I have recently become aware of several unexpected perks that go along with cooking in my parents' kitchen. Most notably, I have access to booze of a much higher quality than I would ever buy for myself as an unemployed twenty-two year old in grad school. So, after a couple of glasses of delicious red wine, I decided to make my parents proud and put my own creative spin on Ernest Hemingway’s signature cocktail.
Inspired by his book, Death in the Afternoon, this cocktail recipe also appeared in a cocktail book compiled in the ‘30s by several famous authors. Hemingway’s instructions were simple: “Pour one jigger absinthe into a Champagne glass. Add iced Champagne until it attains the proper opalescent milkiness. Drink three to five of these slowly.” Now, if I drank 3-5 glasses of champagne and absinthe over the course of an afternoon, I would probably at least feel like death.
But I don’t want you guys to die in the afternoon, or anytime, ever! So, my fellow philes, I substituted pastis for the absinthe, and dropped a couple of blackberries in my glass to balance out the dryness of the champagne and pastis. My motives aren’t purely altruistic, though. Pastis has a delightful anisette flavor, which makes it the perfect companion for my dark chocolate anise crinkles. At least, they taste great together right now, but then again, I’ve been taste testing this cocktail for an hour or two by this point.
To make two glasses of Death:
4 tablespoons Pastis (I used Ricard’s Pastis de Marseille)
1 ½ cups dry champagne or Prosecco (I recommend Jaume Serra Cristalino Brut – very dry, and pretty cheap)
In each of two champagne glasses, pour ¾ cup champagne and 2 tablespoons of pastis, and stir.
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