Latest / The Monégasque Table / Edible Glitter French 75: Shake It With the Gin
Transcript
- Dana: 75. The drink is named after a French field gun from World War I. The 75-millimeter. And the recipe I read calls it exactly the drink for New Year's Eve. Margaux: Welcome to The Monégasque Table. Today's question is for anyone pouring a French 75 for a holiday toast or for New Year's Eve: where does the edible glitter go in a French 75? Dana: Because it's a two-part drink. Part of it gets shaken, and then you top it with the Champagne. So which part gets the sparkle? Margaux: Here's the answer up front. The glitter goes in the shaker, with the gin, the lemon and the syrup. Shake, strain into the glass, then top with the Champagne. The glitter is already in the base of the drink when the bubbles go in, so the pour carries it around the glass. You don't sprinkle it on top of the Champagne, and you don't glitter a plain glass of bubbly. Dana: Why not on top? On top seems like where you'd see it. Margaux: On top, it lands on the foam in one spot. In the shaker, the glitter gets spread through the gin and lemon by the shake, so when you strain it, it goes into the glass already spread through the liquid. Then the Champagne pours in on top of it, and the pour moves the whole thing around. Dana: Okay. Give me the recipe, because I've only ever had this at a bar. Margaux: The one I read is 4 ingredients and a garnish. 1 ounce of gin. 1/2 ounce of fresh lemon juice. 1/2 ounce of simple syrup. Shake those with ice until they're cold, strain into a Champagne flute or a coupe, then top with 3 ounces of Champagne. A lemon twist on the rim. Dana: That's it? That's the whole drink? Margaux: That's it. The recipe calls it easy to make at home, and it is. And you can swap the Champagne for Cava or Prosecco, or swap the gin for cognac. Dana: So the glitter is just the pinch, in the shaker with the ice. Margaux: The printed serving on the drink glitter is 0.1 grams. A pinch. It goes in with the gin before you shake. Dana: Here's where I want to push. The glass. Every picture I've seen of a French 75 is a tall, skinny Champagne flute. Margaux: And I'd use the flute. The recipe calls it traditional for this cocktail. And for glitter, a tall, narrow glass is a column. The bubbles rise up through a long column of drink, and the shimmer rises with them. That's the look. Dana: My round. Same recipe, same author. Flutes are traditional, but coupes are, and I'm quoting, "what I often use." And I'm the one hosting. Have you ever tried to stir a flute? You can't get anything in there. A coupe is wide and shallow. Everyone around the table sees the top of the drink, not just the side. And when someone lifts a coupe for the toast, the whole surface catches the light. Margaux: That's the round you win. The flute shows the rise, but the coupe shows the swirl from above, and at a toast, the top of the glass is what people are looking at. And the recipe author reaches for the coupe too. Dana: I'll take it. I own a set of coupes and zero flutes. Margaux: Now the number we disagree on. A pinch of drink glitter at the printed 0.1 grams, from a 10 gram jar at $14.99, works out to about 15 cents a drink. Dana: And I'd use less. It's a small, elegant drink. I don't want it to look like a snow globe. Margaux: I'd keep the printed serving, because the Champagne top dilutes the look. 1 ounce of gin and lemon gets 3 ounces of bubbles poured into it. A smaller pinch spread through all of that reads as a faint haze. Dana: We'll leave that one as a draw. I'll try it both ways at the party and report back. Margaux: On the flake itself. Drink glitter flakes are 50 to 500 microns. That's the format built to stay visible and suspended in a drink. Fine luster dust is 5 to 25 microns and gives a smooth sheen. In a drink with this much movement, the flake is what you see. Dana: And the color? Gold for New Year's? Margaux: Gold is classic, and silver is the metallic having its moment this year, according to a UK cake-trade trend guide for 2026. A French 75 is pale, almost clear, and both read well in it. An analysis of about 2,400 category reviews has buyers saying glitter works best in clear drinks, and this one qualifies. Dana: One more thing people ask. Is this one of the drinks the rules actually cover? Margaux: The federal listing for this pigment, 21 CFR 73.350, has a beverage entry. Cocktails are named in it. The French 75 is a cocktail, made with gin, lemon and syrup, then topped. Wine on its own is not named in that entry. So a plain glass of Champagne or Prosecco isn't the drink we're talking about. Dana: Who should skip it? Margaux: 3 skips. If your guests want a plain glass of bubbly, leave that glass alone. The glitter goes in the cocktail, with the gin. If you're making the cognac version, it's darker and amber, and the swirl shows less; save the glitter for the gin version. And if your glasses are colored or frosted, skip it, because nobody will see the shimmer. Dana: Dana's Scorecard. I came in thinking the glitter went on top of the Champagne. Where I landed. One: glitter goes in the shaker, with the gin, the lemon and the syrup. Two: shake, strain, then top with 3 ounces of Champagne, and the pour does the swirling. Three, my round: the coupe. Wide glass, everyone sees the top, and it's what the recipe author uses. Four: about 15 cents a drink at the printed serving. My caveat: I still think a smaller pinch might be prettier, and I'm going to test it. Margaux: Report back. The footnote: the MONÉGASQUE Silver Sparkle 10 gram drink glitter is on Amazon at $14.99, about 100 servings. Dana: Next time, a question I hear at every bake sale. Edible glitter or sanding sugar. Which one actually tastes like something? Margaux: Only one of them is sugar, and that's most of the answer. One note before we go — this show is produced by the team at Monégasque, with AI-crafted hosts. See you at the table.