A Comprehensive Guide to Fried Chicken

While pork may be the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, it’s chicken that’s the most versatile. Fried chicken, our favorite variety (duh), comes in all types from all parts of the globe—and they’re pretty much all perfect with potato salad. We’ve rounded up some of the most popular varieties to provide a comprehensive guide on each dish’s unique preparation and cooking process. From Nashville Hot and Maryland-style to Korean and Katsu, every finger-licking-good iteration is covered below. Pick one for your next picnic, but be warned: it’s hard to choose a favorite.

Nashville Hot Chicken

YouTube/@Food Wishes

How to Prepare

Like most Southern-style fried chicken, the breast, thigh, wing, or drumstick should marinate in buttermilk before being dredged in a flour and spice blend. Nashville Hot Chicken’s famous fiery paste, typically one part lard to three parts cayenne pepper, sugar, and spices, is applied immediately after the chicken has been fried. This allows for it to penetrate the skin as it cools, all while maintaining its crispness.

How to Fry

Use a pressure fryer or deep fryer, though many restaurants opt to pan fry.

How to Serve 

Prince’s Hot Chicken, Nashville’s original, serves their bird on sliced white bread with a side of pickle chips. To calm the taste buds, it also tastes great with a small serving of creamy coleslaw.

Chicken Maryland

Serious Eats

How to Prepare

Maryland-style preparation is similar to any Southern-style fried chicken. Pieces marinate in buttermilk and are dredged in a flour and spice blend before being cooked to perfection. It’s the frying process where this geo-specific dish differs from the norm.

How to Fry

The chicken is pan-fried in a cast-iron skillet, unlike most Southern variations that use heavy amounts of oil (for deep fryers) or a heavy amount of shortening (on a stove top). While the chicken is frying in a shallow amount of oil, milk or cream is added to the pan to create a decadent white gravy.

How to Serve

Top the fried chicken with the remaining gravy and serve with any typical dinner side. We recommend a refreshing summer salad.

Chicken Katsu

Chowhound

How to Prepare

A pounded and butterflied chicken thigh or breast is salted, seasoned with white pepper, and dredged in a beaten egg. Japanese sweet wine is typically added before the chicken is coated in panko bread crumbs and deep fried.

How to Fry

Toss these cutlets into a deep fryer. Since the cut’s thickness is even, it will ensure even cooking throughout.

How to Serve

Typically, the chicken is sliced into strips and served with tonkatsu sauce (almost like a Worcestershire) next to cabbage, rice, or miso soup. You can also treat it like parmesan chicken and top it with your favorite sauce.

Korean Fried Chicken

BonChon

How to Prepare

Chicken is very lightly dredged in flour, dipped in a batter, and placed immediately in the fryer. Traditionally, all flavors and seasonings are added after the cooking process, but Americanized versions will add salt, pepper, and paprika beforehand.

How to Fry

What separates Korean fried chicken from its fried chicken counterparts is that it is fried twice, most commonly in a deep fryer to achieve a crunchier, less greasy skin. Since chickens in South Korea are smaller, they are sometimes fried whole and chopped into pieces upon cooking. Either way, you want your oil temperature to be lower (around 350 degrees) and for your chicken to cook for only ten minutes. Immediately shake off the excess oil and allow the poultry to rest for two minutes. The chicken then returns to the fryer for another ten minutes before it becomes the perfect, crispy (almost translucent) golden brown.

How to Serve

Korean fried chicken is typically seasoned and served three ways: huraideu (basic with salt and pepper), yangnyeom (spicy), and ganjang (garlicky soy sauce). The respective sauces (or lack thereof with huraideu) are brushed onto the chicken immediately after frying. All varieties pair well with a beer, soju, sesame seeds, and pickled radishes.

Chinese-American Fried Chicken

Chowhound

How to Prepare

Unlike Korean fried chicken, the Americanized Chinese love their flour and cornstarch-heavy batters. Whether you’re making sweet and sour, orange, or General Tso’s, the base usually consists of a flour, spice, egg, and water-based batter to achieve a breaded, light brown crust.

How to Fry

Most Chinese-American fried chicken dishes are prepared in bite-sized pieces. You can either pan-fry the chunks in a shallow pan of vegetable oil or toss them in a deep fryer. Either way, be sure to not overcook. Undercooking the breaded pieces so that the batter remains somewhat soft is what makes the dish a delicacy.

