Chanticleer – Recipe from the ‘Old Waldorf Bar Guide’

Invention of the Chanticleer celebrated the opening in New York of Edmond Rostand’s play, Chantecler. 

One-half Orange Juice 

One-half French Vermuth 

White of one Egg 

Frappe 

(Add a cock’s comb if desired)!

Chantecler was a play from 1910 written by the same playwright as ‘Cyrano de Bergerac’. After spending tie in the country Rostand decided to use animals to parody French society at the time, something that didn’t go down to well as it was thinly veiled. I wonder if this at all influenced George Orwell, it did show in London in 1933 so its entirely possible he saw it?

There are a lot of drinks like this in the back of the Waldorf guide, with very little alcohol in, as I still have 126 days to go I have a feeling I may have to add another book, or delve into the temperance section, something I’m not really willing to do.

This is the ultimate in ‘low alcohol’ cocktails, I used 40ml of vermouth and matched it with the fresh orange juice and I could only just detect the vermouth, the orange just completely overpowers the drink leaving very little flavour from the vermouth able to tease you.

I can’t help but think that if there was an Animal Farm cocktail Orwell would insist it be decidedly more potent, and no doubt loaded with vodka.