Vodka cocktail

Porn Star Martini

Passion fruit, vanilla - and a glass of fizz on the side.

Contemporary Medium 6 min
★ 4.4 (189)
Porn Star Martini

Photo: Porn star martini cocktail by Ben Sutherland · CC BY 2.0 · All credits

  • 50 ml Jigger The large side of a standard jigger, filled to the top: 50 ml, with 25 ml on the other side. Vodka - Vanilla vodka is traditional; plain vodka and a little more syrup works just as well
  • 25 ml Jigger The small side of a standard jigger, filled to the top: 25 ml, with 50 ml on the other side. Passion fruit purée
  • 15 ml Spoons A tablespoon. Vanilla syrup
  • 10 ml Spoons Two teaspoons. Lime juice
  • 50 ml Jigger The large side of a standard jigger, filled to the top: 50 ml, with 25 ml on the other side. Sparkling wine - Served in a shot glass beside the drink, not poured into it
  • 1 half Passion fruit - The garnish, and worth finding (optional)

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

  • Shake the vodka, passion fruit, syrup and lime, strain into a coupe, and serve the fizz alongside.

Method

  1. Chill a coupe and a shot glass.
  2. Shake the vodka, passion fruit purée, vanilla syrup and lime juice with ice for 12 seconds.
  3. Double strain into the coupe - the seeds are wanted in the glass, but not the pulp.
  4. Pour the sparkling wine into the shot glass and float half a passion fruit on the drink.

Serve it

  • Glass
    Coupe, with a shot glass of sparkling wine alongside
  • Garnish
    Half a passion fruit
  • Base
    Vodka
  • Porn Star Martini

    Douglas Ankrah made this at the Townhouse bar in London in 2002 and gave it the name because he said it looked like something a porn star would drink, which it does. It has since become one of the most-ordered cocktails in Britain, and the shot of prosecco on the side - which the recipe has always insisted on - is a genuinely clever bit of theatre: you sip the fizz, then the drink, and the two make each other sharper.

    Getting it right

    Serving the fizz separately is not a gimmick, so do not tip it in. The drink itself is sweet enough that the dry wine beside it tastes like a palate-cleanser, and alternating between them is the whole experience. Watch the vanilla: a little is warm and lovely, and a lot is a milkshake. Fresh passion fruit on top is worth hunting down, and a half with the seeds intact is what makes the drink look the way it does in the pictures.

    Tasting notes

    Tropical and creamy, with sharp lime cutting through the vanilla and a dry sparkling finish alongside. It is a party in a glass, and it knows it.

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