How To Perfectly Add An Orange Peel To Your Negroni Cocktail (And What Not To Do)
The negroni is a simple cocktail to make but difficult to master. To make a negroni, add one part each of gin, Campari, and vermouth. That's it; there are no fancy tricks or infusions here, just a perfectly crafted and well-balanced cocktail.
Difford's Guide claims that the negroni is the evolution of several other cocktails that were popular in Northern Italy at the start of the 20th century. It started with the Torino-Milano, which became a Milano-Torino, which metamorphosed into the americano. Around 1919, Count Camilo Negroni allegedly asked a bartender to add something extra to his usual americano, and he swapped the soda water out for gin, and the negroni was born.
Of course, the simplicity of this drink can be deceiving. While combining these three liqueurs might be easy enough, it takes some craft to execute a negroni properly. Delicious claims that, like many other drinks, the negroni is not complete without its signature garnish. The garnish of choice is an orange peel for this specific drink, but it should be handled with the utmost care to complement this legendary cocktail properly.
How to add an orange peel
Wine Enthusiast claims that there are many different reasons to garnish a drink properly. Garnishes can be for show — like a simple umbrella in a tropical drink — or they can be functional, like enjoying the blue cheese-stuffed olives in a dirty martini. They can even be there for you to decide what you want your drink to taste like. Love a basic gin and tonic? Great. Want it to have a spritz of more citrus? Well, that's what that lime wedge is for. The great thing is that it's up to you.
In the case of the negroni, though, its deceptively simple garnish is there for a good reason. Casual Mixologist says that expressing a citrus peel over the rim of a drink can add a lot more than you might expect. When you properly twist the peel of an orange over a negroni, it expresses its oils onto the top of the drink.
This ensures that the first thing you'll smell as you bring it up to take a sip will be the bright, fragrant notes of orange, per Vine Pair. The BBC claims that no one knows the exact recipe for Campari, but what is known is that it has distinct notes of orange in the mix. Adding those orange oils to the drink's aroma enhances those flavors and makes it seem even fruitier than it is without adding any non-essential elements like orange juice.
What not to do
Twisting an orange peel over the rim of a negroni is done for more than show. As Delicious points out, it also greatly enhances the drink. There are a few other options for garnishing your cocktail that will take away from its delicate balance of flavors. Number one is igniting the oils over the cocktail. It might be flashy and showy to set off a spark of citrus oils over your drink, but it will also ruin those desired oils and leave your drink smelling smoky instead. Punch admits there are times for such a showman's approach to a cocktail, but making a humble negroni is not one of them.
Delicious claims that another trick to be avoided is rubbing the citrus peel around the rim of the glass. You may have seen your favorite bartender do this before, but there's no need. The desired qualities of the peel are its essential oils. A simple twist will do enough to express those oils, and rubbing the peel onto the glass actually has a better chance of leaving behind some of the more bitter compounds found in orange peels.
There's a reason you remove an orange peel before you eat it. Rubbing a peel around the rim of your drink only raises the chances that you'll get those unsavory flavors and ruin the taste of the cocktail.