How to Serve

The possibilities are endless, though many Chinese-American chefs will allow their chicken to cool a bit before dousing them in heavy, sweet sauces.

Buffalo Wings

Chowhound

How to Prepare

If you’re hoping to make these anything like the inventors at Anchor Bar, there’s no need to dredge the raw chicken in any sort of batter or seasoning. Instead, just toss them into the fryer and let the oil and resulting skin do the talking.

How to Fry

Though healthier recipes boast oven-baking alternatives, placing your wings and drums into a deep fryer is the best option. Unflavored oils like canola are the best, as to not detract from the signature sauce.

How to Serve

Making homemade buffalo sauce is quite easy. Mix a cup of your favorite vinegar-based pepper sauce like Frank’s or Crystal, 12 tablespoons of melted butter, and a few bulbs of minced garlic. Simply toss the wings in the sauce and serve with a side of celery and bleu cheese dressing.

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Chill Out This Summer with Homemade Beer Slushies

A wise man once inquired, “What’s cooler than being cool?” The answer, of course: ICE COLD! Case in point, the beer slushie, which is poised to reign as the boozy beverage of the summer.

A welcome alternative to familiar spirits-based frozen cocktails, the beer slushie, which has endless flavor opportunities, provides a touch of fizz (the blending beats out most of the carbonation) and a distinctive kick, offering a refreshing spin on ice-blended classics like the daiquiri or piña colada.

“Beer is so different because it has hops in it,” says Kip Barnes, managing partner and brewer for Los Angeles Ale Works, the Hawthorne-based brewery which has elevated the beer slushie to new heights. Over the last year, he has been busy perfecting the recipes for his brewery’s diverse frozen beer concoctions.

“It’s been a lot of research,” admits Barnes, who has become familiar with the challenges of freezing beer. “All of the hops that are in there that are in suspension with the yeast, they all just turn into super crazy bitterness.”

The key to crafting a successful beer slushie, according to Barnes, is finding a way to balance that bitter bite with added sweetness and acidity. He takes advantage of the brewery’s wide-ranging tap list, matching each beer’s unique flavor profile with a variety of ingredients including locally sourced fresh fruit, agave syrup, and cold brew coffee.

Barnes, who initially blended his slushies with a Vitamix one small batch at a time, was compelled to purchase a full-fledged slushie machine for the brewery in order to keep up with demand which continues to build via Instagram and good old-fashioned word of mouth.  

Photo courtesy of Sarah Gardner

Last month, the Blümerita—Los Angeles Ale Works’ riff on a frozen margarita that substitutes the brewery’s Blüme Berliner Weisse for tequila—was the breakout hit amongst hundreds of beers served at the L.A. Beer Week Kickoff Festival. “We went through about 10 gallons of the [Blümerita] which is crazy,” says Barnes, who plans to offer beer slushies on weekends throughout the summer at the Los Angeles Ale Works taproom.

While Barnes tends to favor Berliner Weisse, which is low in hops and high in acidity, as the anchor to his slushies, he’s also found success working with beers that are more hop-forward. Recently, he served a chili mango-inspired slushie featuring Meseeks Joose, Los Angeles Ale Works’ hazy double IPA. The result was a tropical umami explosion of sweet, sour, spicy, and bitter refreshment that offered the perfect antidote to the summer heat. It’s the type of drink you would enjoy slurping out of a three-foot novelty glass while walking along the Vegas Strip.

The beer world has seen plenty of fads come and go (Black IPAs, we hardly knew ye) but Barnes is convinced that the slushie is here to stay. “If it was just a gimmick I’d probably just do it once at a party and that would be it,” he says. “But because they’re so good and people like them so much, they do come back.”  

As for the beer purists who scoff at a frozen beer mug, let alone frozen beer, Barnes isn’t concerned.

“Things like this…bring a whole new demographic into beer,” he says. “There are so many different beer drinkers out there and it’s fun to try beers in different ways.”

RECIPE

MeSeeks Joose Beer Slushie

INGREDIENTS

– 64 oz. Los Angeles Ale Works MeSeeks Joose (if unavailable, you can substitute another hazy double IPA)

– 4 oz. pineapple juice

– 4 oz. orange juice

– 1 oz. simple syrup

– Chamoy sauce

– Tajin

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Freeze 32 oz. MeSeeks Joose in a covered, freezer-safe container or ice cube trays overnight.
2. Add 32 oz. frozen MeSeeks Joose, 32 o.z cold MeSeeks Joose, pineapple juice, orange juice, and simple syrup to a blender.
3. Pulse to break up frozen beer and gradually increase blender speed until smooth.
4. Serve in chamoy and Tajin rimmed glasses.

