There is much ado regarding Sarah Vine’s memoir, How Not to Be a Political Wife. It is a book about rivalry and resentment, entitlement and marriage. Everyone in Westminster is talking about it – how it delves into the testy, Etonian politics of the David Cameron premiership, from ascent to decline. How it is as much about friendships, parties, trips to Ibiza and the cocktails made.
Talking of which, who knew David Cameron’s favourite? Vine talks of boozy nights “swimming” in them, where hedonism would take precedence over any political ideals. At Chequers, perhaps, or some other lavish place to be convivial.
A white lady is a classic drink. It’s a variant on a sidecar – brandy, orange liqueur and lemon juice – swapping the first element for gin and the second for triple sec (though Cointreau appeared in one of the earliest recipes, the Savoy Cocktail Book, published in 1930.
Either way, it’s light, refreshing and a little tangy. And it has fans beyond former Tory Prime Ministers – Joe Gilmore, the former head barman at the Savoy, once said it was one of Laurel and Hardy’s go-to tipples.
As with all cocktails, recipes change. Today, some mixologists add egg whites, rendering the drink as much like a sour. We’ve decided to share one without, instead leaning on the leading bartender Hidetsugu Ueno, one of Diageo’s top cocktail judges. All you’ll need are martini glasses, a cocktail shaker, ice and the desire for a good time.
Ingredients
Method
- Vigorously shake all ingredients with ice
- Fine strain into a martini glass
- Garnish with a lemon twist
Insight from Hidetsugu
Forget the egg. Early cocktail recipes called for just gin, triple sec and juice. Somewhere around the mid-20th century, people started adding egg white. In Japan, the original cocktail recipe rules.
Juice your lemon but be careful how you do it. If you slice a lemon across the bulge and grind it against a juicer, your juice will be too sour. You’re pushing down hard, pressing oils from the skin, and forcing the white core against the juicer. Lemons and limes are sour, but they’re fruits, so they have sweetness too.
Peel the skin and pith from your lemons, slice them lengthways, then carve out the core. Then rock the flesh gently against a metal juicer.
