Fancy a martini with a real twist? Just add olive oil
AN OLIVE has always been the preferred final garnish for the perfect martini. But in a new twist, some trendy bars are starting to add a splash of olive oil to James Bond’s favourite cocktail.
Although the news might cause 007 to raise an eyebrow, ‘mixologists’ say the unlikely ingredient adds a distinctive texture and fragrance.
Davide Gagliazzo, bar manager of Gordon Ramsay’s Union Street Cafe in Southwark, South London, said: ‘I think Bond would love it. Olive oil enriches the drink – it gives it a silky texture and complexity.’
He explained that because oil is less dense than water and alcohol, it tends to rise to the top, enabling the drinker to smell its pungent aroma.
Mr Gagliazzo has dreamt up new cocktails including the Olive Sour, which includes Martini Ambrato, Bombay Sapphire gin, olive oil and egg white, and the Cioccoliato, which pairs Bacardi and Martini Dry with chocolate liqueur, mint and olive oil. He uses a range of oils for different drinks, including a ‘light and fruity’ variety called Leccino, and a ‘more full bodied’ type called Coratina.
The olive oil trend started in the US, where it replaced an even more bizarre fad for animal fat. ‘Fat-washing’, as it is known, involves putting in liquid bacon fat or dripping into a cocktail, then chilling it so that the fat solidifies. It is then removed, but the spirit retains the flavour.
It’s all a long way from Bond’s drink, which Ian Fleming stipulated in the 1953 novel Casino Royale as being ‘three measures of Gordon’s, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet’ – a nowdiscontinued aperitif.