Mad Men Series Finale Appetizer and Cocktail Ideas
After eight long years spent alternately loving and hating Don Draper—Mad Men’s day-drinking, chain smoking, skirt-chasing, chiseled-jaw main character—it’s time to bid him and the rest of Sterling-Cooper-Draper-Pryce-Cutler-Gleason-Chaough-McCann-Erickson farewell this Sunday, May 17 at 8 p.m. MST.
To honor some of the main characters on AMC’s long-running hit show, I put together five cocktail and appetizer combos that are each inspired by particular scenes in the show. Whether you go classic ’60s and make Don's favorite (appropriately named) Old Fashioned, or get a little cheesy with a Megan Draper-inspired ’70s fondue party, these recipes will help you send the show off in style, drink and snack in hand.
Don Draper: Old Fashioned and Steak Tartare
In Season 2, Episode 5, Don is having an intimate dinner with comedian Jimmy Barrett's wife, Bobbie. After an awkward run in with his former fling, department store head Rachel Menken, Don sips on an Old Fashioned and tells Bobbie what to order:
"So tell me what I want."
—Bobbie Barrett
"Steak tartare."
—Don Draper
Photo via Thebittenword.com at Flickr
Old Fashioned Cocktail Recipes:
Photo via N Wong at Flickr
Steak Tartare Recipes:
Roger Sterling: Vodka Martini and Oysters
In Season 1, Episode 7, "Red in the Face," Don and silver fox Roger Sterling sneak off for a liquid lunch and a few dozen oysters at a low-lit haunt. Though this mid-day indulgence doesn't end so well—23 flights of stairs later—I still applaud Roger's fondness for fresh bivalves.
"'He was a bold man that first ate an oyster,' I believe that was Jonathan Swift."
—Roger Sterling
"I never really gave them a chance before, it’s like eating a mermaid."
—Don Draper
Photo via Colby Stopa at Flickr
Vodka Martini Recipes:
Think like Roger Sterling and stick to Smirnoff or Stolichnaya.
Photo via djromanj at Flickr
Oysters on the Half Shell Recipes:
Peggy Olson: Whiskey on the Rocks and Meatballs
In the two-hour Season 6 premiere, "The Doorway," Peggy Olson asserts her authority over the copywriters at Cutler, Gleason, and Chaough by handing them a cold meatball sub to eat while they stay late to fix a Superbowl ad. The move is also a burn for Peggy's boyfriend, Abe, who brought her the sub in the first place. Like her sandwich, Peggy has balls.
"I know what you’re doing; I’ve been you. You’re hoping this sparks my imagination and you can say, ‘Wow, she’s a genious.’ Or say anything because you want to go home. ... We’ll im sorry to point it out. But you’re walking over the same ground. When you bring me something like this it looks like cowardice. Here [she hands the copywriters a meatball sub] you can split this because you’re not going home."
—Peggy Olson
Photo via austin.happel at Flickr
No recipe needed. But stick with something they keep well-stocked in the office, like Canadian Club.
Photo via Tom Crouse at Flickr
Meatball Recipes:
Betty (Draper) Francis: Heineken and Rumaki
In Season 2, episode 8, "A Night to Remember," Betty Draper hosts a dinner party with a "worldly" theme. But just as everyone is sitting down to dinner, Betty learns that she fell prey to a Sterling Cooper marketing campaign for Heineken targeting house wives. Also on the menu that night is a mock-Polynesian appetizer called Rumaki, which features water chestnuts and duck or chicken liver wrapped in bacon and marinated in soy sauce.
“We’re going to take a little trip around the world, starting in Spain with gazpacho, followed by Japan—rumaki—and then we’ll stop by Dutchess County for a leg of lamb, mint jelly, accompanied by egg noodles the way my grandmother made them from Germany. And we have a choice of burgundy from France or a frosted glass of beer from Holland.”
—Betty Draper
Photo via Matt McDaniel at Flickr
Photo via Oohns at Flickr
Rumaki Recipes:
Megan Draper: White Wine and Fondue
Also in the Season 6 premiere, "The Doorway," Megan Draper hosts a small fondue dinner party in her and Don's chic Manhattan apartment. Little does she know that their neighbor, Sylvia Rosen, is Don's new love interest.
“The secret is to rub the pot with a clove of garlic and then add twice the kirschwasser.”
—Megan Draper
Photo via Shunichi Kouroki at Flickr
Wine and Fondue Pairings:
Photo via Aimee Custis Photography at Flickr
Cheese Fondue Recipes:
