Five ridiculous-sounding cocktails that you can actually make yourself

To celebrate London Cocktail Week we asked Richard Woods, bar tender at the Duck and Waffle, for his weirdest and most accessible recipes

Right: A Red Pepper and Watermelon Bellini; Left: A Blue Cheese and Chocolate Martini

Sugar Snap Pea Gin and Tonic

Ingredients

50ml Bombay Sapphire

225g Sugar snap peas

10g Mint leaves

1 Lime

75ml Tonic water

You will also need…

1 non-reactive container, with lid suitable for mixing (such as an old ice cream container)

1 funnel, large sieve or colander

1 two-fold muslin (a coffee filter or tea cloth works just as well)

Instructions:

• Pour the Bombay Sapphire into a non-reactive sealable container
• Add the sugar snap peas once you have broken the shells, as well as the mint
• Secure the lid and place in the fridge for a min of 24hrs (rolling or gently aggravating the mix every so often)
• Remove from the fridge and strain through your home-made filter
• Bottle and reserve. Mix will keep for 2 weeks if kept refrigerated
• Fill your glass with cubed ice. Add infused gin to the glass and top with tonic water. Garnish with a large mint sprig

Roasted Red Pepper and Watermelon Bellini

Ingredients

12 red peppers

8oz Water

Watermelon or carton of watermelon juice

Sugar syrup to taste (1:1 hot water and sugar, allow to dissolve and cool)

Proseco or good sparkling wine

You will need:

1 blender

1 non-reactive container, with lid

1 funnel

1 sieve

1 tea cloth

How to make the red pepper mix

• Wash the peppers. Place in the oven on a medium heat and cook until the skin blisters.
• Being careful not to burn yourselves, feel the blistered skin, chop and add to a blender with 8oz of water
• Pass the blended mix through a tea cloth, muslin or coffee filter to remove all the fiberous material
• Reserve the juice in the non-reactive container with approx 100g of watermelon or 50ml of watermelon juice
• If refrigerated, the mix lasts for 72 hours and will retain its bright color. As soon as it starts to look dull, discard

Instructions

Pour the red pepper mix and the proseco into a glass and stir gently to mix. Serve and enjoy.

Electric Coriander Colada

Ingredients

35ml coconut Bacardi Carta Blanca rum

65ml sweetened clarified pineapple

1 Large pinch coriander cress

For the coconut Bacardi Carta Blanca

This product is usually distilled, which infuses only the purest of coconut flavours into the rum. For a simpler version, add 50gr of dried coconut to 350ml of rum.

For the clarified pineapple

1Ltr of pineapple juice

8gr Agar

250gr Granulated sugar

You will need

1 pan

1 scales

1 non-reactive container

1 funnel

1 coffee filters

How to make the clarified pineapple

• Heat half your pineapple over a low heat and gradually stir in the agar. Do not add all at the same time or this will clump together
• Once dissolved, add the remaining juice and stir in
• Transfer the entire mix to a non-reactive container and place in the freezer overnight
• The following day, place your frozen pineapple block in your funnel lined with a coffee filter or tea cloth. When this is thawing the clear pineapple is collected and the fibrous material is retained
• Add sugar and stir to dissolve
• Bottle and reserve the clear pineapple juice in the fridge

Instructions

Add all ingredients to a shaker with cube ice and shake hard. In a 10oz highball glass add 25ml soda and fill with cube ice. Strain the cocktail over the soda and mix together.

Chocolate & Blue Cheese Martini

Ingredients

50ml Bombay Sapphire infused with blue cheese

2 bar/tsp spoons of Mozart White

1 bar/tsp spoon of dark Crème de Cacao

1 bar/tsp spoon of White Crème de Cacao

1 bar/tsp spoon of sugar syrup

2 bar/tsp spoons of dry vermouth

4 drops of olive oil – for garnish

2 drops chocolate bitters – for garnish

For the gin and blue cheese infusion

1 packet (approx. 300gr) of blue cheese

700ml (1Btl) Bombay Sapphire

How to make the blue cheese infusion

• Chop the cheese into small 2cm cubes and add it to a vacuum sealed bag with the gin
•  If you don't have a vacuum bag a large, zip-lock freezer bag works just as well. Seal the bag and cook it in water at 52 degrees Celsius for 60 minutes
• If you don't have a Sous Vide bath, use a deep Wok or pressure cooker placed over a medium-high heat
• After cooking, place the bag in the freezer until the solids are frozen
• Pass the liquid through a coffee filter before bottling and reserve in the fridge. This process is called fat-washing. You are using an ingredient high in fat and cooking it to impart the flavours left behind. Then you're separating the two elements, leaving you with a clear liquid full of flavour

Instructions

Stir all ingredients into a pre-chilled martini glass. Garnish with a droplet of olive oil and then add a droplet of chocolate bitter to the center of the drop of olive oil (these will float at the top of the glass).

Clarified Bloody Maria

Ingredients

35ml Patrón Reposado Tequila

65ml Bloody Mary Consumè

For the Bloody Mary consumè:

• 3g ground black pepper
• 5g crushed pink peppercorns
• 3g sea salt
•  2g celery salt
• 10 dashes tobacco
• 15 dashes green tobacco
• Juice of one lemon
• 15 dashes Worchester 
• 400ml tomato juice (try to avoid the cheaper brands as the water content is quite high and the flavor inferior)

This should be prepped the day before and brought out of the freezer the night before you want to serve at lunch

You will also need

1 pan or bowl, suitable for mixing

1 non-reactive container with lid

1 funnel or sieve

1 two-fold muslin (a coffee filter or tea cloth works just as well)

1 bottle or deep container to store the mix after thawing

Instructions for the consumè

• Into a non-reactive sealable container, pour the tomato juice
• Add the other ingredients and stir all - leave to rest for 1hr
• Secure the lid and place in the freezer
• The following morning, remove from the freezer (your mix should now be solid)
• Prepare your filter by adding  two-fold muslin or a coffee filter to a funnel, over a bottle or deep container
• Remove the frozen tomato mix and place in the funnel and allow the frozen tomato mix to drip thaw naturally (this takes several hours)
• Bottle and reserve clarified juice

And finally...

Pre-chill Martini/Coupette glass. Stir spirit and consume with ice in a mixing jug or tin. Strain into glass. Serve and enjoy.

Richard Woods will captain Team London and represent Patrón Tequila in London Cocktail Week’s #24HRBARBUILD, where four cities must build a bar in 24 hours on Saturday 10th October. For tickets please visit: https://billetto.co.uk/events/94324