Related Video: How to Make a Sweet Tea and Vodka Slushie

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Make These Crazy Good Pancakes for Brunch (or Dessert)

If there’s one aspect of pancakes we love more than any other, it’s the cake part. Seriously, it’s a series of cakes made in a pan. And you get to have more than one cake at a time, sometimes more than three if you’re feeling ambitious. So you not only can, but you should, go crazy with the flavors and add-ins in this weekend breakfast and brunch staple. Whether it seems more or less acceptable than breakfast pizza, it’s definitely delicious, and you could always serve these for dessert if that seems more fitting.

All you need is your basic nonstick pan or a well-seasoned cast iron skillet, some oil or butter, a good spatula for peeling off the hot cakes, and some patience in your flipping skills. It’ll pan out after the first couple tries. (Then you can move on to souffle pancakes, and other pancake variations…)

But the batter isn’t all. Consider more toppings than simply syrup and butter. Oh, yes. Berries, of course, and other fruit. Consider cocktail-inspired combos too (for instance, mai tai pancakes). And don’t stop at chocolate chips either. Play with some of these creative ideas that go beyond typical twists and make mornings extra sweet.

Carrot Cake Pancakes

Chowhound

Take the ingredients you love in carrot cakes and put them in your breakfast cakes—makes sense, right? Yep. Grated carrots join with apples in this batter, but then you also can lap up that cream-cheese frosting-like syrup, if you can call it syrup. More like heaven. Get our Carrot Cake Pancakes recipe.

Strawberry Shortcake Pancakes

Tastes of Lizzy T.

Strawberry shortcake is already kind of acceptable for breakfast (there is fruit in it, after all), but turning it into pancakes makes it even more so. The streusel baked inside each one is a sweet surprise. Get the recipe.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Pancakes

Minimalist Baker

Dense, fudgy pancakes definitely seem to scream dessert (and “Eat me immediately”), even louder when they combine chocolate and peanut butter and have a peanut butter cup melting on top. However, these are also vegan and gluten-free, making them healthier than they appear. Get the recipe.

Tiramisu Protein Pancakes

Kiss My Broccoli

These are pretty healthy too, as far as pancakes go, packed with good nutrition and vanilla protein powder. The creamy filling is made with mashed banana and cottage cheese, which really does the trick. Cocoa dust finishes it off. No guilt, all the decadence. Get the recipe.

Birthday Cake Pancakes

Chowhound

Rainbow-colored jimmies (sprinkles) tossed into the batter take your regular buttermilk pancakes from good to great, from brunch to birthday brunch. Try this recipe especially if it’s a little girl’s or boy’s birthday, although any day is a good reason to inject more color and festivity into your life. And you must sprinkle more jimmies into the sweetened whipped cream on top, of course. Get our Birthday Cake Pancakes recipe.

Cornbread Pancakes with Maple-Pecan Syrup

Chowhound

This might be one of the most American styles of pancakes, native American that is. Cornbread-filled cakes (aka johnnycakes) doused with maple syrup infused with pecans and butter is quite the locally sourced breakfast item. If local is anything that can be sourced in the United States. Get our Cornbread Pancakes with Maple-Pecan Syrup recipe.

Paleo Mexican Hot Chocolate Pancakes with Salted Dulce de Leche

The Healthy Maven

Guys, spicy chocolate pancakes would be enough awesomeness, but then this recipe had to go and add this other component, that sweet caramelized milk topping with a sprinkle of salt, like a frosting from the gods. Who cares if you follow the paleo lifestyle or not? Delicious is delicious. Get the recipe.

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

Tastes of Lizzy T

Squeezing a swirl of cinnamon filling on top of pancakes as they hit the skillet and drizzling them with a maple cream cheese glaze once they’re done is so much easier than making cinnamon rolls, but tastes just as good. Get the recipe.

Flourless Banana Coconut Oatmeal Pan-Cakes with Caramelized Banana

Harmony A La Carte

These dense, sweet pancakes are packed with ground oats, coconut flakes, and banana, and with the caramelized banana on top, it’s a filling treat that’s great for people who need to eat gluten-free or paleo. Or for people who just love coconut, bananas, caramel, and general deliciousness. Get the recipe.

Double Chocolate Chocolate Pancakes

Bakerella

How about chocolate with a side of chocolate, dotted with chocolate, drizzled with chocolate? OK. This is for the die-hard chocoholic, and it is a full-fledged binge. Get the recipe.

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These Simple Tips Make Eggs Benedict Easy, Even for a Crowd

Some foods fall naturally into the categories of both breakfast and brunch: pancakes and waffles, scrambled eggs. But along with Bloody Marys and bottomless mimosas, eggs Benedict tends to be reserved for the more leisurely and weekend-oriented brunch, maybe because it’s so luxurious, and also since it seems so labor-intensive to prepare. But while it may never be a Monday morning kind of meal, it’s not too intimidating to make at home, even for a crowd. These brilliantly simple techniques will make pulling it off even easier.

Poach Eggs in a Muffin Tin

One of the two most intimidating parts of eggs Benedict is right there in the name: the eggs, so let’s start with them. They should be perfectly poached, with firm yet tender whites and wonderfully runny yolks. There are tons of tips and tricks out there for making poached eggs in a pot (swirl the water; add a little vinegar; strain the raw eggs through a mesh sieve; slide them in just so; and so on), but this one takes all the guess work out of the equation, and allows you to cook a big batch at once. Just preheat your oven to 350 degrees and get out your muffin pan. Pour a tablespoon of water into each cup in the muffin tin (or as many as you plan to use), then crack an egg into each one and put them in the oven for anywhere from 8 to 12 minutes. You’ll want to check after eight, and then roughly each minute after that, until they’re done; they should jiggle a little when you shake the pan, but look pretty opaque around the edges and on top (beware that some of the water may have risen to cover the top of the egg, which can make it look underdone, even though it’s not actually raw anymore; still, you can cook them a little longer if you prefer them a bit more set, and let them continue cooking for another minute after pulling them out of the oven). Run a metal spoon around the edges of each cup to loosen the cooked eggs, then lift them out. Another benefit of this method is that they’re all uniformly sized and shaped to fit perfectly on English muffins.

Food & Wine

Even better, you can poach your eggs up to two days ahead of time. If you’re doing that, prepare an ice water bath and slide the poached eggs into it as soon as they’re cooked, then keep them in the bowl of water in the fridge, covered in plastic wrap, for a day or two (no more than that). When you’re ready to use them, gently rewarm them by placing them in a large bowl filled with hot water (straight from the tap is fine; in fact, actually boiling water can easily overcook the already poached eggs). They should warm up in a minute or two. Then just blot them dry on a paper towel and serve!

Whip Up An Easy Blender Hollandaise

The other thing that makes many people hesitant to tackle eggs Benedict at home is the hollandaise, a notoriously finicky French sauce that can break (or separate) if you don’t whisk it precisely—but break out the blender and there’s no need to fear, or exhaust your arm. Our Easy Blender Hollandaise recipe ensures you get buttery, lemony, satiny-smooth sauce with the mere press of a button (okay, a few different buttons), and you can make multiple batches in no time at all. It adds an extra step, but if you fill your blender pitcher with hot water and let it sit for a minute or two before pouring it out, wiping it dry, and starting the recipe, it helps keep the sauce warm (especially if you have a glass-pitcher blender). If you need to keep it warmer for a longer time, you can transfer it to a bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and set the bowl in a pan of hot water (making sure beforehand that the water won’t come up over the top of the bowl just in case the plastic wrap leaks). If this warm bath cools before you’re ready to serve brunch, change it out for more hot water, and this should keep your sauce fluid for about an hour. Just whisk it for a second to smooth things out before spooning it over your eggs.

Toast Muffins En Masse

English muffins are the classic base for eggs Benedict, and there’s no need to mess with tradition (unless you really want to). Since you won’t have to poach and toast each plate’s components to order, just split as many muffins as you’ll need in total and line them up on baking sheets, brush them with melted butter, then toast them all at once. The only  caveat is to watch out for hot spots; your oven probably tends to brown things more quickly in certain areas, so it’s a good idea to rotate the pan and shuffle the muffins around to prevent any from crisping too much, while leaving others underdone. When they’re toasted, place whatever other toppings you’re using (cooked bacon, ham, cooked seafood, cooked vegetables) on top and let it just warm through, another minute or two, before adding your poached eggs and hollandaise to each one. And that’s how to pull off easy eggs Benedict for a crowd (or just a couple, for that matter), without breaking a sauce or a sweat, leaving you plenty of time to sip your mimosa and ease into the day while you’re at it!

