Flame of Love

The Flame of Love is a cocktail with vodka, sherry and orange peel.

Recipe

• 1/4 oz Fino Sherry
• 2 oz Stolichnaya Vodka, chilled
• 2 to 3 large slices of Orange peel

Coat the inside of a chilled martini glass with fino sherry and toss out the excess. Take one of the orange peels, light a match or lighter, and squeeze the orange peel several times over the match into the glass, so that the cascading orange oil will flambé as it falls onto the sherry-coated glass; you'll probably need at least two peels to get enough oil. Do this about eight times.

Stir vodka with ice in a cocktail shaker. Strain into the coated glass. the last remaining orange peel over the drink, then fan it vigorously against the rim of the glass, all the way around, so that it's coated with orange oil. Garnish with an orange peel twist.

History

The Flame of Love is a martini cocktail invented by bartender Pepe Ruiz of Chasen's Restaurant in Hollywood, Calif. He is said to have created the drink for singer/actor Dean Martin after Martin had complained he was tired of regular martinis. Martin is said to have ordered no other drink at Chasen's after that.

Martin was not the only entertainer who enjoyed the Flame of Love. Fellow Rat Pack member Frank Sinatra is said to have ordered 65 of the cocktails at a party he was throwing at Chasen's.