The seven methods

Seven ways to combine a drink. Most recipes use one; a few use two. The choice isn't stylistic, because each method chills, dilutes and aerates by a different amount, and those three decide how the drink comes out.

Hard, fast, and about 8–12 seconds. Shaking does four things at the same time: mixes ingredients of different densities, chills the drink almost to freezing, dilutes it, and beats air into it. That last one is why a shaken sour is cloudy and has a soft, slightly foamy texture.

The rule: shake anything that won't go clear. Citrus, juice, cream, egg, syrup. Those need the aeration and the emulsification, and they're already opaque, so nothing is lost.

Slow, smooth, in a mixing glass with cubed ice, using the back of a bar spoon. It chills and dilutes with almost no aeration and no clouding.

The rule: stir anything made only of spirits. A Martini, a Manhattan, a Negroni. Clarity is part of what those drinks are, and shaking them puts air in and chips ice off, which makes them cloudy and watery at the same time.

Pressing fruit or herbs to release what's in them, with a muddler, in the bottom of the glass or the shaker. Fruit takes real pressure. Herbs don't - mint should be pressed just enough to release its oil, and grinding it releases chlorophyll instead, which is bitter and grassy. A firm press and a twist is enough.

Assembling in the glass it's served in, in order, usually over ice. Highballs and anything long. Spirit first, then mixer, so the pour of the mixer does the mixing.

Floating ingredients on each other so they stay in visible bands. It works on density, and density mostly tracks sugar: the sweetest goes in first, and each lighter layer is poured slowly over the back of a bar spoon held against the inside of the glass so it lands without breaking through.

For frozen drinks and for anything with whole fresh fruit in it. Use a measured amount of crushed ice rather than filling the jug, or the drink comes out as flavoured snow.

Setting a high-proof spirit alight, which caramelises sugar and changes the aroma. It has one real use: flaming an orange twist over a drink changes the aroma. Beyond that it's display.