Try adapting one of these eggs Benedict recipes to use the muffin tin and blender hacks and maybe you will make it a Monday thing after all.

Classic Eggs Benedict

Chowhound

Ham, hollandaise, English muffins, and poached eggs—because sometimes there’s no sense in messing with perfection. A touch of paprika or chives helps perk up the plate. Get our Classic Eggs Benedict recipe.

Crab Benedict on Lemon-Chive Biscuits

Chowhound

Since making poached eggs in a muffin and blending hollandaise is so easy, why not spend a little time making lemon-chive biscuits and picking through some sweet crab meat to make a super-summery eggs Benedict? Get our Crab Benedict on Lemon-Chive Biscuits recipe.

Caprese Eggs Benedict

Life as a Strawberry

Speaking of summer, when tomatoes are perfectly ripe, they’re dynamite paired with fresh mozzarella—and you can eat the classic Caprese salad for breakfast by turning it into eggs Benedict, with fresh basil showered on top. In the off season, try it with tomatoes you’ve roasted to intensify their flavor. Get the recipe.

Smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict

Chowhound

If you’re not a fan of swine, swap it out for smoked salmon in your eggs Benedict, for an especially luscious bite. Get our Smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict recipe.

Steak and Eggs Benedict with Béarnaise Sauce

Chowhound

Heartier appetites will be satisfied by this meaty steak and eggs Benedict; the addition of tarragon, white wine, and shallots to the sauce is what makes it béarnaise, but it’s still finished in a blender. You can stick to hollandaise if you want a bit less work, but consider stirring some fresh chopped tarragon into it for a little flavor boost at the end. Get our Steak and Eggs Benedict with Béarnaise Sauce recipe.

Mexican Eggs Benedict

Feeding the Fiya

Put a Mexican spin on brunch by adding sliced avocado and sauteed onions and chorizo to the classic Benedict formula. Cilantro and cayenne spice up the hollandaise, which is also made with lime instead of lemon for a change. For a paleo take, swap sweet potato slices in for the muffins, or if you’re just looking for another tasty twist, try masa cakes or sweet corn cakes as the base instead of English muffins. Get the recipe.

Cajun Eggs Benedict

Life As a Strawberry

Using andouille sausage as the meaty component and kicking up the hollandaise with smoked paprika and cayenne is what makes these Cajun—and extra delicious. Get the recipe.

Overnight Eggs Benedict Casserole

Carlsbad Cravings

Of course, there’s always another way. If poaching eggs in the oven and assembling individual plates still sounds like too much work for you, go the breakfast casserole route (you can even prep it the night before), and top it off with whizz-bang blender hollandaise sauce in the morning. Get the recipe.

Related Video: How to Poach Eggs in a Muffin Tin

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Breakfast Pizza Will Brighten Up Any Morning

Pizza for breakfast? Sure, why not! Pizza in the morning is no problem if you’re willing to switch up the toppings. Since it’s made of bread, cheese, and tomatoes, pizza basically consists of breakfast food components to begin with. So eating pizza for breakfast—and no, not the refrigerated slice from last night’s shenanigans—is the perfect start to your weekend morning. Follow these guidelines and you’ll have some outstanding breakfast pizza on your plate in no time.

Start with the basics: You need to make sure that the base for your pizza is delicious. Boboli? Sure. French toast—why not? English muffin? Perfect. Or use traditional pizza crust if you’re not willing to think outside the pizza-breakfast-box just yet.

Keep it simple: The best pizza is often the most simple pizza. Italians have this figured out with Margherita—it’s just tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, and basil. Use this rule to make the best breakfast pizza and don’t go overboard with the toppings. You’re not dumping a breakfast buffet on your pizza, you’re picking out some key ingredients that will pair well together and taste great.

Add eggs: The ideal way to add protein and take your pizza from boring to badass. Crack a few eggs on top of your pizza before you pop it in the oven and you’ll have the traditional breakfast aspect covered. Or get crazy and slice a few hardboiled eggs on top of your cheese and sausage base…it’s your morning, get after it!

