Photo: Claire Lower
One of the nice things about going to a bar (or bars) is that they have all the stuff. The good ice, the fancy cherries, the perfect strips of lemon zest—these things are ready and waiting to be deployed. Buying a jar of cherries is easy, but peeling thin strips of zest off of a citrus fruit is tedious.
A y-peeler makes it easier, but as esteemed bartender and cocktail book author Jeffrey Morgenthaler explained to Emily Farris of Epicurious, those things are kind of dangerous:
“I’ve watched so many bartenders cut off part of their finger with those peelers,” award-winning Portland mixologist Jeffrey Morgenthaler told me. “One got such a bad cut that she started putting a cut-resistant glove on her hand every time she made a citrus peel for a drink—and it takes a lot of time to get that glove on!”
Jeff’s solution? A humble, $10 cheese slicer. (In terms of brand, Jeff recommends this one, so that is the one I now own.) “It’s so much safer and actually makes a better twist. It’s just kind of a better tool, honestly,” he said. The top portion of the slicer acts as a guard, keeping your fingertips out of harm’s way.
I tried it for myself, and it did feel sturdier and safer than using a y-peeler did. The zest strips that were peeled with the cheese slicer came out a little thicker and with more pith, which made them easier to shape into curly twists. (Pith can add a bitter flavor to the cocktail as the strip steeps in the drink, but cocktails are best consumed quickly, while they’re still very cold. Unless there’s a ton of pith—or you drink very slowly—this shouldn’t be a problem.)
The strips peeled with the y-peeler didn’t have any pitch, but they were almost too thin; the complete lack of pith meant a complete lack of structure, so they had a tendency to break when twisted, and they had a hard time keeping any sort of curly shape.
I doubt it will completely replace my y-peeler—sometimes I want an impossibly thin piece of zest!—but it is nice to know there is a safer option that makes a thicker strip that holds its shape. (Bonus: This safer option also slices cheese.)
