Forgotten Cocktails from the Golden Age of Cinema: The "Yellow Parrot"
I just finished watching We're Not Dressing, a screwball comedy flick about a motley crew of socialites stranded on a deserted island. It isn't the most thought-provoking film ever made, but it is darn funny, and Bing Crosby's crooning makes it well worth the watch. My favorite moment is when Bing glares at spoiled high-society Doris (played by one of my favorite actresses, Carole Lombard) while singing a song about the myriad of ways that those in high places can topple at any time. Hollywood has always been good at social commentary!
Before their deserted island catastrophe, one of their frazzled yacht bartenders reads from a recipe book and completely botches the recipe. I had to hit pause when, there on the screen, was a cocktail recipe I had never heard of -- the "Yellow Parrot". My hubby and I are cocktail enthusiasts, and as soon as I saw fresh orange juice on the ingredients list, I had to make it (I am partial to cocktails that make me feel at least a little healthy).
The Yellow Parrot Cocktail/She Wore Stars
Yellow Parrot Cocktail Recipe
I did a quick Google search, and saw that the cocktails listed on sites such as Savoy and Spirits were quite different, containing absinthe and chartreuse. But the recipe shown in the film is pretty simple if you have any liquor cabinet to speak of, so why not give it a whirl? Here is the recipe, straight from the silver screen:
The Yellow Parrot Cocktail/She Wore Stars
Plus, once you finish it, you will have just imbibed 85% of your daily nutritional quota of Vitamin C. It's a win-win!
Cheers :)
Yellow Parrot Cocktail Preparation NOTES:
Use fresh squeezed juice from 1 orange, save a portion of the peel (about 1in x 2in with a knife), set aside
In a cocktail mixer, add ice, gin, cointreau, orange juice. (TIP: order doesn't necessarily matter, but typically add the expensive stuff first in case you measure wrong, it's easier to adjust the other ingredients!)
Shake and strain into a martini glass
Carefully twist the orange peel and squeeze it as you move it around the rim of the glass, "expressing" the oils from the peel onto the rim
These days its popular to put just about anything in your cocktail... tarragon. Peppers.
Kale.
But before all of this avant-garde experimentation there was.... beetle juice. That's right, bug carcasses gave Campari, a liquor cabinet essential, its distinctively red hue. A little insect protein in a cocktail never hurt anyone, right?