MARTINI COCKTAIL

THE INGREDIENTS

50 ml Gin,

10 ml Dry Vermouth,

Lemon twist

HOW TO MAKE A MARTINI

Chill martini glass with soda water and ice. Fill mixing glass to top with ice. Add the dry vermouth to the mixing glass, giving a small stir to coat the ice with the vermouth. Drain out glass, leaving just the coating on the ice. Add the gin to the mixing glass. Stir for 15 seconds, always making sure that the glass is full to the brim with ice .Taste, Fine, strain into chilled martini glass. Zest with lemon peel and add twist unto drink.

SOCIAL AND COCKTAIL SAYS:

Some would argue that the Martini Cocktail is the greatest cocktail of them all and certainly the most iconic. The Martini cocktail is quite a simple cocktail in theory, made with just gin & vermouth and garnished either with an olive or a lemon twist. The challenge in making a good Martini is knowing what ratio of gin and vermouth to use and this will often come down to the preference of the drinker. Legend has it that Winston Churchill was said to whisper the word “vermouth” to a freshly poured glass of gin. The Martini can be shaken or stirred although; despite the best efforts of 007, it is general advocated stirring produces the superior cocktail.

WHAT IS MARTINI MADE OF, GIN OR VODKA?

Historically, gin is the ideal choice for it. In the early 1970’s vodka took root in the alcohol market and supplanted its competitor gin and with that it became the go to drink for dirty martini. But the recipe for a perfect martini remained the same and that gin and vermouth in equal ratio. But before the coming of vodka there was gin, so let’s take a look on how gin came to be. The historical background of gin, how a plain crystal clear dry drink made it to the world stage and became one of the best cocktails, the world has ever seen.

HISTORY OF GIN

Gin is the grandchild of the alchemists’ elixir of life, and it came of age in a series of world-changing collisions. It first achieved popularity in two Protestant powers with connections around the (known) world England and Netherlands and the contours of its consumption reflected the cultural and geographical water­shed separating the cold, Protestant, grain-fed north from the warm, Catholic, vinous south. In the aftermath of the Glorious Revolution gin, like tea, was a modish and exotic commodity, but by the mid-eighteenth century William Hogarth was portraying “Gin Lane” as the corrosive, subversive antithesis of “Beer Street.”Nineteenth-century writers like Dickens saw gin as the handmaiden of squalor, melodramatic poverty and the workhouse. And in the early-twentieth century it gained powerful new enemies, in the shape of the Prohibition movement: for a few turbulent years of U.S. history, “bathtub gin” was the order of the day.

But gin has always enjoyed multiple lives, and its mystique the enigma of secret recipes and the alluring tang of botanical flavorings has helped to carry its influence around the world. Eighteenth and nineteenth century traders and explorers carried gin with them to Africa, Asia and South America. As a way of making the daily dose of bitter quinine more palatable, gin and tonic became the tipple of choice for colonial soldiers, planters and bureaucrats. They and their descendents carried the habit back to the mother country, where it chimed with a new fashion for drinking mixed cocktails rather than straight shots of spirit. Shipwrights and factory hands swigged beer; Europhiles sipped wine; but the (sub)urban smart set drank gin with tonic, vermouth, bitters or a whole happy hour of mixers.

         In the early twenty-first century gin has come full circle: once a drink of the rich, then a drink of the poor, it is again in vogue, having experienced a striking renaissance with the growth of small batch distilling and the revival of Thirties and Fifties couture, décor and drinks. But this dissolute tale of consumption and excess begins with the alchemical laboratories of Dark Age Europe, the precepts of Classical medicine, and the sacred rituals of pre-Christian Europe.

The development of gin is credited to Franz de le Boë (1614–1672), a professor of medicine at the University of Leyden in Holland, better known by his Latin name, Sylvius. Meant to be used only as medicine and dispensed by apothecaries, the drink soon spread to England where it was called Royal Poverty, because when beggars got high on gin, they imagined they were kings.

       Some time before 1310 Arnaud de Ville-Neuve, a physician and alchemist at the University of Paris, poured wine into a glass alembic and heated it in a sand bath over a charcoal brazier. Ville-Neuve was not the first person in the world, or even in Europe, to do this: he was well aware of the long and distinguished tradition of Arabic alchemical distillation, and from his reading he must have had some inkling of the principles he was playing with. Others had already named the fluid which condensed in the neck of his alembic: some called it aqua ardens, “fiery water,” or aqua vine, “water of the grape,” but to Ville-Neuve it was aqua vita, “living water”:   This name is remarkably suitable, since it is really a water of immortality. Its virtues are beginning to be recognized; it prolongs life, clears away ill-humors, revives the heart, and maintains youth.

WHAT EXACTLY IS COCKTAIL?

What exactly is a cocktail? Mixologists and consumers can quibble about the details but a cocktail is a drink composed of one or more alcoholic spirits mixed with a sweetener, fruit juice and/or bitters and served chilled in a glass appropriate for the beverage. Some cocktails are garnished with a piece of fruit. The cocktail as we know it is a rather new invention. The ingredients for making cocktails high-proof spirits and fruits from the tropics were not readily available in large quantities or at a reasonable price until after the American Revolution. The African slave trade, a surplus of sugar cane in the Caribbean and the overproduction of corn in the United States were critical factors in the creation of the cocktail. At the beginning of the nineteenth century it was cheaper to ship and trade distilled spirits than to transport the raw ingredients, namely molasses and corn. North America was soon to experience an epidemic of strong drink, similar to the ‘gin epidemic’ of 1720 to 1751 that struck England when cheap gin flooded the country. But America’s culprit was ‘devil rum’ and corn whiskey called ‘John Barleycorn’. It was in this fog of excessive alcohol consumption that the cocktail was born. Cocktails are the most American of alcoholic beverages and at the same time the most international of drinks. Born in the USA after the Revolution, they quickly spilled over into all corners of the globe. Make yourself a drink, find an easy chair, sit back and enjoy this global look at the cocktail.

By the end of the nineteenth century ‘cocktail’ generally meant a mixed drink with bitters. By the time of the First World War it was more often a mixed drink served before dinner. Since Prohibition any mixed drink with or without bitters is a cocktail.

            At its very essence a cocktail is a mixture of one or more alcoholic beverages, usually whisky, gin, vodka or tequila, with bitters or flavors added. It is usually served with an accent such as a lemon twist, olive, pearl onion, and a slice of orange or, in the case of a Margarita, salt on the rim of the glass. Cocktails are considered by some as a beverage to imbibe before dinner; others consider them the perfect post prandial indulgence. Regardless of what a cocktail is com posed of, or when it is consumed, it is always served chilled; in fact, the colder the better. Cabaret, a salacious magazine that reported on America’s night club scene in the 1950s, noted that cocktails in France and Italy were decadent, lacking in character and appalling because they were both weak and ‘insufficiently iced’

According to Oxford Encyclopedia of America Food and Drinks ‘Cocktails are shaken or stirred, rolled or muddled; they are dry or sweet, creamy or frozen. They are perfect or dirty; they are up or over. But one thing they are not is weak.’ Whether it is in a hotel bar in New York City, Rome, Beijing, Tokyo or Rio de Janeiro, or on a cruise ship in the Caribbean, you can depend on finding a cocktail to suit your taste that is both strong and very cold.

ORIGIN OF MARTINI COCKTAIL

The exact origins of the Martini cocktail are difficult to pin down. Before you can make a Martini you have to have gin, the first alcoholic distillate produced in quantity and available to the masses. Gin was flavored with juniper berries (Juniperus communis) to mask the bad taste of cheaply made spirits. The name geneva comes from the French ‘genèvre’, meaning juniper berry.

There were several cocktails with ingredients similar to the modern day Martini cocktail popping up in cocktail recipe books at the turn of the 20^th Century. Also, in 1863 an Italian vermouth producer chose the name Martini to brand their product, known today as Martini & Rossi. One popular story is that it is a development from a cocktail known as the Martinez. This cocktail was originally served at the Occidental Hotel in San Francisco in the early 1860`s which people would visit before they took the evening ferry to the nearby town of Martinez. A further anecdote was that it came about when a miner struck gold in California during the gold rush. The story goes that a miner walked into a bar and asked the bartender to mix up a drink to help celebrate his new fortune. The bartender had vermouth and gin at hand, so he mixed them together and called it a Martinez after the town in which the bar was located.

