When Two Classy Ladies Made A McNuggetini, The World Blew Up
It all started with a YouTube video gone viral depicting in ludicrous detail how to make a McNuggetini. If you're one of the few people who didn't see it, a McNuggetini is just what it sounds like. It was the unholy vision of Alie Ward and Georgia Hardstark, two best friends based in Los Angeles who love food and cocktails, but find the whole scene a little too precious.
Once the people running Cooking Channel's website saw their video, the ladies were asked if they could come up with real recipes for palatable, if still outrageous, cocktails. On their new web series, Classy Ladies, they whip up zany drinks, take hilarious field trips, and have what appears to be a whole lot of fun together. We sat down with them to see just how classy these ladies are.
What inspired that first crazy cocktail, the McNuggetini?
Alie: We were joking that we wanted a drink, dessert and dinner all in one glass. So, we came up with it totally as a joke, as a sort of Survivor challenge. It was something we kidded about for weeks before we ever made it.
Do you consider yourselves foodies?
Georgia: We're best friends, but we're completely opposite. I'm a total glutton and I've always been into food. My mom was a great cook. I used to come home from school and watch PBS cooking shows. I had a column on my blog about cooking for single girls.
Alie: I'm obsessed with beverages. I'm always making these weird smoothies and I bartended for a while. We both have our own ways of experimenting in the kitchen. We get to be scientists and be with our best friend all day, so it's pretty fun.
Do you find people who call themselves mixologists silly?
Georgia: We made the McNuggetini video when the mixology movement was getting big and it was something we were kind of poking fun of. "Mixologists" tend to take themselves very seriously and one thing that shouldn't be taken too seriously is going to a bar and having fun with your friends.
Alie: People who are bar chefs or mixologists are awesome and they have a great amount of knowledge and passion. I totally respect what they do. But I do feel any kind of elitism when it comes to cocktails is silly. Anything with food or beverage that has too much of a hipster quotient, where it excludes people for lack of knowledge, is contrary to the point of what food and drink should be. Which is something that brings people together.
As drink experts, you must both have good hangover cures. What's your go-to?
Georgia: We've tried them all. There's so much about a hangover that is being legitimately sick that you kind of want to baby yourself. For me, a big bowl of hot ramen is worth getting a hangover for because I have an excuse to eat ramen. I lie on the couch and watch true crime shows and eat all day.
Alie: We're so opposite. If I ever don't eat enough dinner and have too many cocktails and feel terrible the next day, my remedy is to have a ton of water and go on, like, a seven-mile run. If I'm hungover, I take a bunch of B vitamins and then I go running until I feel like I'm going to collapse.
What's the greatest adventure you've had since you started the show?
Georgia: Probably the bee farm and milking a cow were the craziest ones. It's shocking that this is our job. I've had that moment where you say, "Wow. This is what we do now."
Alie: Traveling together always carries a lot of adventure. We're going to London for a week, then Venice, and get to fly first class for the first time. It's really funny to go from something we've dreamt about on GChat when we had an office job to, like, "Oh my god, we're shooting 10 more episodes, then going London to drink gin." We also spilled yams all over Guy Fieri in front of 2,500 people. That was a cool adventure.
What's been your worst recipe idea?
Georgia: A lot of those cocktails on the show are not palatable at the start. We make a lot of mistakes before we get to the one we want. We had an idea once for a tuna casserole cocktail that was obviously disgusting. It's a lot of trial and error – and the error part can be bad.
Alie: Anything savory is tough. The ham daiquiri is by far our most majestic failure. We usually overshoot in conception and dial it back in execution... Although, recently, we were recipe testing and we jammed a straw through a hot dog to use it in a drink. That didn't work very well. It went awry.
Any secret food TV personality crushes?
Georgia: Anthony Bourdain, but that's not a secret. I love Giada and the Barefoot Contessa, but the person who taught me to not be afraid of the kitchen is Rachael Ray. She gets a lot of flack, but I think she's awesome. She's like the coolest babysitter you had when you were a kid. She has the personality of making things feel easy. It was really important for me when I started cooking to have that attitude.
Alie: There's something about Johnny Iuzzini's pompadour that's pretty hot. In terms of a crush, it would be great to have Gordon Ramsey yell in your face.
If you wrote a cookbook, what would it be called?
Alie: We were just trying to think of some ingredients for some cocktails for next season and I found myself thinking, "What If It's Delicious?" Then, it occurred to me that that could be the title of the best and scariest cocktail book ever made. That's us in a nutshell: What if we make this weird thing and it's actually good.
See the Classy Ladies make pizza for breakfast: