From Regarding Cocktails by Sasha Petraske (Phaidon, £19.95), this simplest of cocktails demonstrates the merits of flavour-imbued gin over the tabula rasa of vodka. The name was intended as ‘a jab’ at the now passé Cosmopolitan, an unrewarding mix of cranberry and vodka. Despite the singular inclusion of raspberry jam, the result is complex and subtle, not remotely jammy. Petraske advocated Bonne Maman jam, but I had satisfactory results using my wife’s prize-winning homemade jam. After shaking, no raspberry seeds make it into the finished drink (at least with my shaker)
- 60ml gin
- 22ml fresh lemon juice
- 1 heaped teaspoon raspberry jam
Combine the gin, lemon juice and raspberry jam in a cocktail shaker, fill with ice and shake hard until very cold. Strain into a cocktail glass
Despite the by-line of Regarding Cocktails, the book is more of a tribute to Petraske, the late founder of Milk & Honey and other cocktail bars, by his admiring colleagues. An instant classic, it gathers the finest creations of Petraske, his wife and sidekicks. For the price of a couple of cocktails, it tells you everything you need to know about making them. Christopher Hirst
