Cocktail & Other Recipes By Spirit Gin Cocktails

Massimo Bond

By
Kat Odell
Kat Odell
Kat Odell
Kat Odell is a freelance writer and two-time author whose work focuses on food and drinks. She has been contributing to Liquor.com since 2017.
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Updated 06/21/22
Massimo Bond cocktail
Image:

Liquor.com / Tim Nusog

When Italian chef Massimo Bottura of Modena’s Osteria Francescana—voted the No. 1 restaurant in the world in 2016 and 2018, according to ranking list The World’s 50 Best Restaurants—announced plans to debut an eatery outside of his native Italy, the world took note. In February 2019, within Dubai’s sleek W hotel, Bottura opened Torno Subito, a bright and spunky restaurant inspired by the time the chef spent during the 1960s summering along the Italian Riviera.

It’s rife with seafood dishes like orecchiette cooked in burrata juice and creamed salted cod, and bar supervisor Manuel Mora devised a cocktail list that leans heavily on Italian ingredients, such as a blend of olive oils he uses in the Massimo Bond, a riff on the classic Dry Martini.

Mora says he wanted to create a twist on the classic cocktail but with a much richer flavor and smoother delivery. So he turned to a process called nitrogen cavitation that induces rapid flavor infusion via “homogenizing cells and tissues using rapid decompression of gases.”

“I add nitrous oxide to the mixture of ingredients in the cream whipper, and the pressurized gas dissolves into the cells of the ingredients,” says Mora.

When the pressure is released, nitrogen bubbles form within the cells and expand, breaking the cell walls and ultimately releasing flavor compounds that easily dissolve and permeate the gin. Mora then blends that mixture with several Ligurian olive oils, melted sage-infused butter and fat-washes the elixir for eight days.

However, to simplify the process, Mora devised an easier recipe for home bartenders. Named after both Bottura and James Bond—the iconic Martini lover—the Massimo Bond offers a sophisticated new way to look at the Dirty Martini.

Ingredients

  • 4 sage leaves

  • 2 ounces olive oil gin*

  • 1/4 ounce Mancino secco vermouth or Martini extra dry Italian vermouth

  • 3 drops pink Himalayan salt solution**

  • Garnish: Taggiasca olive, skewered

  • Garnish: 3 sage leaves

Steps

  1. Add the sage leaves into a mixing glass and crush very gently with a muddler.

  2. Add the olive oil gin, vermouth, salt solution and ice, and stir until well-chilled.

  3. Strain into a chilled coupe glass.

  4. Garnish with a skewered Taggiasca olive and 3 sage leaves.

*Olive oil gin: Combine 750 mL gin and 200 mL extra-virgin olive oil (such as Villa Manodori Taggiasca extra-virgin olive oil) in a Mason jar with a sealable lid. Shake the mixture, then leave at room temperature for 7 to 9 hours to allow the flavors to infuse. Then place the jar in the freezer overnight to solidify the fat. The next day, use a knife to break up the coagulated fat at the top of jar and strain the remaining liquid through a coffee filter or a cheese cloth. Strain again as desired to remove any leftover fat. Reserve the infused liquid in a bottle until ready to use.

**Pink Himalayan salt solution: Add 1/2 cup pink Himalayan salt and 1/2 cup water into a small bowl, and stir until the salt dissolves.