Sazerac
The Sazerac has been said by many to be the finest cocktail in the world and is the official New Orleans’ cocktail. Created by Antoine Amedee Peychaud in the 18th century, the Sazerac was apparently served in a tiny French egg cup called a coquetier.
This recipe is from Gumbo Pages.
[five-star-rating]
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon of simple syrup (or 1 sugar cube or 1 teaspoon of granulated sugar)
- 3 – 4 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
- 2 ounces rye whiskey (most New Orleans bars use Old Overholt)
- 1/4 teaspoon Herbsaint, a New Orleans brand of anise liqueur
- (You may use Pernod, or some other pastis or absinthe substitute)
- Strip of lemon peel
Instructions
- The traditional method:
- Pack a 3-1/2 ounce old fashioned glass with ice.
- In a cocktail shaker, moisten the sugar cube with just enough water to saturate it, then crush.
- Blend with the whiskey and bitters.
- Add a few cubes of ice and stir to chill.
- Discard the ice from the first glass and pour in the Herbsaint.
- Coat the inside of the entire glass, pouring out the excess.
- Strain the whiskey into the Herbsaint coated glass.
- Twist the lemon peel over the glass so that the lemon oil cascades into the drink, then rub the peel over the rim of the glass; do not put the twist in the drink. Or, as Stanley Clisby Arthur says, “Do not commit the sacrilege of dropping the peel into the drink.”