VARIATIONS/TYPES OF MARTINI;

There are many variations on the original Martini, such as the Dirty Martini, which adds olive brine to the cocktail and the Perfect Martini, which uses equal amounts of sweet and dry vermouth. Many drinks are now named martinis but this is mainly due to the martini glass they are served in and very little else. These “new” martinis give us the chance to taste many different flavors, such as the fruit flavors in the Watermelon Martini or sweet, chocolaty flavors of the Toberlone Martini.

DIRTY MARTINI

A lot of people wonder what makes a martini dirty, what the story behind the name is and why it is such a hit in the cocktail world. Dirty martini has a pleasant saltiness that is fascinating against the gin and vermouth background. Well in the real sense of it, the classic /traditional martini are made of gin and dry vermouth with unstuffed olive but dirty martini on the other hand is  usually garnished with olives, jalapeno stuffed olives. The olive brine is the catch; it adds a cloudy color and gives it a more sinister character. So the brine transforms a crystal clear drink to a dirty colored/cloudy drink, hence the name dirty martini.

This particular type martini was said to have been made popular by Franklin Roosevelt. He was said to have met up with Joseph Stalin and Winston Churchill during the World War II and he served them dirty martinis

WHAT IS THE BEST MIX FOR MARTINI’S?

Every hit of martini is a hit back to back. Whether it’s the sweet and savory kind or the dirty dry one. But from research and visibly statistics the majority of martini drinkers prefers the dirty martini and the dirtier the better. Clearly is a matter of taste and preference. So before you make up your mind on the particularly martini to stick with, remember to try it all. All the different flavors and shakes adhere to all palettes.

SHOULD A MARTINI BE SHAKEN OR STIRRED?

Booze being stirred or shake boils down to the tradition, logic or old fashion. In one of the James bond franchise (Gold finger), Sean Connery of blessed memory made the iconic statement that “A martini, shaken, not stirred,”. Basically any booze enhanced drink should be stirred. Stirring these drinks produce “a silky mouth-feel with precise dilution and perfect clarity. Shaking adds texture and aeration, changes the mouth-feel and binds ingredients that would readily separate with simple stirring”, says Trevor Schneider, Reyka vodka’s U.S. brand ambassador.

While shaking drinks or starring them might not seem like a big deal but it actually is. Stirring cocktails that requires shaking actually ruins them, so also shaking cocktails that requires stirring.

When you are out or on a vacation and you feel like adding a bit of snacks to your martini. Although olive is the best thing in the glass for classic gin martini. But some seafood and a lot of snacks go particularly well with the cocktail.

SOME OF THE FOODS THAT GOES WELL WITH MARTINI

It is always advised never to drink on an empty stomach, so you can nibble on something or have a full meal depending on your appetite. The smell of gin might not be so pleasant but nonetheless it goes well with a lot of food.

Cheese pastry;

The salty sharp taste of cheese pastry can better complement the sour loud taste of classic martini.

Shrimps;

The plant compounds in gin really and truly complements almost every seafood. But shrimp is usually the classic pick for any occasion. The sweetness of the shrimp and the fragrant gin makes a great and spectacular combination.

Steak;

Well if you are not a fish lover or lack love for every water creature, you have this steak to complement your palette. Steak sandwich is a low key snack and a fancy well blend martini will go rightly with it.

These are few of the things you could enjoy with a martini classic or dirty. So next time you decide to go out or you are on a vacation or you are hosting a dinner. Order/make a glass of delicious martini; raise a glass to all those who made this awesome blend come to life, toast to life and more martinis.

