Scroppino glasses

The flute is the classic choice and for good reason: the narrow bowl carries the cream from below and there is little surface for it to sink across. Reckon on 17 to 27 cl, because a scroppino is about 10 cl and that should sit generously in the glass without spilling over the rim when you add another spoonful. Smaller sizes around 15 or 16 cl work too, but then you serve a smaller portion, which is often exactly right for a dessert.

If you prefer to go wider, the coupe is the other classic shape; it looks more Venetian but you have to serve faster. Material matters more here than with ordinary sparkling wine. A thin, cool-feeling crystal bowl gives the cream less warmth than a thick-walled glass. Among the champagne flutes you will find the narrow shapes from Spiegelau, Schott Zwiesel, Nachtmann and RIEDEL among others, while the wider models are with the champagne coupes.

Move the sorbet from the freezer to the fridge a quarter of an hour before use, so it is just soft enough to whisk. Put it in a cold bowl, pour in cold prosecco and whisk until it is one smooth mass. Vodka goes in last, in a small splash, and then you serve straight away. The longer you whisk after it is smooth, the more air you beat back out of it.

Do not pour it, but spoon it into the glass and smooth the top. A mint leaf or a strip of lemon zest on top, and a long spoon alongside. The classic proportions are on the sgroppino recipe, including the order in which you bring the sorbet and the bubbles together. If you want to serve something simpler in the same flutes, the bellini with peach puree is the logical follow-up.

Chill the glass in advance. Five minutes in the freezer is the difference between a scroppino that holds for ten minutes and one that starts separating after four. A glass that comes out of the cupboard at room temperature warms the bottom layer of cream before the plate reaches the table. So get the flutes out early and stand them upright on a shelf in the freezer, not touching each other.

Wash them as soon as possible after use, because sugar and cream dry hard in the narrow bowl. A short glassware programme is enough for most hospitality glassware, but thin crystal flutes from RIEDEL or Nachtmann are better washed by hand with a soft glass brush that reaches the bottom of the bowl. Store them upright and do not let the stems touch.

If you want the same effect but in a dish rather than a glass, the dessert glasses and the ice cream coupes are the logical step. If you mainly serve the scroppino in summer alongside other Italian aperitifs, the matching shapes are with the aperol spritz glasses. And if you are ordering flutes for a whole menu rather than for one dessert, look at the champagne glasses, where flutes, coupes and tulips stand side by side.