This recipe was first published as part of our Behind the Recipe feature on Picasso’s Pencil.
22ml Los Danzantes Tobalá mezcal
28ml Manzanilla sherry
10ml Smoke & Mirrors oleo saccharum cordial*
4 sprays of pencil aroma**
15 per cent solera system***
Stir 60ml of the chilled batch on ice. Strain into a chilled thin rock glass, add big block of clear ice, and finish with four sprays of pencil aroma
*Oleo saccharum cordial: 2.5kg lemons; 580g caster sugar; 15 per cent apple vinegar (This maceration will make about 800ml. Add 15 per cent (120ml) of apple vinegar to the liquid do do the lemon shrub(2). 2.5kg of lemons will give you around 450g of lemon peels. Make sure the peel doesn’t contain too much white pith to avoid extra bitterness, just enough for a little bitterness. Add 40 per cent (around 180g) of caster sugar and put into a vacuum bag at maximum spillage. Macerate for two weeks at room temperature and strain through a cheesecloth to produce the oleo saccharum.
The lemon flesh will be around 2kg with minimal white pith. Cut the lemons into small pieces. Add to a vacuum bag and macerate with 20 per cent (around 400g) of caster sugar. Macerate for two days at room temperature and strain through a cheesecloth. Then add 15 per cent (of the total lemon juice weight) of apple vinegar to the liquid to produce the lemon shrub.
Finally, add 60 per cent of the lemon shrub to the total weight of the oleo saccharum, and add 15 per cent (of the total combined oleo saccharum and lemon shrub weight) of flat tonic water to the mixture.
**Pencil aroma:5 pure cedar wood pencils; 70cl grain vodka. Remove the wood from the pencils ensuring no lead remains. Sous vide in 70cl of vodka for two hours and leave macerating for three days at room temperature. Vacuum distill in a water bath at 55C. Measure abv and cut at 37 per cent.
*Solera system: Batch the cocktail adding 15 per cent from the previous batch.
