting you today with the Mother In Law cocktail.

This cocktail is spirit-forward, robust*and earthier than what you’re used to drinking. It’s like pouring a leather couch and a smoking jacket into a glass rinsed with a hard day’s work.

Listen, before I sound like too much of a Portlandia episode, let’s just say that having a burly, batched cocktail like this one around will make you happy. It will make you feel happy when you are too lazy to measure things. It will make you happy when you realize you can either stir this and strain it into a chilled glass, or pour it over a big old rock. It will make you happy when, say, maybe your mother in law is around and she has a lot of things to say to you. I am privileged enough to have mothers-in-law who do not drive me to drink too much.** You might not be, in which case you can come over and I will pour you one of these.

* Yes! Hello! This just means strong!
** Just kidding, everything makes me drink! Didn’t you notice? Drink, drink, drink.

Mother In Law Cocktail

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5 from 1 review

Author: adapted from <em>Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails</em> by Ted Haigh (AKA Dr. Cocktail)
Total Time: 5 minutes
Yield: ~8 servings

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Description

This takes a bit of planning in procuring ingredients, but once it’s mixed, you have a well-balanced, complex cocktail batched and ready for you to cry on its shoulder.

Ingredients

Units Scale

2 1/2 tsp Peychaud's bitters
2 1/2 tsp Angostura bitters
2 1/2 tsp Torani Amer
1 1/2 oz (45 ml) Maraschino liqueur
1 1/2 oz (45 ml) simple syrup
1 1/2 oz (45 ml) orange Curaçao (we used Grand Marnier)
Bourbon to fill the remainder of a quart container

Instructions

Mix all ingredients in a quart decanter.
Cover tightly.
Apply 3oz, as needed, either stirred with ice and strained, or over a large ice cube in an Old Fashioned glass.
Yes, seriously, that is it.

Prep Time: 5 mins
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Category: Cocktails
Cuisine: American

Nutrition

Serving Size: 3 oz
Calories: 200

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is Torani Amer and can I substitute it?

Torani Amer is an Italian-style bitter orange liqueur similar to Amer Picon. If unavailable, another bitter orange liqueur like Bigallet China-China can approximate its flavor. The recipe uses 2.5 tsp alongside equal amounts of Peychaud’s and Angostura bitters.

What does ‘apply 3 oz as needed’ mean in the instructions?

This is a batched cocktail recipe — all ingredients are mixed at once in a quart decanter. The instructions say to pour out 3 oz servings as desired, either stirred over ice and strained into a chilled glass, or poured directly over a large ice cube in an Old Fashioned glass.