Sparkling Cranberry Cocktail

I like to celebrate the first night at a casual campsite with a drink and a good dinner – preferably something with kick paired with a hunk of meat. Fortunately, an icy cocktail and a slab of steak make excellent partners in the cooler, as the bagged fixings for a mixed drink can keep the beef chilled while you travel to the perfect spot, set up the tent, and get the coals glowing.

Some years back, my wife's side of the family introduced me to a new year's cocktail recipe that freezes well into a frosty slush. You can drink it any time of the year, of course, but the cranberry element calls to mind the holiday season that started with Thanksgiving now coming to a close, and the fizzing element conjures bubbly reminders of New Year's Eve corks popping. This recipe is one of the simplest you'll find, and the end results are quite tasty. Just be sure to be responsible as (and after) you drink.

What you need

1 gallon of cranberry juice (not from concentrate)
2 large cans of undiluted pink lemonade (yes, concentrated)2 quarts of 7-Up
1/2 pint of vodka
1 pint of gin
Equipment
Large bowl or similar container

Mix up some drinks

This one is really pretty simple. Just combine everything – the cranberry juice, pink lemonade concentrate, 7-Up, vodka, and gin?in a large bowl and mix it together. Stick it in the freezer for a while (my handwritten notes say half an hour, but that can't be right?) to create a slushy treat. I recommend checking it periodically until it reaches the perfect consistency for you, and then letting it go longer for some melt factor wiggle room. From there, pour the drink into several large, re-sealable bags, which can be packed around some choice cuts of steak and carted off to the wilderness. Remember that this isn't lab-tested science. There are a lot of factors than can impact how well the drink freezes and how long it stays at an optimal temperature. How slushy the cocktail stays on your trip into the outdoors depends on the quality of your cooler, how long it take you to get to your site, how quickly you drink it after you arrive, the other foods and drinks you've packed, and more.

I recommend experimenting with this recipe a few times before field testing it. Also, make sure everything is sealed tight. If you open the cooler to find some pink liquid sloshing loosely around the bottom, you're going to wonder if some of the raw steak juice got mixed into the cocktail – or vice-versa. Keep it separate; keep it safe. But once you've successfully transported the cranberry cocktail into the wild and have your campsite the way you like it, pull out the bags and pour the drinks while you let the meat thaw a bit and get the coals going. Then just sip and grill. Just remember that you're drinking some of what you were using to keep your food cold, so pack the cocktail and steaks into one container or be sure to bring enough ice to compensate for anything left in the ice chest after the first night. As for the steaks, I'd go for a little extra virgin olive oil rubbed onto either side, and then a liberal sprinkling of fresh-ground salt and fresh-cracked pepper. Compared to the cranberry cocktail, the meat is downright low maintenance.