Ice cube trays

Start with the glass the ice ends up in. For a tumbler or an old fashioned, take one large cube of four centimetres or a sphere of 4.5 to 5 centimetres, because that fits exactly and touches the glass at only a few points. For a tall long drink glass the collins spear works better: an elongated block that fills the whole height of the glass and so leaves hardly any room for the drink to warm up.

There are also moulds that do something different. The clear ice box is a double-walled tray that freezes the water from one side, pushing air and minerals downwards so the upper part turns clear. And there is the silicone mould that makes a shot glass out of ice, which you pour a drink straight into.

Fill a mould with water you have boiled first and let cool again; that already removes part of the dissolved air that makes ice cloudy. With a clear ice box, leave the whole thing for twenty to twenty-four hours and then cut off the cloudy bottom section. Rinse a block briefly before it goes into the glass, so no frost clings to it that melts straight away. Serve whisky with one block and an old fashioned too, but build a mojito with crushed ice instead, because there quick dilution is part of the recipe. For a shaker the opposite applies: fill it generously, because too little ice melts harder than hard shaking ever does.

Silicone absorbs odours. So do not store the moulds open next to fish or onion in the freezer, but in a sealed bag or with the lid on. Wash them now and then with a little vinegar in the water to remove any greasy film; you taste soap residue in the ice. Most silicone and plastic moulds can go in the dishwasher, although they last longer if you do them by hand. Let them dry completely before you put them away.

If your ice is sorted but the tools around it are missing, the ice tongs and the ice buckets are ready, plus the cocktail shakers, bar spoons and jiggers you need when mixing. If it is the glass for the block you are after, look at the old fashioned glasses, where the low heavy models are grouped together and a four-centimetre block fits exactly. A collins spear, by contrast, comes into its own in a tall glass.