I have but one cocktail in my repertoire, and it is the perfect Valentines Day drink for a sometimes bitter divorcee like moi. My drink is the Negroni. One sip and you are in Italy.
The recipe is simple: One part bitters (Campari), one part gin, one part sweet vermouth, poured over lots of rocks, and served with a nice slice of orange. My BFF Judith Levy makes killer Negronis. It's the Sicilian in her.
This ode to the Negroni, by Toby Cecchini, from the NY Times, will give you the history of the drink in full dimension. I certainly hope it stokes your fires and catapults you into to such a state of longing that you will go running to the store to buy a bottle of Campari, or swoop down on your local barkeep and instruct him or her on the fine art of Negroni making. Remember, lots of ice. Use gin, not vodka and good sweet vermouth, not the cheap stuff. Though Cecchini recommends 3 parts gin, to 1 part Campari and 1 part Vermouth, that much gin before dinner might be lethal. On the other hand, that might be exactly what you want!
EUROPEANS, for all their gastronomic pedigrees, never had to improvise muffling devices for terrible alcohol, as Americans did during Prohibition, so they are generally relegated to spectator status in cocktail history. That being the case, it is wise to be suspicious of the origins of one of my all-time favorite cocktails, the Negroni.
Several accounts, as hotly debated as any trifling matter in Italy, trace the drink back to 1919, when a wealthy Florentine named Count Camillo Negroni suggested to Fosco Scarselli, the bartender at the Hotel Baglioni in Florence, that he add gin to his Americano, a mild combination of Campari, sweet vermouth and soda.
Served up in a martini glass, with a coil of fresh orange, the Negroni presents a gleaming red profile that catches the light like a polished ruby, and will have half the bar inquiring what you're drinking. The gin gives it a racy, astringent structure, while the Campari imparts the play of sweet and bitter. The vermouth grounds these elements with a dense, smoky winyness that triangulates with precision.
Oddly, I've never had a great Negroni in Italy, and not for lack of trying. Italians tend to stint on ice and often use subpar gin. San Francisco seems to be the stronghold of the drink in this country, and I've always gotten great ones there.
But for all its long history, the Negroni remains a relative stranger on these shores. James Bond was known to order one on occasion, and Lotte Lenya's louche character in ''The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone'' drank nothing but. Still, it merits wider recognition, as I know of no better aperitif. I suggest one before any important dinner, and not more than one before you've got something in your stomach; the Negroni's inviting embrace quickly becomes a bearhug, as the mix's floridity masks a devious potency.
The traditional recipe has always been equal parts of all three liquors, but modern palates often prefer lighter, drier versions. I make mine with roughly three parts gin to one each of Campari and vermouth, more like a dashing martini in a fitted Italian suit. Some people prefer it on the rocks, an acceptable alternative, but recent vodka versions are to be taken no more seriously than freeze-dried espresso in Rome.
As with many of the classic cocktails, you will find two schools on the subject of shaking versus stirring in preparing this drink, each adamantly certain of its correctness. I bunk in the second camp. There are only two drinks I insist not be shaken, the manhattan and the Negroni. The bubbles and ice shards that give zest to some cocktails would mar the Negroni's sanguine limpidity. That first sip should be like drinking from a cool brook that happened to perambulate past a spice bazaar on its route.
Aaah, the Negroni.
The Missus and I are both big fans of the Campari, yes we are. And since I discovered the Negroni cocktail (in a Boca Raton bar years ago), I have been an admirer of same.
Even if I shake, rather than stir.
http://elisson1.blogspot.com/2007/06/beach-beverages.html
Posted by: Elisson | February 13, 2008 at 10:58 PM
Hmm. I am wondering if I would like this...looks like I'll have to try it out sometime. :)
Posted by: Lara | February 19, 2008 at 05:00 PM