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Outdoor wines for the summer

There are some cramped, unimaginative people who — I have been told — maintain that writing about wine is a bootless enterprise. Even more extraordinary, I have heard it rumored that there exist unfortunate sods who believe that it is a waste of time to gather with friends over food and wine while discussing the events of the day, the state of the republic, the repair of one’s soul. Fortunately, neither you nor I are acquainted with any such freaks, otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this column and I would not be sitting down to write it. At the end of his brief, tantalizing book The Educated Imagination, Northrop Frye, the great Canadian literary critic (do you sense a passing adumbration of contradiction there?

Ross Anderson

Margarita magnificence: a consummately customizable cocktail

Despite being one of the most popular cocktails in the world, most margaritas are made poorly — intentionally. Nobody buys a margarita in a plastic cup for its complex flavor and balanced profile. They’re for long days out on the beach, to cool you down and kick things up — and they’re mostly made quickly and sweetly, like slushies with crushed ice. Frozen margaritas are the invention of Dallas restaurateur Mariano Martinez, who started serving them in 1971 from a converted soft-serve ice-cream machine, but the exact origin of the classic margarita was at some unknown far earlier date. Margaritas were introduced to Americans in the 1950s, with the arrival of Sauza and Cuervo tequilas, and by the 1960s, had secured their place as one of the nation’s most popular cocktails.

Jane Stannus

Pavlova: a dessert inspired by the Dying Swan

Pastry chef Alistair Wise says never to make pavlova on a rainy day. “Just forget about it,” he advises. And that’s only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to perfect-pavlova advice. Run a cut lemon around the inside of your bowl before whipping the egg whites. Don’t use fresh egg whites, but also don’t use cold egg whites. Don’t use a plastic bowl, as it may harbor grease. The bowl you do use must be scrupulously cleaned and dried... Don’t whip the whites on a “high” setting, but whatever you do, definitely don’t whip them on low. Use clean sugar — cue the desperate self-analysis of one who has never second-guessed the cleanliness of bagged sugar! Use superfine sugar, or all will be a disaster.

Teresa Mull

What’s behind all the buzz about non-alcoholic beer?

There’s nothing quite like the third swig of a gin and tonic at the end of a long summer’s day. Or of an Old-Fashioned combating Old Man Winter’s chill. The bite on the tongue. The slow burn in the belly. The gradual easing of emotional and physical tension. Except for the hangovers. There’s nothing quite like those, either. As I — sigh — age, I’ve developed a relationship with alcohol that has become increasingly love-hate: I love it, it hates me. A slight intolerance to booze, German/Irish heritage notwithstanding, has always given me a rosy flush that on round three deepens to an unflattering scarlet that could be mistaken for theatrical rouge.

Food & Drink