Cooking glossary

Cocktail glasses

Cocktail glass

Also known as a Martini glass, a cocktail glass is a wide necked saucer shaped glass with a long stem. It is the traditional glass used to serve Martinis and cocktails.

Cocktail shaker

A container with a tightly fitting lid for mixing and blending a huge range of alcoholic drinks, soft drinks, crushed or cubed ice and fruit to make a wide variety of cocktails. Traditional cocktail shakers are made from stainless steel and usually have a capacity of no less than 600ml.

An integral part of a shaker is a strainer which fits just inside the top of the main body of the shaker, this ensures that any crushed ice or large pieces of fruit can be filtered out when pouring the well-shaken drink. Some shakers also feature jiggers to measure shots of alcohol.

Cocktail sticks

Small wooden sticks with pointed ends about 7cm in length. Cocktail sticks have a wide variety of uses, including securing stuffed chicken breasts or fish fillets before cooking (remove the sticks before eating); to secure foods wrapped in bacon or ham, eg scallops wrapped in bacon; to serve small bites of food at a buffet, eg cubes of cheese or stuffed olives; or to serve food to accompany a dip, eg pieces of fruit to be dipped in chocolate or chunks of bread or sausages to be dipped in a cheese mixture.