A good bartender is, as they say, “a pharmacist with limited inventory.” In fact, many ingredients used in cocktail began their life as pseudo-medicinal tinctures, and some of them (like bitters in club soda for a tummyache) do seem to have stood the test of time.
The Bullshot is an excellent example of the restorative potential of a cocktail. Made with good stock (homemade stock or consommé are lovely), plenty of hot sauce, and served warm, it makes a potent spirit-reviver in the coldest days of winter or the longest days of a nasty flu.
