Holiday drink, hot or cold

Thanksgiving is all about tradition, and in my household we stick to the script. The menu is set — oyster bisque to pumpkin pie. Each recipe is printed, hole-punched and binderbound. We amend holey binder, rarely.

Last year, however, we discovered a gap in the text. Right after the preparatory recipes — the stock, the cornbread, the candied pecans, the creme fraiche, the cheese sticks, the herb butter — and right before the main event — the soups, the turkey, the gravy, the stuffing, the mashed potatoes, the carrot puree, the winter greens, the braised leeks, the Brussels sprouts, the cranberry relish, the cranberry bread, the pumpkin bread, the dinner rolls, the pear tatin, apple pie, pumpkin pie as well as the postscript on turkey empanadas and turkey white bean chili, and the commentaries was a blank page: no cocktail.

So we are issuing a correction. My husband, local bartender, declared it should involve apple cider (very fall) and bourbon (very American). There was little left to do but stir. And disagree. He imagined bourbon steaming with hot cider. Perfect for the sort of guest who rises late, takes a long run and stomps in eager to kick off the pregame.

The host, however, who after a week in the hot kitchen staggers out, shedding apron and oven mitts, may prefer bourbon and cider frozen to a slush. Enjoy this drink either way. We’re hoping it’s a keeper.

E. JASON WAMBSGANS/CHICAGO TRIBUNE; JOAN MORAVEK/STYLING The iced version of the bourbon-and-cider Thanksgiving kickoff requires freezing the cider into a slushy consistency, a refreshing way to start off the holiday dinner.