There is a story in the Arabian Nights called “The History of Camaralzaman, Prince of the Isle of the Children of Khaledan and of Badoura, Princess of China.”
The general premise is quite vain. A prince, who is a really good looking Adonis-type rejects the idea of marriage which frustrates his father, King Schahzaman. Far far and away in China, there is a beautiful princess who is basically in the same situation. Two separate magical entities, a fairy and a genie, each spy on both royals and become competitive about whose find is more beautiful. So one night, they magically whisk the unconscious princess into the room of the prince while sleeping so they can evaluate their beauty side by side. Unconvinced of a winner, they wake each one alternately so that they can study the reaction of their specimens to each other. The idea here is that whoever falls more passionately in love at sight of the other will help determine their case. They both express similar levels of impassioned love at first sight upon seeing the sleeping other. The judgment ends undecided and the genie returns the princess to her bed in China and the magical beings exit the story completely. In the mornings after, for each royal, they mutually endure love sickness for want of the other who no one in their respective kingdoms believes exists, which quite possibly might be one of the earliest examples of gaslighting in literature. A long road adventure to find one another ensues and they unite and marry in China. The main hiccup occurs later when the prince, who makes very stupid decisions, wanders off and gets hopelessly lost chasing a bird in search of a precious talisman he sort of stole from Badoura while she slept. Abandoned and in the forest, she disguises herself as Camaralzaman and continues their journey with the hope of finding him. Along the way, she manages to get married to a neighboring princess, a diplomatic move that bodes well for future endeavors. She eventually recruits her new wife into her secretive schemes of finding her husband. Meanwhile, Camaralzaman makes more poor decisions and ends up being taken care of by a kind old gardener. They only reunite when she saves the day. He on the other hand, happens to miss the boat that sails once a year.
My main takeaways:
- The two incredibly self-absorbed royals only fall in love with each other because they are near mirror images of one another.
- The beautiful prince is all looks and no brains.
- The beautiful princess, however, is full of brains and her schemes help rescue their relationship.
Hard not to channel Romeo and Juliet with the opener, “Two houses both alike in dignity,” as well as Viola’s gender swapping schemes from the Twelfth Night. Pretty sure Shakespeare was inspired greatly by many of these tales. Speaking of the Bard, and specifically of his well known taste for Sherry, let us discuss the Adonis and the Bamboo Cocktails.
These two iconic sherry cocktails, originating from the late 1800’s, have both often been re-imagined as interchangeable depending on the bartender and the cocktail book over the past century and a half. There are specific stories associated with each and yet, the identity intermingling has persisted. I personally and professionally learned these drinks as akin to the differences between a Dry Martini and a Manhattan. The Bamboo is akin to the Dry Martini with a crisp dry base of Fino and complemented by Dry Vermouth, Orange bitters and a lemon peel. The Adonis is akin to a Manhattan with a richer yet still dry base of Amontillado or Oloroso, complemented by Sweet Vermouth, Aromatic bitters and an orange peel. I typically make both of these recipes with a 2:1 ratio of Sherry to Vermouth. I think I also base this on my experience visiting cocktail bars in Tokyo. Tio Pepe was the standard in a Bamboo but the Adonis had more variance with the use of a rinse of PX or Oloroso, or the base of an Amontillado.
The main confusion for these discrepancies in recipe listings stems from the very frustrating way that nearly all recipe guides historically listed sherry. They would list only “sherry” rather than specifying if it were a Fino, Amontillado, Oloroso or something sweeter. Once in a while, there will be a specification for a Pale Dry Sherry, which is likely a Fino or Manzanilla in reference, although I haven’t seen that in listings for the Bamboo or Adonis. In some guides, there would be some comments in the back pages when discussing wine details. On the topic of sherry, often little to no detail except the origin of the wine being from Jerez, Spain is given. In William H. Boothby’s “World Drinks and How to Mix Them,” (1934) which mentions many sherry recipes and variants, he makes a point of suggesting the use of Amontillado, Oloroso, Amoroso and Montilla in the back pages, although he never specifies which he uses in specific recipes. In C.F. Lawlor’s “The Mixicologist,” (1895) he explains “There are several different varieties of sherry, which may be divided into the Amontillado and Manzanilla classes. The Amontillado class may again be divided into fino and oloroso, the former being the more delicate.” If you find this extremely confusing, you’re not alone. My takeaway is that I believe Amontillado to have played a larger role in the assumption of sherry in a recipe. I am a bit biased, of course. The very first cocktail I had with sherry in it was the Adonis and it had Lustau “Los Arcos” Amontillado as the base. It was life-alteringly delicious and I use the same recipe to convert non-sherry drinkers into the fold all the time. The other takeaway is that Fino is delicate, which generally means it does not hold its own acting as a base if its modifier is much heavier. I’ve seen recommendations for an Adonis to be made with Fino and the full bodied Carpano Antica Formula Sweet Vermouth which does not equate well to my sense of balance. Even the fuller bodied Valdespino Fino Inocente gets buried in that arrangement.
An Adonis variant with a hint of saffron