Lillet Rosé Martini
Chapter 5: Cocktails & Desserts
If the dry-aged porterhouse is the grand finale of a steakhouse symphony, this cocktail is the overture. Created in the velvet-lined booths of Chicago's Bavette's Bar & Boeuf, this isn't a "light" drink—it's an exactingly engineered mechanism designed to stimulate the salivary glands. The bright, floral acidity of Lillet Rosé and fresh lemon juice cuts straight through the horseradish of a shrimp cocktail, readying the stomach for the incoming barrage of beef and butter. In this book, we do not estimate measurements; exact ratios are the difference between a cloying, amateurish drink and a twenty-two dollar restaurant-quality masterpiece. Measure twice, shake once.
Before you start
Chill the glassware.
Place a standard coupe glass in the freezer for at least 15 minutes prior to mixing. Alternatively, fill the glass to the brim with crushed ice and a splash of cold water, letting it sit while you build the drink.
Ingredients
- Lillet Rosé2 oz
- premium vodka1/2 oz
- fresh lemon juice3/4 oz
- St-Germain elderflower liqueur1/2 oz
- simple syrup1/2 oz
- lemon peel1 large
- ice cubes2 cup
Method
- 01
Combine the liquid ingredients.
In a cocktail shaker, add the Lillet Rosé, vodka, fresh lemon juice, St-Germain, and simple syrup.
- 02
Shake vigorously.
Fill the shaker completely with hard, cold ice cubes. Seal and shake aggressively for a full 15 to 20 seconds. Stop only when the outside of the stainless-steel shaker is painfully cold and frosted over.
- 03
Double-strain the cocktail.
Discard the ice water from your chilled coupe. Pour the cocktail through a Hawthorne strainer and a fine-mesh conical strainer directly into the glass to catch any tiny ice shards, ensuring a silky, viscous texture.
- 04
Express the lemon oils and discard the peel.
Hold the lemon peel horizontally over the cocktail, skin-side facing down. Pinch the edges together to mist the essential oils across the surface of the drink, then throw the peel away. Serve immediately.
Notes
Respect the glassware and garnish specifications.
A standard 5-to-6-ounce coupe glass is mandatory; a V-shaped martini glass is visually dated and highly prone to spilling. Furthermore, a wrong garnish is grounds for sending a drink back. Leaving the peel in the glass turns the cocktail bitter as it sits. Express and expel.
Batch for a crowd.
If you are hosting and want to avoid playing bartender all night, multiply the liquid ingredients by the number of guests. Combine in a glass pitcher, add 20 percent filtered water by volume to account for the dilution of shaking, and refrigerate overnight. Pour directly into frozen coupes and express the lemon oils to order.