How to Make a Hot Toddy

Transcript

Hi, I'm Joe Campanale, one of Rachael Ray's buddies for eHow.com. Today, we're going to make a great cold weather cocktail call a hot toddy. So, a hot toddy is any hot drink that's made with whiskey. You can do it with brandy, you can do it with a really nice spice rum. And it's a minute you have on a cold day, in order to take the chill out of the air or something you have before you go to bed to relax you. I really like to make my hot toddies with whiskey. One of my favorite bourbons is Maker's Mark, but you can also use your favorite brand. So, you add one to two ounces depending on how strong you'd like it to be. And then we add a little bit of simple syrup. Simple syrup is something that us bartenders absolutely love. It dissolves really well into a drink because it's equal parts sugar and water, and it doesn't have any of those granulated sugar pieces. And the way that you do that is actually quite easy, which is why it's called simple syrup. You basically take sugar and water and cook it down until all of the sugar dissolves. Stir it up and then you have this really great syrup that you use to sweeten any sort of drink. It's really good for flavoring as well. You can add vanilla, you can add spices to your simple syrup and it's a really nice flavoring infusion. And then we do a little bit of fresh lemon. Just give it a squeeze. And I like to add different spices to my hot toddy. I'll take a cinnamon stick, and some fresh ground clove. But if there's any spice that you really like, you can add it as well. Then all you do is top it off with some boiling water, and let this whole infusion sit for three to five minutes so all the flavors really meld and get together. Now, if your were in England, they love their hot toddies as well, but they'll actually use a black tea instead of boiling water. A variation that I really like to do is to use a Chai tea and if you are feeling under the weather, and want to have a drink, try a decaffeinated Rooibus Chai tea, which would be really great. It's really warm. That's the first thing that you notice. It has the spice from the clove and cinnamon, and a little bit of lemon just to offset the sweetness from the simple syrup. This is the most comforting drink. Thanks so much for watching. I'm Joe Campanale. Try to make a hot toddy at home on one of these cold winter days and tune into eHow.com for more.