NIGERIAN OHA SOUP AND HOW TO PREPARE IT

The oha/ora leaf is an indigenous leave from the eastern Nigeria and some other African countries. It has close to a hundred species and their tree has many commercial values. The most popular one here in the East of the Niger, is oha ocha(white oha) and oha oji(black oha). They are not necessarily white and black respectively. But the the oha ocha is lighter in color and softer, and it’s like the tip or the new leaf formed. It’s the best for soup cause of how soft it is. Oha oji is much darker and little tougher than oha ocha, nonetheless very edible. To the indigenous people of the south-east of Nigeria its oha but to outsiders, the English name for oha leaves is AFRICAN ROSEWOOD LEAVES; botanically know as the “pterocarpus mildraedii”of the African Rosewood family. Oha leaves are medicinal and it retains its greenish color all year round. It contains lots of nutrient such as iron, calcium, fiber, amino acid, vitamin C and A etc. it’s made up of 85 percent water. The fiber in the leaf aids digestion.

OHA SOUP RECIPE WITH PALM KERNEL (OFE OHA)

This soup is indigenous to the Igbo tribe of the south eastern region of Nigeria. A soup for the elites, and the gods. Its taste is unique and beautiful. Oha is a seasonal leaf, it is mostly available during dry season.

INGREDIENTS

• A large bunch of oha leaf
• A small bunch of uziza leaves
• Meat – cut into desired sizes
• Shaki /Pomo
• Dry fish
• Stockfish
• Cameroun pepper
• Yellow/Red pepper(preferably yellow)
• Palm kernel/ Banga( 1 mudu)/ palm oil (two cooking spoons)
• Cocoyam/achi/ofor (serves as thickener)
• ½ cooking spoon of crayfish
• Ogili
• Salt
• Seasoning cubes

INSTRUCTIONS

Preparation: wash and cook your banga/palm kernel for 20-30mins. Once it’s done pound and extract the palm kernel juice for the soup. Sieve and keep aside.

To prepare your meat, wash your meat, Shaki/pomo, stockfish. Add all in a pot, season with salt, pepper and seasoning cubes. Leave to boil. Once your meat is slightly tended, put aside.

Wash your cocoyam put it in a pot and leave it to cook for like 15 mins. Once it’s cooked and tend. Peel and pound it till it turns to a paste. In situation that you don’t have a mortar and pestle, you can blend the cocoyam with a blender.

HOW TO BLEND COCOYAM WITH A BLENDER

Wash the cocoyam thoroughly, cause it comes with lots of sand. Boil it until it’s very tender. Strain out the water and peel the back. Put it in a blender, add little water and blend. Use a slim wooden spoon to turn while blending; this helps to incorporate it better, because it get sticky a lot. Blend until it’s all pasty and smooth.

Wash and slice your uziza leaf. Wash and also pluck your oha leaf. You can slice it but if you want to go all traditional with the oha, you can shred it with your hands. If while cooking you realizes the oha leaf is a lot, there are ways to preserve them to be used for another day.

HOW TO PRESERVE OHA LEAVES

You can pluck them and preserve or leave them with their stalk. I will advice you leave them in their stalk. Wrap it thoroughly with a news paper. You can put it in the fridge the vegetable compartment. The fridge temperature should be on cooling not extreme. Never put your oha in the freezer. In a case you don’t want to use fridge for preservation, you can spread it out on a tray on your kitchen counter.

STEP 2;

Pour the Akwu juice into a pot and leave it to boil. Add your meat and its stock. If you are using palm oil, add two cooking spoons of palm oil into your meat stock and leave it to simmer.

Add your cocoyam paste into the boiling akwu leave it to thicken. Some cultures forbid the eating of cocoyam. Like my mother’s people for example, the Ndoni people of rivers state, don’t eat cocoyam. It’s a taboo in their place. So if you fall into this category, do not fret, there are other ways to thicken your delicious oha soup.

HOW TO USE OFOR/ACHI AS THICKENER

All you need do is dissolve the achi/ofor in water. It can be warm water or cold one. Stir until it turns to a paste and add it to the already simmering soup.

