Bartender Jim Meehan Goes to the Kitchen Pantry for His New Book

It took bartending guru Jim Meehan a little over five years to write this book. The Bartender's Pantry: A Beverage Handbook for the Universal Barwas released on June 11. Co-written by spirits journalist Emma Janzen and featuring illustrations by Bert Sasso and photography by AJ Meeker, it is Meehan's third book and was the recipient of a 2017 James Beard Award. Meehan's Bartender Manual and PDT Cocktail Book In 2011.

Meehan's five-plus year writing spree has been plagued by a variety of factors, including a global shutdown, a few direction changes and creative impasses, but the result may be his most ambitious work to date.

Planting the seeds

Concept Bartender's Pantry The book has been in the works for even longer than the five years it took to publish: The idea first emerged when Meehan was in a cocktail bar before a presentation in Philadelphia during his last book tour.

“I saw a bottle of flash-pasteurized lime juice thawing at the bar and I thought, that What's happening at this bar [that is] “How do we serve that in a cocktail bar?” he says. “I remember when I moved to New York and I heard Dale DeGroff speak. In 2002, he spoke with a very simple message: drinks made with freshly squeezed juice and premium spirits would be a vast improvement over drinks made with store-bought sour mixes or plain spirits.”

“The cranky Gen-Xer in me was like, 'This is fake news,'” he continues, “But the new dad in me was like, maybe they didn't get the message, and maybe in 2017 they don't know who Dale DeGroff is, and maybe they don't know about this message that I got from him.”

This sparked other ideas in Meehan.

“I reflected that we're already in the era of superjuice, and also in the era of climate disruption and change,” Meehan says, “so the idea of ​​using preserved fruits and vegetables and spices is no longer just about quality or price, it's also in some sense a conservation issue.”

Ironically, despite the focus on modern trends, these are some of the same techniques pioneered decades ago by DeGroff, who rose to fame with his cocktail program at New York City's Rainbow Room, which revived interest in classic cocktails made with simple, fresh ingredients.

“Dale's very simple duality of fresh juice and sour mix, [and] Fine Spirits vs. Railroads [approach] “The complexity of the times and the growth of the industry called for a more nuanced investigation,” he says, “and that's where this book began.”

Barshef Movement

Meehan was also beginning to witness the industrialization of the craft cocktail movement in real time, as many of his peers began creating their own lines of canned cocktails.

“A lot of the people I saw moving in this direction came from the lounge side of this cocktail movement,” he says, “and I helped open Pegu Club. [in 2005]It was on the lounge side of things, but I was also the head bartender at Gramercy Tavern. [at the time].”

After Pegu Club and Gramercy Tavern, Meehan opened his own bar in New York City in 2007, PDT (Please Don't Tell), a renowned East Village cocktail bar tucked behind a hot dog shop.

“Part of what I was trying to bring to PDT was [to] “To open a modern speakeasy, with a focus on bringing the hospitality and culinary aspects of the restaurant industry into the bar world,” he says. “Specifically, my inspirations were: [like] Not a farm-to-table restaurant or fine dining service. [in the] It's a bit flashy, but it's similar to the Danny Meyer service at Gramercy.”

While writing the book, Meehan drew inspiration from his early days running a restaurant.

” [Chicago’s] Alinea or [New York City’s] Eleven Madison Park, Drinks in Boston, The Slanted Door in San Francisco… [have been] “A lot of chefs have decided that the cocktail program is part of their restaurant,” he says, “so I wanted to feature people who have worked in those restaurants and recipes that you might find in a bar program, so that I could actually get pastry chefs and savoury staff to help me develop the recipes, prepare them and source them, and capture that restaurant sourcing and preparation ethos in the book.”

Bartender's Pantry It's a culinary approach to cocktail making, but Meehan emphasizes that it's not “chef-ish.”

“I think I was trying really hard to write a cookbook, not a chef's book,” he says. “There are a few chef's drinks books out there that are like chef's books, and that's its own category of books that I actually collect and really enjoy reading, but I wanted to write something that was more practical.”

