Aviation
45 ml Gin, 15 ml Maraschino liqueur, 15 ml Lemon juice, 7.5 ml Crème de violette, 1 Maraschino cherry
Photo: Pimms No 1 Cup - close by Dinner Series · CC BY 2.0 · All credits
Ingredients
- 50 ml Jigger The large side of a standard jigger, filled to the top: 50 ml, with 25 ml on the other side. Pimm's No. 1 - Pimm's No. 1 - the gin-based fruit cup
- 150 ml Jigger Three large sides (3 x 50 ml) of a standard jigger. Lemonade - Cloudy, proper lemonade - the fizzy sort, not squash
- 1 slice Cucumber
- 1 berry Strawberry
- 1 slice Orange
- 1 sprig Mint sprig
Measured in Millilitres (UK). Sign in to read these in American measures. Print a kitchen card at this size.
What the jigger, the spoons and the jug hold, in millilitres and in fluid ounces, is on the measures reference.
Quick version
- Pimm's over ice, lemonade on top, then everything in the salad drawer.
Method
- Fill a highball glass with ice - plenty of it, this is a long drink.
- Pour in the Pimm's, then the lemonade.
- Stir gently once, so you keep the fizz.
- Tuck a slice of cucumber against the inside of the glass, then the strawberry, the orange and the mint.
Serve it
Pimm's Cup
Invented in 1823 by a London oyster bar owner called James Pimm, who sold a gin-based house cup as a digestive aid and accidentally gave Britain its summer. The fruit is not decoration: the drink is a fruit cup, and the cucumber in particular is what makes it taste like a Pimm's rather than like lemonade with something in it.
Getting it right
The proportion is one part Pimm's to three parts lemonade, and it is worth keeping to - at half and half the drink becomes syrupy and the fruit has nothing to swim in. Use a fizzy lemonade with some sharpness rather than a sweet one, and ice the glass properly: this is a long, cold drink and it goes flat and warm surprisingly quickly in sunshine. The cucumber should be a thinnish slice, pressed against the glass rather than dropped in, where it releases its smell every time you lift the drink.
Tasting notes
Sweet orange and bitter herbs from the Pimm's, a wave of fizz, and then cool cucumber and mint at the end. Barely tastes alcoholic, which is precisely the danger.
For a more grown-up version, use half lemonade and half ginger ale, or top it with sparkling wine and call it a Pimm's Royale.
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50 ml Gin, 25 ml Lemon juice, 12.5 ml Simple syrup, 15 ml Crème de mûre, 2 berries Blackberry