Holiday in Cambodia
Tropical flavour-bomb invented in Singapore
This tropical cocktail was invented in Singapore a few years ago during a cocktail workshop with a master bartender –me– and my workshop partner Riku. The name comes from the fact that Riku’s wife was on a holiday in Cambodia, while we were working hard mixing cocktails and tomahawk steaks. Tough life.
The original recipe used Paper Lantern Gin, the self-proclaimed Singapore’s first craft gin, ironically made with ingredients from Vietnam and coincidentally by a Turkish founder. That said, any craft peppery gin will work equally well, or maybe even better.
This recipe requires lemongrass syrup, a key ingredient that gives the cocktail it’s tropical flavour and aroma. To make it, combine equal parts of white sugar and water with 3-4 thinly sliced lemongrass stalks. Heat it until it starts to simmer, turn off the heat and steep for 15 minutes and strain through a cheesecloth. It will stay fresh in the fridge for a couple of weeks.
Ingredients
- 60ml gin
- 30ml lemon juice, freshly squeezed
- 20ml lemongrass syrup, see above
- 1 egg white
- Angostura bitters
Instructions
- Pour the gin, lemon juice, lemongrass syrup and egg white into a shaker without ice and shake vigorously.
- Add ice cubes and shake again until ice cold, about 30 seconds.
- Strain through a tea strainer into a chilled coupe.
- Garnish with a few drops of angostura bitters.
Tips & Tricks
- Use the freshest eggs you can find, unless you enjoy mild food poisoning.
- Shaking all the ingredients without ice is called a “dry shake” and helps get rid of the egg-y smell. Angostura bitters also serves the same purpose.
- The harder you shake, the smoother your foam will become.
- Strange trivia: angostura bitters had super sexist weird ads in the 50’s.