Posted on 04/23/2010 8:24:03 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
It may seem an oxymoron: a liquid dessert occupying the same title as that most sophisticated of drinks. Plenty of cocktail enthusiasts think it sacrilegious when a bartender approaches a martini glass with Hershey's syrup. And they are right. The ubiquitous alcoholic mousse is empty calories and ultimately an empty experience. Besides — it's a girlie drink! Wouldn't you feel a little foolish ordering up one of these? I've done it so you don't have to.
The drink above comes from The Olde Stone Mill (Tuckahoe, New York), which has the dubious distinction of starring in Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. Under new management, the bar has expanded its lounge menu to include many dessert drinks — even the venerable Manhattan has raspberry in it. Talk about a nightmare.
It is possible, though, to have your (chocolate) cake and drink it too, without the inanity of sipping on a fermented devil dog. Some time ago, during Restaurant Week on Cape Cod, I ducked into one of my favorite haunts and surreptitiously asked for a chocolate martini. Now mind you, this bar is the one that taught me how to make the true chocolate martini. Once, standing in front of the vodka display in a New York City liquor store, I called the proprietor and asked him for his drink recipe. Chris Wilson graciously walked me through it, step by step. Imagine my surprise, then, when the bartender served me up something that looked like a tootsie roll. My raised eyebrow must have been obvious because the bartender immediately asked me what was wrong. I told her it wasn't what I had expected.
"Oh, you want a Classic Chocolate Martini. I'm so sorry. Most of the people who order the chocolate martini want one of these. I'll make you another drink."
And she did and it was perfect. This drink is pleasing in a dark chocolate kind of way — it's sophisticated and not overly sweet.
Here is the Painted Lady's Classic Chocolate Martini recipe:
4 oz. Van Gogh Dutch Chocolate Vodka (chilled) 2 oz. clear creme de cacao
Chill a martini glass. Moisten the rim and place glass upside down on a superfine sugar and cocoa powder blend. Combine your ingredients (all two of them) into a chilled cocktail shaker, stir, and strain into the glass. Add a piece of chocolate.
Couldn't be simpler or more tasty.
Here is the real secret of the Classic Chocolate Martini: it doesn't look like dessert. For all anyone knows, sitting near you at The Haute Lounge, you don't have a sweet tooth. You are sanctimoniously drinking a extra dry gin martini just like Nick or Nora Charles would. Be sure to eat that piece of chocolate quickly before anyone notices it's not an olive.
Right on!
Martini’s are gin and vermouth w/lemon twist or olives. Any other mix is a cocktail.
I hate having to order “gin” Martini’s because otherwise you may get a Bradford.
Too late ... I always do vanilla ice cream and Kahlua ...
Good point. I try to chill it down for only an hour or so, and then mix it with room-temperature vermouth, which seems to bring out the flavor nicely.
Amen to that. I do enjoy a Manhattan, too, if I make it (with rye, not bourbon and splitting the vermouth measure... half-French and half-Italian). Very nice.
Once in a while, I'll even make a Sazerac if I feel like digging out the bottle of absinthe.
No Lemon Drops or Pear Martinis for me... but I do appreciate the, uhh, utility of such beverages.
Three chocolate threads in 6 minutes...hmmmm....
Are you trading in a new Aztec currency?
In the column of well intentioned men doing incredibly horrible things when caught up in male exuberance.
My Chicago friend and I welcomed his Japanese fiance to So. Cal for their planned marriage and stopped for drinks after leaving the airport, we bought her, her first chocolate ice cream drink which was wonderful and that both of us were familiar with, unfortunately, in the excitement of the reunion we kept feeding them to her rather than keeping it at one and switching over to something less sweet and deadly. I still still feel bad about how sick she got that night.
How true! The drunkest I ever got was on Martinis. Of course, I had no idea they were pure booze at the time...and I’ve never had more than two at a sitting since that then, LOL!
I’d try that. I love coffee, too. :)
I’ll have to try that sometime, but I’m not too crazy about gin.
I do like a Vodka Gimlet in the summertime.
“Are you trading in a new Aztec currency?”
Well, the dollar ain’t worth sh!t these days, so why not? LOL! I’m open to anything right about now that will pad my portfolio! :)
When you, be very careful. They are so good you don’t taste the alcohol and you may find yourself drinking one too many :0)
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