TASTEscape: St. Petersburg

Information

Course: Cocktail 
Difficulty: Medium 
Serves: 1 
Time: 20 minutes plus 24hrs infusing

Ingredients

Oyster shell vermouth

• 6 oyster shells 
• 250ml of dry vermouth

Samphire bitters

• 25g of samphire 
• 100ml of vodka

St Petersburg Martini

• 60ml of vodka, preferably Beluga 
• caviar 

Recipe

1. To begin, make the oyster shell vermouth. Wash and clean 6 oyster shells and wrap in a tea towel. Smash with a meat mallet or rolling pin to break up the shells and place in a sealable, non-reactive container. Cover with the vermouth 
2. Leave to infuse for 24 hours, pass through a sieve then strain the liquid through a coffee filter to remove any small pieces of shell 
3. Wash and chop the samphire into small pieces. Place in a zip-lock bag, cover with the vodka and squeeze as much air as possible out of the bag. Seal and leave to infuse for 24 hours in a cool, dark place 
4. Pass through a coffee filter and set aside until ready to make the cocktail 
5. To assemble the martini, place the Beluga vodka, 15ml of oyster shell vermouth and 1 tsp of the samphire bitters in a cocktail shaker. Add ice cubes, stir until ice-cold and strain into a martini glass. Serve with the caviar on the side