Food History Happy Hour: Angler's Cocktail (1909)

Thanks to everyone who participated in this week's Food History Happy Hour! In this episode we made the Angler's Cocktail from Recipes of American and Other Iced Drinks, London (1909). 

Because it's Labor Day Weekend and traditionally one of the biggest travel dates of the year, I thought we could talk about road food! We discussed the development of early federal highways, including Route 66, the Eisenhower Interstate Highway System, the Green Book and Driving While Black, rest areas versus service areas, Howard Johnson's and the development of other fast food chains, Gourmet and Ford Motor Company travel books on regional restaurants, the work of Jane and Michael Stern to catalog regional foodways, and the foods people took with them while traveling, roadside stands, and more. 

Angler Cocktail (1909)

Here's the original recipe, from Recipes for American and Other Iced Drinks by Charlie Paul (1909):

Fill a tumbler with chipped ice; put in two or three drops of Angostura bitters, half a teaspoon of orange bitters, and three or four drops of raspberry syrup; add half a wine-glassful of gin, then stir well and strain off.

Here's my version:

3 drops Angostura bitters
6 drops orange bitters
a dash of raspberry syrup
2 ounces American gin

Add to a cocktail shaker of crushed ice - swirl until cold, then strain into a cocktail glass. 

It's quite lovely - very floral and a pretty shade of peachy gold. I would add more raspberry syrup next time as I couldn't taste it at all and the drink was not sweet at all. 

Episode Links:

• "Driving While Black: African American Travel and the Road to Civil Rights" by my graduate professor Gretchen Sorin! 
  
• Driving While Black the film - set to air on PBS this fall!
• The History of Howard Johnson's Restaurant
• The Food That Built America - fast food history!
• Rest Area History - incomplete, but interesting!
• "Eating NAFTA: Food Justice, Policy, and the Cuisine of Mexico" September 17 with MoFAD
• "Marcia Chatelain: How did fast food become Black food?" September 24 with Culinary Historians of NY

We're switching to a twice-a-month schedule, so join us on Friday, September 18, 2020 at 8:00 PM EST for the next episode of Food History Happy Hour!

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