Parmesan Cream Espresso Martini

It is March 2023 and my Instagram is flooded with people adding parmesan cheese to their espresso martinis claiming “this is delicious” and “don’t knock it until you try it”.

So I tried it.

Verdict

Worth a try and impress your partner or your friends. Grace loved this cocktail and our dog Duke kept trying to go for the foam (counts as the cheese tax). A whipped cream foam made so much more sense than grated parmesan cheese. The foam imparts a consistent parmesan flavor and better mouthfeel than grated parmesan. IMO cocktails should never be chunky.

Taste Rating: 4/5

Difficulty: 2/5

Parmesan Cream Espresso Martini

Ingredients

• 1.5 oz vodka
• 0.75 oz espresso
• 0.5 oz coffee liqueur
• 0.5 oz simple syrup
• Parmesan cream foam (see below)
• Optional coffee bean(s) for garnish

Instructions

1. Chill a martini glass or coupe with ice and water.
2. Make the espresso martini: add vodka, espresso, coffee liqueur, and simple syrup to a shaker, add ice, and shake until the shaker is ice-cold.
3. Strain and pour into chilled martini glass or coupe (yes…pour out the ice and water first).
4. Layer parmesan cream foam on top.
5. Garnish with coffee bean(s).

For espresso, I used Peet’s Coffee Major Dickason’s blend dark roast. The espresso was stronger than I’d like so in the future I will add cut the espresso with 0.25 oz of water. For reference, most espresso martinis call for 1 oz of espresso.

Parmesan Cream Foam

Ingredients

• 360g whole milk
• 100g parmesan cheese, broken apart by hand
• 100g parmesan rind cut into half-inch squares (or equal weight parmesan cheese)
• 1g whole black peppercorn
• 1g salt
• 120g heavy cream

Instructions

1. Add whole milk to a sauce pan. Heat on low and cut the heat before the milk comes to a rolling boil.
2. Add the parmesan cheese, the rind (if using), and black peppercorns to the milk. Stir and steep for 20+ minutes and allow the milk to cool.
3. Add the salt and heavy cream. Stir to incorporate.
4. Strain the mixture to remove solids and pour liquid into an iSi canister/cream whipper. Save the solids for another use.
5. Charge canister with 1 N2O charger, shake, and store in fridge until cold.

For the parmesan cheese, I had Kirkland Parmigiano-Reggiano on hand, a staple in my fridge. This is a great recipe to use the parmesan rind, which I normally would air-fry for a snack. I made cacio e pepe with the parmesan solids so nothing went to waste.

Chilling the parmesan cream gave the cream itself more body and it tasted less watery.

Enjoy!