Cooking Lesson #133 Earthquake Cocktail

Earthquake Cocktail

                                              (Tremblement de Terre)

How you doin’? Comment vas tu'? Ah, Paris… Je le sais bien. Quel endroit c'était. L'art, la nourriture, le chocolat, la pâtisserie et puis il y a les gens. J'ai entendu un jour certains dire que Paris est le plus bel endroit du monde et que si vous vous débarrassiez de tous les Parisiens, ce serait tellement mieux. Oh, so sorry—pardon my French. I was just showing off.  Allow me to translate.
 
Ah, Paris…I know it well. What a place… The art, the food, the chocolate, the pastry and then there are the people. I once heard someone say that Paris is the most beautiful place in the world and if it wasn’t for all the Parisians it would be so much better. The taxi drivers are the worst. But forget about all that, it’s Happy Hour Friday.
 
Earthquake is a cocktail that was supposedly invented by a French painter named Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. He is that distinctive looking Frenchman known for capturing (and painting) the beauty and debauchery of the famous Moulin Rouge. Actually, he became quite famous himself for his beautiful paintings and this cocktail.
 
The Earthquake is made with equal parts of absinthe and cognac, although some recipes suggest gin as the third component. *Absinthe is historically described as a distilled, highly alcoholic beverage. It is an anise-flavored spirit derived from botanicals, including the flowers and leaves of Artemisia absinthium, together with green anise, sweet fennel, and other medicinal and culinary herbs.
 
As the name suggests, it is called Earthquake because of the powerful effects of this specific alcohol combination, which tends to shake one up a bit.
 
The combination of liquids has to be shaken vigorously before being strained into a martini or brandy glass with ice. Optionally, Earthquake can be garnished with a sugar cube and/or a lime wheel.
 
Yield:  1 cocktail
 
Ingredients
3 ounces absinthe
3 ounces cognac
 
Directions

1. Mix the absinthe and the cognac in a mixing glass.
2. Pour the cocktail into a chilled cocktail glass.

Variations:  The original recipe calls for equal parts of cognac and absinthe, 3-ounces each. However, some suggest this is too strong and prefer to lower the amounts to 1-ounce of absinthe and 1-ounce cognac. Also, 1 ounce of gin is often added to the cocktail and Pernod can be used instead of absinthe. For this cocktail, the cocktail glass is the drink ware of choice, although using a brandy or an absinthe glass will also work.

ChefSecret:  Originally, this cocktail is made by mixing the ingredients and then pouring them into a chilled cocktail glass. Still, today, a common practice is to shake the ingredients with ice to dilute the drink and then strain it into a glass.

Covid-19 Quip of the Day: “I walked into a liquor store the other afternoon and a customer asked me, how much should I spend on a bottle of wine? I thought for a moment and replied, during these times… about a half an hour.”
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