Cobbler shakers

The difference with a Boston shaker lies in the strainer. With a Boston you shake in two separate tins and strain afterwards with a separate strainer, which is quicker and leaves more room for ice. The cobbler has the strainer built in, so you set it down, pour and you are done. At home and for smaller numbers, that convenience beats the extra speed. On capacity, 50 cl is the size that suits one to two cocktails at a time: roughly twelve centilitres of liquid plus ice up to three quarters. As for the finish, it mostly comes down to the coating. Stainless steel is untreated and the most indestructible; copper, gold and black have a layer that looks sharp but asks for more care. For other types, have a look at the cocktail shakers.

Fill the tin three quarters full with ice first and only then add your ingredients, not the other way round; cold spirits mix better. Put the strainer cap on, press it down straight and always keep one hand on the cap while shaking, because the cold makes the metal contract and the cap can shoot off. Shake for ten to fifteen seconds, hard and short, until the outside frosts over. Anything with juice, egg or cream belongs in the shaker: a daiquiri, a cosmopolitan and an espresso martini only get their layer of foam that way. Then take the cap off and pour out in one movement.

The classic complaint about a cobbler is a cap that will not come off after shaking. It is nearly always the cold: leave the shaker to stand for half a minute or hold the seam under warm water and it releases by itself. Prying deforms the rim, and after that it never closes properly again. Rinse the three parts straight after use, because sugar syrup sticks in the holes of the strainer. Wash coated models by hand and without a scouring pad. Store the shaker taken apart, so no moisture is left standing inside.

A shaker is only the start. You measure more accurately with one of the jiggers, and everything that should be stirred rather than shaken is done with a bar spoon in a mixing glass. The glass you pour into is among the cocktail glasses, and the fresh lime that goes into almost every shaken cocktail comes out of one of the citrus presses, which hold back the pips at the same time.