I couldn’t work out how to photograph dropping a big ice cube into a drink, so I videoed it and took this still out. As for the drink…

It’s gin, a sweet vermouth and a bitter aperatife (usually, but not originally, Campari). That’s it. Equal measures of each, garnished with a twist of orange and stirred with ice rather than shaken.

Do it exactly like that. It’s lovely.

Or mess about with it. The original supposedly had Fernet-Branca instead of Campari, but I bought some and it’s just too bitter in my view (I think my vermouth – ordinary Rosso – just isn’t sweet enough to balance it. So I stick to Campari

The other thing is the gin. Classically use a straight and not too aromatic gin like Plymouth rather than a sherbety one like Bombay Sapphire. But because one of the joys of this is the orange flavour you get from the twist, I’ve tried it with two variations this week and both work.

Firstly I mixed half and half Tanqueray with Chase marmalade vodka which worked, but didn’t move the dial much. So the second one (pictured) is with Tanqueray Sevilla. This is better, but to be honest if you have the twist of orange peel properly squeezed to release the oil, then that’s enough.

Method

Measure equal amounts of gin, vermouth and Campari in a tumbler.

Peel a thin strip of orange peel trying to avoid catching any of the white pith, squeeze/twist it to release the oils, and drop it into the glass.

Drop in a large ice-cube (I use spherical ones but it doesn’t matter). Don’t drop it from as far away as I did for the photograph though.

Stir gently with a spoon until it is cold and then optionally remove the ice cube

That’s it!

Ingredients

• 50ml gin
• 50ml sweet red vermouth
• 50ml Campari or similar bitter drink
• a strip of orange peel without pith
• An ice cube