Bar mats & cutting boards

The garnishing knife of 7.5 cm is the one you pick up most often. Short enough to cut a lime into eight without the tip getting in the way, and sharp enough for thin slices of cucumber. The paring knife of 9 cm has a slightly curved edge and is meant for zests and twists: you take the peel off without the white, bitter part underneath. For rougher work you reach for the utility knife of 15 cm, for instance when a whole pineapple has to be opened up. The nakiri of 16.5 cm has a straight blade that runs right down to the board, handy when you are cutting ten slices in a row. Choose the board by size: 30 by 20 cm fits behind most bars, 40 by 30 cm gives you room when you prep ahead.

Put a damp cloth under the board and it will not slide. For a wedge you halve the lime lengthways and cut each half into four; the point has to stay sharp enough to squeeze over the rim of the glass. For a slice you cut across instead, about three millimetres thick, with a notch to the centre so it stays on the rim. A twist for an old fashioned is cut with the paring knife into a strip two centimetres wide, which you squeeze over the glass so the oils land on the surface. With a gin & tonic the peel goes into the glass instead.

Plastic boards can go in the dishwasher, which makes them the logical choice for a bar where lime goes across them all evening. Wood cannot: it warps and the glued joints come apart. Wash wooden boards by hand, dry them standing up and rub them with a neutral oil now and then. Knives are always washed by hand, because a dishwasher dulls the edge and attacks the handle. Run them over a sharpening steel regularly and store them so the blades do not touch each other.

If you are standing at the cutting board anyway, the juice usually comes with it: that you press with one of the citrus presses. To keep the garnish in place afterwards you use cocktail picks, and the shaking itself happens in one of the cocktail shakers. Still unsure about the glass it all ends up in? The cocktail glasses are grouped by shape, from coupe and tumbler to hurricane.