The “Pantry” chapter takes up the majority of the book, breaking down cupboard essentials into sections like sugar, spices, dairy, fruits, teas, and fermented foods, with tips on how to source and store each ingredient, as well as techniques and tools you can apply. After each pantry category is fleshed out, the book features recipes that use those ingredients — over 100 in total — and are written by bartenders, cookbook authors, chefs, and noted drinks experts.

“The Prep Kitchen” section provides illustrated details on classic bar drinks, specialty cordials, and spirit infusions.

“The word 'handbook' was one that came back to me over and over again as I was writing this book, because it showed me just how deep I needed to go into all of these subjects,” Meehan says.

House Conversion

The main reason it took so long to publish the book is due to complications brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic: The global shutdown hindered Meehan's progress but helped him finish the book.

“So, because I was still in contact with all my contributors about recipes, I had photo shoots scheduled, and the book deadline was looming, I had to pivot and basically shoot the book from home,” he says.

Thus, the book transformed from a primarily restaurant-bar inspired cocktail book to a community-oriented, farmhouse-inspired book with a social justice vein.

“this book [took] It was a fairly national development in the sense that it was written, tested, and filmed entirely in my home, during the pandemic, and in between the George Floyd protests that were very visible here in Portland, and in-between journalism and calls and reflections at restaurants. [Oregon]”If you read the book carefully, I think there's an undercurrent of racial justice, social justice equality that underpins Labor, and that wasn't included in the proposal,” Meehan said.

“Several things happened while I was writing this book that made me fundamentally rethink what I was going to write and what I thought was important,” he added.

With this shift in the home, the book fully embraces the idea of ​​a pantry. Meehan credited publisher Aaron Wehner with giving the book its title, which pays tribute to the historical role women have played in food preparation, production and recipe creation.

“What was really puzzling and enlightening to me while writing this book is the focus on drinks like horchata, tepache, and kvass, for which there is very little research into the history of these drinks, and apparently no specific people or places,” he says. “I think one of the reasons these recipes aren't as celebrated as others is because they were invented by women and made by women for generations.”

Meehan says that many of the recipes in the book “were invented and continue to be made by women who often go unnoticed in the culinary world.”

Early in the book, Meehan touches on the fact that we've been conditioned to believe that making drinks, especially those in cocktail books, can be really quick and easy and don't require too many ingredients. This book isn't like that.

“The reason these recipes are so much more work than squeezing lemon juice or carbonated water is because women's work has never been valued, and work in the home has never been valued,” he says. “So if it takes a whole day to make a fermented food or a food that requires a lot of processing, like peeling and deseeding and drying, that's [seen as] It’s okay because a woman did it.”

Receiving an Assist

While writing the book, Meehan realized what he wanted to create was something completely different from anything he'd worked on before, which is why he first sought help.

“The first book was from my bar. [PDT] “With this book, it was clear that I was the right person to be the author. The second is a philosophical bar guide, which I wrote alone,” he says. “This book, I make it very clear from the start, is based on other people's recipes and research that I got from other people, so I'm working like a journalist here.”

Even though the pandemic slowed his work and forced him to pivot, Meehan was still able to photograph, source, test recipes, and do extensive research for the book. But then he hit a dead end.

“Of all the things I've read, [I asked myself] “I thought about what I was going to write in 2,500 words about spice, based on five books I'd read about spice and people I'd interviewed and featured,” he says. “My head was spinning and I had so many other people's ideas in my head that I kind of lost confidence that I could do it.”

“I knew I had this story inside of me, but I needed someone to help me find my voice so I could tell this story that I was really struggling with,” he says.

Meehan then called Emma Janzen, an award-winning journalist and co-author of the book. Bartender's Declaration and With Toby Maloney The Cocktail Way With Julia Momose.

“We met in Tales [of the Cocktail]and I tried really hard to say, 'Hey, I know I'm going to sound like a crazy person right now, but I need help and I think you can give it to me,' so she agreed to get involved,” he says.

Beyond cocktail crafting, The Bartender's Pantry covers a lot of topics, including the importance of community, ethical sourcing and building connections over food and drink.

“There are a few things I'm rebelliously pushing for in this book,” Meehan says, “one of which is a push towards a broader knowledge and interest in drink and food, which I hope will make us more approachable and get us talking to each other again.”