Martini Recipe
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The martini is made with gin and vermouth and is garnished with a twist of lemon peel or an olive—period. King Arthur’s knights searched in vain for the Holy Grail. The Spaniards sought the gold of El Dorado and the longevity of the Fountain of Youth. Lieutenant Gerard hunted Richard Kimble in The Fugitive. There is another modern quest, however, that has generated as much zeal and excitement: the search for the “perfect martini.” Armed with sterling silver shakers, vermouth droppers, and plenty of attitude and individuality, home bartenders mix and experiment with their martinis with alchemical precision. Meanwhile, devoted seekers of the perfect martini will flock to touted cocktail lounges like pilgrims to a revered shrine. It is a paradox indeed that the quintessential cocktail is so elusive.
The origin of the martini is also as elusive as the Grail itself. The controversy over who sired the first one spans the colorful to the prosaic, and we may never know if this “elixir of quietude,” “silver bullet,” and “Fred Astaire in a glass” was named for a man, a rifle, or a vermouth producer. Whether named for a thirsty traveler on his way to Martinez or for Martini di Arma di Taggia, bartender at the Knickerbocker Hotel in New York City, the martini is recognized as the world’s premier cocktail; its stylized icon for the cocktail lounge is as universally recognizable as the symbol for the stop sign.
Many excellent books detail the history and evolution of the martini and rhapsodize its... read more
- 3 ounces gin
- Dry vermouth
- Green olives or twist of lemon peel
- Depending on your taste, mix 5 to 8 parts gin to 1 part vermouth for a dry martini. Use less vermouth for a drier martini. Stir in a pitcher half filled with ice, or shake with ice; then strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with green olives or lemon peel. A “bone-dry” martini, also known as “pass the bottle,” contains no vermouth whatsoever.
Variations:
The Gibson: The Gibson is made exactly like the martini, but a small cocktail onion is substituted for the olive. A number of stories exist regarding its origin, but the consensus is that it was named for the illustrator Charles Dana Gibson, creator of the era’s paradigm of female beauty, the Gibson Girl. Gibson and his cronies would often take a break from work and visit the Player’s Club for a few drinks. While journalists may feel inspired after a drink or two, an artist needs an absolutely steady hand. Gibson furtively asked the bartender, Charlie Connolly, to give him pure ice water. The drink was distinguished by a silver-skinned cocktail onion. Patrons soon began ordering their martinis with onions and calling them Gibsons to honor the inventor. Double onions were also ordered, paying homage to certain physical assets of the Gibson Girl.
Astoria: Add a dash of bitters.
Blue Martini: Substitute blue curaçao for the vermouth, and garnish with a maraschino cherry.
Cajun Martini: Noted chef Paul Prudhomme invented this drink by infusing a cut-up jalapeño pepper in a bottle of gin for half a day. The spicy liquor replaces the ordinary gin. Garnish with a slice of green tomato or pickled jalapeño. Vodka may be substituted for the gin.
Dirty Martini: Add a splash of olive brine, and garnish with a green olive.
Fino Martini: Substitute fino sherry for the vermouth.
Knickerbocker Martini: Substitute equal parts sweet and dry vermouth for the dry vermouth, and add a dash of bitters.
Montgomery: Named for a British general who would not go into battle unless his troops outnumbered the opposition 25 to 1, this martini uses the same proportion of gin to vermouth.
Naked Martini: Omit the vermouth. After shaking, turn in the direction of France, bow, and pour.
Odyssey: Mix Magellan French gin, Bossiere Italian vermouth, and a Greek cracked olive in brine.
Sakétini: Substitute 1 ounce sake for the vermouth.
Silver Bullet: Substitute Scotch for the vermouth.
This recipe, while from a trusted source, may not have been tested by the CHOW food
team.
Copyright Quirk Books
After many taste test my guest in my home prefer the traditional Gin Martini. Using 3 parts Bombay Sapphire to 1 part dry vermouth, stirred not shaken. I garnish with lemon peal or stuffed green cocktail olive. Generally men prefer the olive while the women preferred a twist of lemon. I trust my research as my friends all good home chefs with good pallets.
There was a reason Mary Tyler Moore would meet Dick at the door with a pitcher of martinis.
When I make martinis for my guests they always request vodka and that it be dry.
I check for allergies (can one be allergic to gin?) and proceed to make the correct way. Gin and vermouth, 2:1. Stirred, not shaken. Number of olives by request, I prefer a lemon twist myself.
Everyone, without fail, proclaims "This is the best martini I have ever had!" When I tell them why, their jaws drop. James Bond and the fun of playing at making a dry martini by waving the bottle of vermouth around the glass has ruined one of the best cocktails ever.
I agree that you are foolishly perpetuating the idea that vermouth should be minimized or eliminated. While everyone has different tastes, a standard martini is 3 to 1. Any deviation would be considered atypical. And if you like drinking cold gin, just pour it from the freezer into a glass and add an olive. But don't call it a martini - call it what it is, cold gin.
I thought a perfect martini was one made with half sweet and half dry vermouth.
I cannot stomach gin--makes my skin crawl--so my martini of choice is a ketel one vodka martini with a generous amount of noilly prat vermouth and several jalapeno olives (plus a little olive juice). It is my friday night treat.
I certainly learned how to take care of vermouth - didn't know that. But I agree with comments giving nods to Hendricks and keeping the vermouth in. I got a tip on the boards to go 5:2 and for me that's the best. With garlic olives and brine - shaken.
It is hard to order correctly in a bar. Even upscale places sometimes go for vodka when I order a classic martini. I'm now given to stating the whole thing, including ratio. And I prefer doing this if I can talk directly with the bartender.
