A keen diver, snorkeller and spear-fisher, Fleming’s passion for marine life was matched only by his love of ornithology. He spent hours immersing himself in the secret life of tropical fish and came to acquire a close knowledge of ocean life. One of the most formidable fish he swam with was the barracuda, a large and brutal-looking predator, whose sharp, jutting fangs resemble those of a piranha. This cocktail is a sultry take on the classic Margarita. The fish’s bite is provided by the padrón pepper infusion, pineapple sherbet denotes the tropical Caribbean and a tiny pinch of sea salt adds a lick of the ocean and brightens the fresh citric flavours.
50ml (2fl oz) padrón pepper–infused tequila
15ml (½fl oz) pineapple sherbet (see here)
15ml (½fl oz) triple sec
20ml (¾fl oz) lime juice
3 dashes of lemongrass tincture
3 dashes of Peychaud’s bitters
1 small pinch of sea salt
FOR THE PADRÓN PEPPER–INFUSED TEQUILA, MAKES 150ML (5FL OZ)
1 raw padrón pepper, roughly chopped
175ml (6fl oz) Patrón Silver tequila (or other 100% agave tequila)
FOR THE LEMONGRASS TINCTURE, MAKES 100ML (3½FL OZ)
1½ tablespoons finely chopped lemongrass
100ml (3½fl oz) vodka
TO GARNISH
pineapple leaves
padrón pepper
To make the padrón pepper–infused tequila, infuse the chopped peppers in the tequila for 12 hours, then strain through a fine sieve.
To make the lemongrass tincture, infuse the chopped lemongrass in the vodka for 4 days, then strain through a fine sieve.
To make the cocktail, measure the ingredients into a cocktail shaker and top up with ice to the brim. Shake vigorously, then strain into a rocks glass over ice and garnish with pineapple leaves and a padrón pepper.
BARRACUDA BITE
My daily occupation in Jamaica is spearfishing and underwater exploring, but after five years of it I didn’t want to kill any more fish except barracudas and the rare monster fish and I knew my own underwater terrain like the back of my hand.
FROM THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN TYPEWRITER
The barracuda had led me towards the moored dinghy, and I was suddenly surprised to see, swimming fast towards me in the great empty hall of the sea, a small grey and black fish with a diamond shaped head. The fish swam very busily, with a motion rather like an eel or a snake, and almost before I could take it in it had come up and bumped softly into me. This was as extraordinary as if walking across a field, a flying pigeon had bumped into one.
FROM ADVENTURE IN THE SUN
The [barracuda’s] broad lateral stripes showed vividly – the angry hunting sign – the gold and black tiger’s eye was on him, watchful, incurious, and the long mouth was open half an inch so that the moonlight glittered on the sharpest row of teeth in the ocean – teeth that don’t bite at the flesh, teeth that tear out a chunk and swallow and then hit and scythe again.
THUNDERBALL
CHAPTER 16. SWIMMING THE GAUNTLET
Bond had no time to worry about them. Now the head of the squid had broken the surface and the sea was being thrashed into foam by the great heaving mantle round it. The eyes were glaring up at him, redly, venomously, and the forest of feeding arms was at his feet and legs, tearing the cotton fabric away and flailing back. Bond was being pulled down, inch by inch. The wire was biting into his armpits. He could even feel his spine being stretched. If he held on he would be torn in half. Now the eyes and the great triangular beak were right out of the water and the beak was reaching up for his feet.
DR NO
CHAPTER 18. KILLING GROUND
It was like arriving in a town from open country. Everywhere the jewelled reef fish twinkled and glowed and the giant anemones of the Indian Ocean burned like flames in the shadows. Colonies of spined sea-eggs made sepia splashes as if someone had thrown ink against the rock, and the brilliant blue and yellow feelers of langoustes quested and waved from their crevices like small dragons.
FOR YOUR EYES ONLY
FROM THE HILDEBRAND RARITY
The fish were his particular favourites. He referred to them as “people” and, since reef fish stick to their territories as closely as do most small birds, after two years he knew them all intimately, “loved” them and believed that they loved him in return.
OCTOPUSSY AND THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS
FROM OCTOPUSSY
Ian Fleming’s love of diving led him to join Jacques Cousteau, the famous underwater explorer, on a project to raise the remains of an ancient Greek trading vessel, The Calypso, in the south of France in 1953. The trip inspired the vivid description of Bond’s epic underwater swim through the reefs out to Mr Big’s boat, The Secatur, in Live and Let Die.
Goldeneye, Fleming’s home in Jamaica, is one of the few places on the island where the coral reef comes so close to the shore that there is white sand and deep clear water to swim in all year round.
Sometimes Fleming would go in pursuit of underwater predators such as barracudas and sharks with a local Jamaican, Aubyn Cousins. They would set off in the early morning in a small boat laden with a dead donkey and small cow and, once beyond the reef, would throw the carcasses overboard as bait. In Dr No, Bond is attacked by a barracuda in a scene said to have been inspired by a close encounter Fleming once had with barracuda.