Sidecar Cocktail

Here's a classic cocktail, one of my signature cocktails at Rock Creek Restaurant, Friendship Heights, Washington, DC.

The Sidecar Cocktail came about circa 1920's, the golden age of the cocktail.
The Sidecar was supposedly concocted by a bartender at Harry's New York Bar in Paris, who invented it for a regular customer, a military man, who was always driven to his favorite bar in a chauffeur-driven motorcycle. Naturally, this man always rode in the sidecar of the motorcycle.

Sidecar
one-and-a-half ounces cognac
one ounce Cointreau
one-half to three-fourths ounce fresh lemon juice
shake and strain into a chilled, sugar-rimmed cocktail glass
garnish with a flamed orange peel.

To flame an orange peel:
cut an oval shaped orange twist, about one to one-and-a-half inches long, with a small bit of pith on one side.
Light a match, and hold it a few inches above the drink.
Hold the twist by the sides, about 3-4 inches above the drink, skin side facing the drink.
The match should be between the drink and the twist.
Briskly snap the twist, so that the orange oil shoots through the flame, and onto the surface of the drink.
The result: a bit of pyrotechnic display, and carmelized orange oil floating on top of the cocktail!