A particular post-dinner, invented by Salvatore Calabrese, one of the best known bartenders in the world
The Breakfast Martini, created in 1996 by the bartender Salvatore Calabrese in London, it is an iconic cocktail of the modern classics drink category.
Despite its name, which might make you think of a breakfast cocktail, its history tells us why it was called that.
Salvatore Calabrese used to have breakfast with just a cup of coffee. In a particularly busy period, made of small hours, his wife Susan forced the bartender to eat something in the morning. Toast with bitter orange marmalade, to be precise. “And I will always thank you for that,” says Salvatore Calabrese. "When I felt that bitter and pungent hint I knew that a great cocktail could be born." He went to the bar where he worked at the time, the Library Bar of the Lanesborough hotel in London, where he combined gin, Cointreau, lemon juice and the jam he brought from home in a shaker.
And Breakfast Martini was.
The character
Salvatore Calabrese is one of the greatest living bartenders. Italian by birth, Londoner by adoption, with his more than 40 years behind the counter he has earned the epithet of "The Maestro." For this and for being able to pour the exact amount of liquids without the need for a measuring cup.
Among the leading cognac experts in the world and among the greatest collectors of ancient liqueurs and spirits, Calabrese is known for creating iconic, now classic drinks: in addition to the Breakfast Martini, his Martini Cocktail "direct", in which the frozen gin is poured directly into a cold cup without dilution and with a splash of dry vermouth.
One of the first to make his character a celebrity in the world of mixology, he served prominent figures in politics and entertainment. One of them is Queen Elizabeth II. Thanks to his collection of antique bottles he entered the Guinness Book of World Records with the most expensive and oldest cocktail ever created.
He is also the author of several books, creator of bar tools and, recently, he launched his aromatic liqueur based on lemons from his Amalfi Coast, “Acqua Bianca”.
Recipe
50ml London Dry Gin
15ml Cointreau or Triple Sec
15ml Fresh squeezed lemon juice
1tsb Bitter orange marmalade
First, cool the shaker. First pour the gin, then the Cointreau, the lemon juice and, lastly, the spoonful of orange marmalade.
Melt the jam with the spoon, then fill the shaker with ice as much as possible and shake it.
Pour into an ice-free martini glass and complete with small strips of orange peel inside the glass.
Photo courtesy of Salvatore Calabrese
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