Much, much better:
2 parts Junipero (room temperature -- never in the freezer!!)
1 part Vya Extra Dry
1 dash orange bitters
Stir
Garnish with a lemon twist
And by the way, vermouth will NOT last as long as bitters. It does go off after a while -- it's just a lightly fortified wine, and does not have the staying power that 40% alcohol bitters do. Keep it in the fridge, buy small bottles, and use them within a month or two.
beautiful martini glasses are essential-as are sober friends !
Bin 209 Gin w/ a touch of vermouth shaken or for the summer just a good old fashioned Boodles and tonic
Hendrick's or Bombay Sapphire gin, with a 2:1 ratio to Noilly Prat vermouth (yes, two to one!), stirred with Evian ice in a chilled glass, and with a fresh Corfiot green olive. Accept no substitute!
There are, of course, just as many recipes as there are people for a martini. My personal favorite is Hendrick's gin (beautifully floral and smooth), with a dash of dry vermouth. While trends may come and go, a little goes a long way in terms of vermouth in my opinion. I'm looking to enhance the gin rather than overpower it. By that same token, I prefer mine shaken. James Bond aspirations aside, shaken provides two key qualities, it aerates the gin giving it a lighter texture on the tongue (absolutely phenominal - especially just after the pour), and breaks up the ice into small shards, not only cooling it down effectively, but also just slightly smoothing it out even more. Of course, no martini starts with a warm glass, so ice and water are added to the glass to kick off the process, creating a perfectly chilled palate.
A cocktail comrprised of cold gin with a splash (or whisper) of vermouth does not require someone with an advanced degree in mixology. (However I do admit to a preference for frozen gin rather than engaging in the 'shaken or stirred' controversary perpertrated by James Bond)
Thus it comes down to the best garnish. If you choose olives, non-pitted queens are great. But, olives stuffed with jalapeno add a new dimension. Even better, why not try a caper berry or two. Or, you can add a little color and character with a pickled baby beet. I love to throw together a martini with a num ber of garnishes. Then at least I can say that I'm not really there for the gin!
Yep. Have to disagree with the dry martini logic. Many bartenders (and martini lovers) go with the 4:1 ratio, which I'd consider a classic.
I enjoyed the article though - the back story on the Gibson was new martini lore to me.
Nuh-uh. All that great buildup and then you go and ruin the drink by keeping your gin in the freezer. That's why the drink gets stirred with ice in the first place. It's true that stirred drinks need to be agitated for a longer period than shaken drinks; this is simply because shaking increases the amount of agitation and therefore increases the rate at which the drink is chilled. A really good bartender will, as a rule of thumb, stir drinks that are entirely liquor based, such as Martinis and Manhattans, and shake drinks with juices or dairy products. The shaken drinks need the extra agitation to make sure that the drink is mixed together properly.
Additionally, a stirred drink is much smoother on the tongue; shaking aerates the drink and mixes in lots of tiny air bubbles. This is why a well-shaken martini looks cloudy, and is what martini drinkers are talking about when they say the gin is bruised. It does give the drink a lighter mouthfeel; something desirable for something like an Alabama Slammer or a Margarita, but not in a Martini.
I also do not agree that a Martini should be bone-dry. The level of vermouth in a Martini decreased as the quality of gin improved from the 1930s, when Nick and Nora Charles had theirs in a 2:1 ratio, until these days when it's down to 11:1 or lower if you order your martini "dry". Like others have said, if you're doing the rinse-and-toss with the vermouth you're just drinking chilled gin. Incidentally, the International Bartenders' Association (as close as we're going to get to an ultimate authority on the matter) lists a dry martini as having almost a 4:1 ratio, with 5.5 centiliters of gin and 1.5 of vermouth.
The late great bon vivant, Lucius Beebe, pronounced that "Anything drier than five to one is just iced gin!" I'm with Lucius on that. One bartender I knew, of the rinse-and-dump school, was almost in tears when I demanded a martini in which the vermouth was an actual ingredient instead of a vague rumor, but most nowadays comply with little or no comment.
I've become partial to an occasional "Fitty-Fitty," a recent re-invention of the original dry martini, so called solely by virtue of being made with dry vermouth instead of sweet. As the name suggests, it's equal parts vermouth and gin, with a dash or two of bitters. My home vermouth is Gallo, not the best, but when I make it with Hendricks gin and Angostura bitters it is a very pleasant cocktail.
I do keep my Gilbey's gin in the freezer, as well as the martini glasses, but not the Hendrick's. I like the floral notes a lot, and I'm afraid the freezer would kill them.
So...the quintessential cocktail is freezer-cold gin, perhaps with a splash of vermouth? I'm sticking to beer!
Man, I'm a curmudgeon when it comes to the cocktail recipes on Chow.com, but I've got to disagree with a few statements here...
"If one point is unanimously agreed upon, it is that a martini should be dry"
This just isn't true. In fact, the cocktalian community has, of late, moved back towards a "wetter" martini. I personally prefer around 4:1. Audrey Saunders of the Pegu Club in NYC has even featured a 50-50 martini on their menu (1:1 ratio).
"...try it both ways; you will undoubtedly agree that the best martinis are made with gin kept in the freezer..."
Again, personal preference I suppose, but I definitely don't agree with this either. Cocktails need water to smooth out and dilute the strength of the base spirit. If the alcohol is the same temp. as the ice, you don't get the dilution. I guess, however, it does come down to personal preference.
One last comment -- shaking vs. stirring -- the only real difference I see is visual. Shaken drinks definitely have more little bubbles in them. If your goal is to provide a pristine looking drink, you'll have more success by choosing to stir.