Properly Sauced: The Piña Colada

By Chuck Sudo in Food on Jul 10, 2008 4:19PM

Today is National Piña Colada Day. Naturally it makes sense to focus on the Colada for this installment of "Properly Sauced." Originally, the piña colada was nothing more than ripe pineapple juice, either strained (colada) or unstrained (sin colar). Visitors to Pilsen's Fiesta del Sol sample it in this version annually. According to Wikipedia, the earliest known reference to the piña colada as a rum-based cocktail was in a Travel magazine article about Cuba from 1922:

"(T)he juice of a perfectly ripe pineapple—a delicious drink in itself—rapidly shaken up with ice, sugar, lime and Bacardi rum in delicate proportions. What could be more luscious, more mellow and more fragrant?"

Accounts vary as to when coconut cream entered the equation, but it most likely started in Puerto Rico. The most popular colada recipe to take hold came from a San Juan restaurant called Barrachina and its celebrated bartender Ramon Portas Mingot. Mingot mixed pineapple juice, rum, crushed ice, coconut cream and condensed milk in a blender.

Our personal recipe (which we perfected at HotHouse over the years) replaces the condensed milk with heavy cream. We've found that the addition of heavy cream helps the cocktail maintain its consistency as the ice melts and slows dilution of the drink. White rum is essential; we highly recommend picking up a bottle of J. Wray & Nephew Jamaican Overproof rum or Ron Matusalem from the Dominican Republic. Wray & Nephew is the best white rum for mixing cocktails around, while Ron Matusalem white rum is the closest we've come in the States to approximating the flavor of real Havana Club.

Chuck's Piña Colada

- 3 ounces white rum
- 3 tablespoons pineapple puree (or 2 ounces pineapple juice)
- 3 tablespoons cream of coconut
- 1/2 ounce heavy cream
- crushed ice (about 2 ounces)

Place all ingredients in a blender. Mix until thickened. Pour into a cocktail glass of your choice. Screw the umbrella and do NOT play any Jimmy Buffet while imbibing.

You can replace the white rum with dark, if you wish. Dark rum, however, tends to add a spicier element to the mix. If you aren't a rum drinker, replace with vodka and you have a chi-chi on your hands.