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THE GENTLEMAN'S COMPANION
We got that strange lift under the heart all men get when they step
from the world we know straight back into the heart of a
city
dating
for thousands of years.... Then, later, we met Gerber, manager of
the Wagons-Lits on Legation Street, and next afternoon we went out
and watched
him
exercise his "griffin" polo ponies-those short,
stocky, hairy, half-wild little horses brought down from the northern
plains by Larsen of Mongolia. Ponies, Gerber told us, were bought at
auction, unclipped and untried, so that everyone-millionaire and
lowly civilian alike-might play polo without needing a fortune to
finance his string. Actually regulation polo ponies are banned from
the sport ii.!._Peking. Then we found it quite chill after sunset, and we
went back to Gerber's snug bar at the Wagons-Lits, and he ordered
his Chino to mix a brace of Tiger's Milks-directly from the receipt
left with him by a chap named Seaholm some time before, and who
was related to the King of Sweden allegedly; and the receipt itself
unchanged one iota. They called it Tiger's Milk, as Seaholm had, and
it has since gone forth and become gradually recognized all over the
world-either in original form or slightly changed to suit local
preferences.
The main thing in No. I: Never use anything but really good aged
brandy,
champagne fine,
not the usual cognac. The latter doesn't do
the job properly.
TIGER'S MILK No. I, from the GERBER-SEAHOLM FoRMULA, PEKING,
1931
Command
2Yz
jiggers old liqueur brandy, or
champagne fine,
and
put this in a shaker. Add
l
to
2
tsp of sugar or grenadine, to taste,
Yz
cup of heavy cream and
Yz
cup of milk-nothing else; no trimmings.
Shake with several big pieces of ice and strain into a goblet. A dash of
cinnamon or nutmeg is optional, but not originally authentic. We
came, we saw, we drank. And later we imported a certain black eyed
Russian peril, managed
1
for her; and we recall her first remark in
syllables slightly husky, wholly charming, the slightly accented Eng–
lish slick as cream. "And do you now, mah frrrrahn, thees dreenk eet