Friday night! Vodka. Hamburger.

Friday night and finally home after a long week. The traffic on the George was horrid; they picked Friday afternoon to shut down one of the bridge lanes. Time for a vodka gimlet.
The gimlet is a very old cocktail, almost forgotten. It's quite simple however, and dangerously tasty, and rarely ordered. Several times I've seen bartenders not know how to make one. In one awful instance the bartender huddled behind the bar and looked the drink up in his book. He must not have been able to read. Here's how to make a proper vodka gimlet. All you need is good-quality vodka and Rose's Lime Juice. You can also make your own sweetened lime juice by adding squeezed lime to a simple syrup, but I rarely do. I really love a vodka from Kentucky called Rain Organic. It has a distinctive flavor and is made by the company that distills Old Rip Van Winkle Bourbon. Recipe:
1 cocktail shaker, filled with ice. (You need this ice. Do not cheat and put the vodka in the freezer)
Fill shaker with vodka to 1/2 inch (a little over 1 cm) from the top of the shaker. Add Rose's Lime Juice to the rim. Cover and shake well. Strain into martini glasses. Repeat if needed.
Our friend Sharon is coming over for dinner. We're going cheap, making Danish hakkebøf. The "ø" in "bøf" means it is pronounced precisely as it is in French, "boef." Literally, hacked-up beef. Gotta love the Vikings. So this is chopped beef, a.k.a. hamburger, Danish style, dusted in flour, fried in butter, topped with caramelized onions. Recipe:

Shape your hamburger patties and crisscross score them on both sides. Salt and pepper and then dredge in flour. Melt butter in a skillet and put patties in. Let them sear on both sides. Depending on your preferred doneness, press on them with a spatula until ready. In a side skillet saute onion slices with a bit of salt and pepper until soft and yellow-brown in color. Prepare a small sauce pan of brown gravy (you can use Knorr's gravy mix as a shortcut). Serve the patties with onions on top and drizzle with brown gravy. Add a dollop of red currant jelly for dipping, and eat with a knife and fork. The Danes do not eat with their hands. That's for Icelanders. Ha!

For sides, I add red cabbage, boiled potatoes. or, for an American take, a bit of cole slaw or a clean, crisp salad. One of these days we'll get to a recipe for red cabbage.