M and I have been experimenting with cocktails recently. I bought him a beautiful chrome coloured cocktail shaker last year for his birthday, and it has taken us almost a year to remove it from its package. In a moment of gusto, we vowed to try a new cocktail every weekend, collate our favourites, and make our own recipe book. Naturally, I will do all the illustrations and M, being a culinary master, will do the drink mixing and inventing.
Thus far, the sidecar has been my absolute favourite cocktail. It has a sweet citrus flavour, mellowed by the frothy, sour tanginess of the egg whites and lime.
Legend has it that this particular cocktail was invented by Harry and Harry's Bar in Paris, and he named it after the WWI captain who arrived at the bar in style every evening in a chauffeur-driven motorcycle and sidecar. The illustration I did was of M and me driving recklessly in our motorcycle and sidecar.
Perhaps another reason I love this drink is because my uncle P, from Quebec, used to have (or still has) a fabulous WWII motorcycle complete with sidecar. He used to take me on rides through the beautiful Gatineau hills. The landscape takes on new proportions when riding in a sidecar!
And without further adieu, here is our recipe for the
Sidecar.
...
1 1/2 shots Remy Martin Cognac
1/2 to 3/4 shot Cointreau (to taste, more makes it sweeter)
1 shot lime juice (less for a sweeter drink)
1 tsp powdered sugar (or caster sugar)
1/2 egg white
Cracked ice
Granulated sugar and lime wedge for glass.
FIRST:
Prepare a sugar crusted rim on the cocktail glass. Pour a generous amount of granulated sugar into a small plate. Cut a slice of lime. Hold the glass upside down (so excess juice doesn't run down the glass). Wet the top of the outside rim of the glass (never the inside). Place the cup, upside down, in the sugar-plate and swivel until sugar adheres to the glass. Set aside and (preferably) chill in the freezer.
SECOND:
Pour ingredients into a cocktail shaker.
Imagine you're in 1920s Paris. Shake with style....
Strain into the prepared glass and garnish with an orange or lime peel.