“Avocado, onion and tomato is an appetizer that my family makes before every meal,” says Demi Natoli. “I kind of wanted this slick, almost kind of oily and salinic tasting cocktail,” she says of her inspiration. Rather than using whole avocado, Natoli employs avocado oil which adds frothiness to the finished drink, a Daiquiri variation that calls for pineapple and fino sherry in addition to the expected lime juice and rum. She splits the latter into two components, Panamanian rum and agricole rum, which possesses distinctive salinic properties. In place of the usual simple syrup sweetener, Natoli adds bay leaf-infused simple syrup in a further nod to her Caribbean inspiration. “We use bay leaf in Cuban cooking all the time,” she says, “there’s not a dish that doesn’t have it in there.”
Avocado Daiquiri
Demi Natoli, The Patterson House | Nashville, TN
Ingredients
Serving: 1
- 1 ounce Panamanian rum, preferably Caña Brava 3 Year
- 1 ounce rhum agricole, preferably La Favorite
- 1/2 ounce fino sherry, preferably Lustau
- 1 ounce pineapple juice
- 3/4 ounce lime juice
- 3/4 ounce bay leaf simple syrup (see Editor's Note)
- 1/3 drop saline solution
- 1 barspoon avocado oil
Garnish: cracked pepper, bay leaf
Directions
- Combine all ingredients in a mixing tin and shake with ice.
- Strain into a chilled coupe.
- Garnish with cracked pepper and bay leaf.
Editor's Note
Bay Leaf Simple Syrup:
10 bay leaves
200 grams sugar
200 grams water
Combine all the ingredients in a medium saucepan of medium heat. Stir until the sugar is dissolved then strain out the bay leaves and store in the refrigerator. Will keep for up to two weeks.