Sgroppino Veneziano

Sgroppino is neither cocktail nor dessert. It is both and neither, which is very Venetian. The name comes from the verb sgropare, to untie, and this is precisely what it does to the stomach after a long meal. Venetians have understood this for centuries.

The technique is simple but unforgiving. You must work quickly, with everything properly cold. The sorbet softened just enough to whip, the vodka from the freezer, the prosecco well chilled. You have perhaps two minutes from the moment you begin until the moment you serve. After that, the prosecco goes flat, the sorbet melts, and you have made lemon soup with alcohol. No one wants that.

Americans sometimes try to make this with champagne or limoncello or other improvisations. They are wrong. Prosecco provides the correct sweetness and effervescence. Vodka provides the cold neutrality that lets the lemon shine. These three ingredients, in this proportion, create the proper balance. What you keep out is as significant as what you put in.