Add veggies: There are so many good choices for breakfast pizza veggies—try out broccoli, fresh cherry tomatoes, asparagus—whatever is in season.

Breakfast meat: If you’re a meat-eater, then breakfast pizza calls for bacon and sausage. Or a little prosciutto. If it goes well with eggs at IHOP (or IHOB…), it should be on your pizza.

Save some for later: If you thought last night’s pizza was good, coming home after a full day of work and having some leftover breakfast pizza is beyond convenient. Dress it up with fresh eggs when you’re reheating, or skip the eggs all together and just throw on some more cheese. This is a great leftover option and you can repurpose it endlessly.

Here are eight recipes for breakfast pizza that will get any day off to a great start.

Harissa Pancetta Breakfast Pizza

Chowhound

If making dough from scratch is a little bit too intense for you first thing in the morning, you can make this recipe ahead the night before. Thinly sliced pancetta and spicy harissa (you can make your own or purchase from any Middle Eastern grocery store) are a perfect pair for a breakfast pizza packed with flavor. Get our Harissa Pancetta Breakfast Pizza recipe.

Everything Bagel and Lox Breakfast Pizza

Recipe Runner

Another shortcut is to use premade (but unbaked) pizza dough; all you have to do is stretch it out, top it, and bake it. Go with a sprinkle of everything bagel seasoning, cream cheese made spreadable with Greek yogurt, and soft smoked salmon, plus the traditional accompaniments of red onions and capers. Get the recipe.

Paleo and Gluten-Free Breakfast Pizza

Paleo Newbie

The crust for this breakfast pizza comes together with shredded sweet potatoes, eggs, and lots of seasoning: garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasoning, and salt and pepper. Top with broccoli, cherry tomatoes, sausage, and fresh eggs and you’ve got a healthy way to start the day. Get the recipe.

Breakfast Pita Pizza

Chowhound

Using a pita really saves time in the morning and you can make this recipe easily on a weekday. Top with oregano, red pepper flakes, baby spinach, Parmesan, and two large eggs. Get our Breakfast Pita Pizza recipe.

English Muffin Breakfast Pizzas

Yellow Bliss Road

Personal pizzas come to the breakfast table when you use English muffins as the base. Topped with scrambled eggs, bacon, and cheese, they’re just the thing to start the morning off right. Get the recipe.

Tater Tot Breakfast Pizza

The Gunny Sack

Line a cast iron skillet with tater tots and bake them until crispy. Then add in some eggs, crumbled bacon and sausage, and shredded cheddar cheese: perfection. Get the recipe.

Egg & Bacon Breakfast Pizza on Cheesy Hash Brown Crust

Mince Republic

Hashbrowns make a great base for a farm-fresh breakfast pizza with arugula, chives, mini bell peppers, avocado, and seasoning. Top with shredded cheese, eggs, paprika, onion powder, and salt and pepper.  Get the recipe.

Fancy Breakfast Pizza

Leite’s Culinaria

This is the classic breakfast pizza but jazzed up with caramelized onions, thick-cut applewood-smoked bacon, mozzarella cheese, and crème fraiche. If you have time, make the pizza dough from scratch to make it extra special. Get the recipe.

Related Video: How to Stretch Pizza Dough

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The Hawaiian and Not-So-Hawaiian Histories of the Mai Tai

If you’re lucky enough to be going to a tropical paradise this summer, or even if you’re not, one of the best ways to relax during a heatwave is to lay out by the pool with a cold and fruity Mai Tai. But that drink in your hand, the one with three different kinds of rum, lots of tropical fruit juice, and topped with a pineapple kebab and a pink paper parasol, while delicious in its own way, barely resembles the original drink, made famous in 1944 by Trader Vic.

Trader Vic (a.k.a. Victor Jules Bergeron, Jr.) was a legend in the Bay Area food scene. In 1934, he borrowed $500 and opened his first restaurant: Hinky Dink. He became famous for his take on Cantonese cuisine and in-your-face marketing tactics, like letting tourists stick an ice pick in his wooden leg. Hinky Dink soon became Trader Vic’s—a nickname given to him for his tendency to trade his food for goods and services. 10 years after that first restaurant opened its doors, Trader Vic created his legacy: the Mai Tai.