STEP 3: Add crayfish, dry fish (adding your dry fish at this time helps prevent it for breaking to pieces) your remaining fresh pepper. Then add your ogili into the pot and leave to cook for 5 min -10 minutes. A lot of people don’t know what ogili is? Is a fermented locust beans, it doesn’t smell nice but its taste is glorious. There is no oha soup without ogili/ogiri depending on your dialect.

STEP 4: Last but not the least adds your uziza leaves, leave to simmer for like a minute of two before adding your oha leaves. Leave to simmer for another 2 minutes, then turn of your cooking gas. Serve with your favorite swallow it can be fufu, pounded yam, eba or an swallow that makes your fancy and a glass of freshly squeezed juice.

CALORIES OHA SOUP CONTAINS

For people running on diet, oha soup is a great choice. The regular serving quantity of oha soup is made up of approximately 180 calories.  If you are big on diet and calories counting, the best swallow with oha soup will be oat meal, it’s a fiber meal and it’s fantastic with weight loss.

Oha soup is a soup worth of kings and queens. And its royalty in its own right. So when next the thought of making oha soup comes to you. Give it the treatment worthy for a soup king.

5 ANSWERS TO YOUR QUESTIONS ABOUT AFRICAN DISHES

Different people have different questions about African dishes that are yet to be answered. This is because of the numerous African dishes and the delicious nature of the dishes. To help demystify and answer these questions, we’ve compiled some of these questions and their answers in no particular order.

Is there such a thing as an African Cuisine?

Looking at that question, you’d find out that the only thing bothering you is the cuisine mentioned in that sentence. The word ‘cuisine’ is a French word which means kitchen. You find it often in spoken or written works concerning cooking and kitchen. It looks like everything sounds attractive to English speakers when said in French. Cuisine merely refers to the food itself or particularly, the way food is prepared. So looking at the question again, you will see that what you just asked is “Is there such thing as African cooking’?”

Various African tribes have their diverse cultures, traditions, and definitely their foods. These foods, although with different tastes and looks speak not only to the palate when tasted but also to the soul. Owing to these reasons, there is nothing like a single cuisine in Africa. Africa is too large to have just one kind of cooking or kitchen. Therefore, the correct answer to your question is “Yes, There is such thing as African Cuisines.”

Why should I be interested in African Cuisines?

And why should you not be? If nourishment is what you seek when it comes to food, then you should be interested in African dishes. Apart from the fact that Africans blend their foods in a way that make your body grin on the sight of African foods, African Cuisines provides you with new and creative ways to use vegetables, proteins, starchy foods, and the likes. These innovative combinations bring forth new dishes to revitalize the body every new day.

Are African dishes the same as African-American dishes?

It is true that some African cookbooks get mixed up with African-American collections of cookbooks, but that doesn’t make both Cuisines the same. African-American food has a little bit of the American sweetness most times, which you won’t find in traditional African foods. Even though Africans have blended some American recipes into their cuisine, the native African dishes are just native to Africa and not the same with the cuisine of any foreign country. So to answer your question, African dishes are in no way the same with African-American dishes.

Are African dishes not too weird and bland?

This question stems from the school of thought that my food or my mother’s food is the best when you haven’t left your home or country to visit other ones. Africans make delicious and nutritious delicacies from the edible resources nature gives them. Since these resources might not be found in foreign environments, it’s normal for non-Africans to think African food is weird. Some Africans haven’t seen broccoli or Asparagus, so if it is used to prepare food, the vegetables might look strange to them but does that make that food weird? No. Therefore it is safe to say that African dishes are not bland or weird. Non-Africans might see it that way because they’ve neither seen nor tasted anything like it before.

Where can i go to learn more about African dishes?

The world today has become a global village. Therefore you don’t have to go anywhere to perfect your African cooking skills or startup as a beginner. Different websites are there to take you on a step by step journey through a plethora of recipes until you get what the pictures show or what you have once seen with your eyes. All you have to do is search for the African dishes you wish to learn more about and check out the videos online. We have different African recipes you might want to try out.

Conclusively, whatever your question might be, have it in mind that African dishes are unique and taste just as lovely as they look. Any dish that whispers “delicious” to your soul why you eat it is worth eating every day, and that defines African dishes.