When friends discovered I was adding a measure of vodka and tonic to a batter mixture for the fish I was frying, they were surprised. I was following a recipe created by celebrity chef James Martin from BBC1’s Saturday Kitchen.

They were equally surprised when they learned that I was intending to write about Russian vodka for my St Valentine’s Day food page.

“What’s romantic about vodka?” they asked, adding that in most Russian novels with a strong love theme, the heroine ends up committing suicide, or as with Doctor Zhivago, the lovers end up living apart. They declared that the Russians were not romantic, but passionate — and so a fascinating hour ensued as we tried to decide if passion could be linked with St Valentine’s Day. It was Kate who decided it could.

She reminded us of the recent popularity of the cosmopolitan cocktail, which is vodka-based, and its link with the TV series Sex in the City. A cosmopolitan is a particularly tasty cocktail created from vodka, Cointreau, cranberry and lime juice. As most bartenders have their special recipe for this drink, there are now thousands of variations, although most call for these basic ingredients to be shaken over cracked ice and then poured into a cocktail glass garnished with lime or lemon peel. It is indeed a very tasty drink.

But my friends were not completely convinced that I should write about vodka on a food page, arguing that its neutral flavour hardly merits its place in a recipe.

I agreed that vodka is really just water and ethyl alcohol, and that it contains no fats, carbohydrates, protein or sugar. Unlike other spirits or wine it doesn’t really impart a particular flavour to a dish and if reduced over heat you will end up with nothing much at all, rather than the rich-tasting liquid you might obtain from a reduction of other spirits or wine.

What vodka does do, however, is act as a flavour enhancer, adding an intensity of taste to certain ingredients, without confusing the flavour of the dish.

Take the internationally popular dish penne alla vodka, for example, which is said to have originated in a New York restaurant when a chef thinned his creamy tomato sauce with a little vodka and found the result tasty. This sauce is now poured over all manner of pastas as well as some poultry dishes. Vodka can also be used to enhance the flavour of a sorbet (see today’s recipe), which is a perfect dish to serve at the end of a St Valentine’s dinner.

Vodka is a clear spirit usually distilled from grain, but it can be made from potatoes. The best vodka is distilled from wheat, rye and barley malt which is fermented, distilled to a high proof then filtered through charcoal and diluted with water.

I was working with Russian Standard Gold, a smooth, rich vodka that provides a range of subtle, sweet notes, which blend together exceptionally well to create a superb spirit that can be consumed chilled on the rocks or with a mixer. This particular brand conforms to the formula for vodka established in 1894 by the famed Russian scientist Dimitri Mendeleev for Russia’s Czars.

Distilled from the finest winter wheat grown on the southern steppes of Russia and blended with pure glacial waters from Lake Ladoga, it really is a rather special tipple.

The romance and ritual surrounding the imbibing of Russian vodka is part of the mysterious attraction of this drink, which is believed to have been first brought to Russia by Genoese merchants on their way to Lithuania in the late 14th century. It is thought that the merchants presented vessels of their aqua vitae as a gift to Prince Dmitri Ivanovich, who is credited as being the first Russian to sup what was to prove the forerunner of vodka.

The word ‘vodka’, by the way, is a diminutive of voda, the Russian word for water. Apparently it was first drunk as a medicine, but by the 17th century it was consumed as a ceremonial drink, both at court and in the church.

Before long, herbs, berries, roots and fruits of the forest were being added to basic vodka, providing both colour and taste.

Traditionally, vodka should be served neat and ice-cold, though some Russians drink it mixed with beer. Owing to the popularity of cocktails in the 1920s, vodka was drunk with mixers when it was introduced to America by Russian Vladimir Smirnov.

Russian dishes that go particularly well with a glass of chilled vodka include smoked fish dishes, pickled mushrooms and any dish laden with sour cream. Obviously, it goes well with the classic chicken Kiev, too. For St Valentine’s Day it is certainly worth mixing a cosmopolitan cocktail and serving a vodka and tonic sorbet at the end of the meal, particularly if you want to add a little passion to a romantic evening.