In 1944, some special Tahitian guests had entered Vic’s Oakland restaurant. He wanted to make something new and unique for them, so he grabbed a bottle of 17-year-old J. Wray and Nephew rum off the shelf. This rum, which was aged in oak barrels, had a unique flavor profile Vic described as “nutty and snappy.” Vic wanted to show off those flavors, not mask them, so he made a drink that is closer to an Old Fashioned than our current conception of a typical tiki bar drink. He combined that rum with lime juice, simple syrup, orgeat (a sweet syrup made with almonds), and orange Curaçao. Then, he poured the mixture into a glass with a heaping amount of crushed ice and garnished it with a lime wedge and a sprig of mint. Sounds tasty and classy, right?

Trader Vic’s Tahitian guests thought so too. They exclaimed, “Maita’i roa ae!” which in Tahitian means “Amazing! Out of this world!” Vic adopted the name and thus, the Mai Tai was born.

Chowhound’s Original Mai Tai

True to its name, the Mai Tai was so lauded that word traveled fast. Trader Vic couldn’t buy the 17-year-old J. Wray and Nephew, the whole basis for the drink, fast enough. In just a few years, he had used up nearly the entire world’s supply of the stuff; seriously, the rum hasn’t been made in over half a century! Vic found the next best thing: 15-year-old J. Wray and Nephew, supplies of which, shortly thereafter, also began to run low. However, the 15-year-old didn’t have the same oaky snap Vic had experienced from the 17-year-old rum, so he modified the recipe to be part 15-year-old rum, and part Jamaican rum to most closely mimic that flavor.

So how did this classic cocktail become adult fruit punch? Actually, that’s Trader Vic’s fault too! The Mai Tai was so acclaimed that the Royal Hawaiian Hotel wanted to serve their very own version at their bar and restaurant. Instead of poaching Vic’s recipe, they asked him to create one for them. Vic took his cocktail—the version with the 15-year-old rum and additional Jamaican rum for snap—and added pineapple juice and a few other flourishes to it. It was then that the Mai Tai, as we know it (then called the Royal Mai Tai), was born. And we can extrapolate what happened from there: If two rums are good, then three must be better, and if pineapple juice is good, then multiple kinds of tropical fruit juices will jazz up the drink too. Mint and lime? Not colorful enough for such a tropical drink! Let’s add a fruit skewer. And the pink parasol? That was the Royal Hawaiian Hotel adding a bit of flair.

Tiki Tastes

Grilled Teriyaki Pork Chops

Sweet and Sour Sauce

Painkiller

It’s fairly easy to get that Royal Mai Tai these days. You can buy a mix or go into almost any cocktail bar and order one up. Or really, make one yourself with this Royal Mai Tai Recipe.

You purists and curiosity seekers must be wondering how to make Trader Vic’s original Mai Tai, a drink so popular that it made a type of rum virtually extinct. Here’s Trader Vic’s Original Mai Tai Recipe

But the real question is:  How do you make this drink with the rarest of rums?

One answer is that if you have $55,000 or so lying around, you could buy a bottle of 17-year-old J. Wray and Nephew when it next goes up for auction. But I’m going to wager a guess that you probably don’t have that kind of cash gathering dust (though if you do and you buy a bottle, please invite me over!).

Anyway, for the rest of us, we’ll need a substitute for the rum. Cocktail enthusiasts have come together to determine the liquor that will produce the best facsimile to J. Wray and Nephew 17. Their answer is equal parts Martinique rhum agricole, made with sugar cane, and a 15-year-old Jamaican rum, though probably not the J. Wray and Nephew; that rum is pretty much extinct as well.

Chowhound’s Mai Tai Spritz

If you’re not a rum person, but like the idea of a fresh, tropical cocktail, there is a Mai Tai counterpart made with whiskey: the Honi Honi. It’s the same recipe, just two ounces of whiskey instead of the rum. It’s like your Old Fashioned whisked you away to an island.

And now you have all the tools you need to create Trader Vic’s original Mai Tai. But if you’d prefer to have a professional make one for you, find your friendly, neighborhood tiki bar—there are tons opening up all across the country—and order a 1944 Mai Tai (Make sure to specify the year!).

Then sit back, relax, and get ready for a tropical treat with a sophisticated interplay of flavors: the layers of sweetness from the Curaçao (dark and rich), orgeat (floral and cloying), and simple syrup (pure sugar), the puckering acid of the lime, and the deep, woody undertones and slight burn of the rum. It’s so delicious, you might spontaneously find yourself saying “Maita’i roa ae!”

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