“I like to have one martini,
Two at the very most.
After three I’m under the table,
after four I’m under my host.”
Dorothy Parker
December 5th is the anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition. What a great day to celebrate the most classic of classic cocktails…the Martini! This December 5th happens to be a Friday. Since I first met my wife, and going on 25 years now, Friday is pizza and martini night! So, we’ll be celebrating “Repeal of Prohibition Day” with a Dry Gibson for me and a “Playfully” Dirty Martini for my wife.
We really enjoy this moment of our week, giving us a time to unwind, relax and start the weekend with good juju! I put on the full show in our Friday martinis, pulling out 2 tiny antique martini glasses and matching antique glass cocktail pitcher. Then chill the glasses in the freezer while I make the drinks. I have special cocktail picks for each of us…a pink flamingo for my wife and the pineapple of hospitality for me. (Pineapple’s are considered a symbol of good hospitality stemming from pacific islanders who would bring a pineapple from one island to another as a show of peaceful intentions!)
I prefer the cleaner taste of the classic martini and adore good cocktail onions. I make my own, but there are great cocktail onions available at retail stores everywhere. I often grab cippolini onions from the olive bar at my local grocery store to use as a more enhanced garnish. I occasionally make a specific dirty martini for myself called “Dirty Martino!” The recipe is below, and it takes dirty off the charts to a completely different level.
The Martini
The martini is the world’s most celebrated cocktail and perhaps, the cocktail world’s greatest mystery. No other drink inspires such heated debate over both its master and its method. Was it created by Jerry Thomas, the great bartender at the Occidental hotel in San Francisco in 1864 or Martini di Arma di Taggia, bartender at the Knickerbocker Hotel in New York in 1912? Or was it a creation of New York City’s Hoffman House in the 1880s? The world may never know as each claim it to be their own.
More importantly, the real question we should be asking is how much vermouth is “correct”? I like mine with a 5 to 1 ratio of Gin or Vodka to vermouth and always add a dash of orange bitters to enhance the flavor. I like the flavor of vermouth and enjoy the complexity it brings to the martini. I keep several different kinds on hand for different purposes and to complement spirits.
Pro tip: Buy half bottles of vermouth since you use so little at a time and always keep it refrigerated when not in use. Vermouth is made from wine and goes bad over time just sitting out at room temperature.
Do you shake or do you stir? I prefer to stir my martinis. As a rule of thumb, drinks that are all or mostly spirits without juice should be stirred providing a silky texture and supple mouthfeel, while shaking gives a slightly fizzy texture to the drink and can sometimes enhance the bitterness of a spirit. On the other side of the debate, my good friend AK loves his shaken and prefers to see the ice chips floating on his drink. To each their own and I am always, more than happy to shake for a friend!
As for whether to use vodka or gin, well that is purely a matter of taste. Our Friday night martini is always made with Grey Goose. When I am out (or home alone) I use Bombay Sapphire Gin or a local Seattle gin such as Big Gin. The original martinis were made from gin as vodka was not really introduced into the US until the 1930’s. Since then, vodka sales have grown so much that it far outsells gin. I truly enjoy both. Vodka is more subtle and has a cleaner taste, while gin is more robust, has more pronounced aromatics and a bigger bite. Whole books have been written about the martini, so I’m surely not going to solve the riddles in one paragraph. Thus, without further ado, let’s turn our attention to what’s really important when it comes to the king of all cocktails: mixing them!
Classic Martini
Ingredients:
2 ½ ounces gin or vodka
½ ounce dry vermouth
2 Dashes of Orange Bitters
Garnish: 3 cocktail olives
Glassware: Martini
Recipe:
To a cocktail shaker add all ingredients and then fill with ice. Stir 50 times. Strain into cocktail glasses, add olives or other garnish, and serve.
Variation – The Gibson:
Garnish with 3 cocktail onions. Named after either illustrator Charles Dana Gibson or fight promoter Billie Gibson, it’s clear from this debate alone that the Gibson’s advocates come from all walks of life. It is very important that you don’t skimp on the quality when making this drink, for the Gibson is all about the onion.
Variation – The Silver bullet:
After straining the martini in your glass…add a ½ oz of single malt scotch to the shaker. Stir well then float on top of martini and garnish with a large lemon twist.
Dirty Martini
A salt-lover’s paradise in a glass. In the 1940’s the Dirty Martini was popularized by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who served them to Joseph Stalin at the Tehran Conference during World War II. The olive brine adds a flavorful, savory, umami note and appealing oily texture to the drink. This simple addition makes the drink very different from the classic. Most bar keeps make the mistake of floating the olive brine on the drink AFTER it has been stirred and strained into the glass. I strongly recommend adding the brine to the shaker with all the other ingredients. You will be richly rewarded with a much more silky and harmonious drink.
Ingredients:
2 ½ ounces gin or vodka
½ ounce dry vermouth
2 Dashes of Orange Bitters
*For Playfully dirty add 2 bar spoons of olive brine
**For Medium dirty add 3 bar spoons of olive brine
***For Down and Dirty add 4 or more bar spoons of olive brine
Garnish: 3 cocktail olives
Glassware: Martini
Recipe:
To a cocktail shaker add all ingredients and then fill with ice. Stir 50 times. Strain into cocktail glasses, add olives or other garnish, and serve.
Variation: The Shaggy Dog
Use the brine from a jar of caper berries instead of olives and garnish with the caper berry.
Dirty Martino
Recipe Notes:
Years ago, I was consulting to an Italian pizza and pasta restaurant. The business was operated by an Italian American family. The 75 year old patriarch of the family was named Martino and his wife, the matriarch of the family, was named Rose. I walk in one day and Martino was – shall we say – feeling a bit frisky, and gave his wife a pinch on the booty. Rose laughed and said “Marty you are such a dirty old man!” Hence the inspiration for The Dirty Martino and another drink named Mama Rose.
Truffle sea salt is widely available at many grocery stores and online. If you are not a fan of truffles, you can also use porcini powder - or other mushroom powder – instead of truffle salt.
If you can find purple cerignolo olives you will be rewarded with a beautiful purple dirty martini. I love the dry cured black olives for their immense umami and saltiness.
Ingredients:
Olive oil and truffle sea salt for rimming the glass
2 ½ oz Grey Goose Vodka or Brooklyn Gin
½ oz Dry Vermouth
3 dashes Orange Bitters
3 Dry Cured Black Olives or 3 purple Cerignolo olives
GLASS: Classic Martini
GARNISH: truffle salt rimmed on glass + 3 dry cured olives
Put some olive oil on one small plate and the truffle salt on a second plate. Dip your finger in the olive oil and rub on the outside lip of the glass, then roll in the truffle salt.
In the bottom of a cocktail shaker add the olives, bitters and vermouth, then muddle thoroughly.
Add the vodka or gin, fill with ice and stir vigorously until the outside of the shaker is frosted and beaded with sweat. Double strain into prepared glass. Garnish with 3 dry cured olives speared on a cocktail pick.
The Vesper
Recipe Notes:
A discussion about the classic martini would not be complete without including The Vesper…the original James Bond Martini, as it first appeared in Ian Fleming’s Casino Royale, the first of the Bond books. It was changed to a plain vodka martini for the Sean Connery Bond Films, with the iconic line (cue in Connery’s sexy, deeply resonant English accent here) “I’ll have a vodka, very large, very cold, shaken not stirred”.
Lillet Blonde is a wonderful aromatic, orange-scented vermouth/aperitif that adds a slight fruit forward hint of sweetness to the cocktail. I prefer orange twists here but many people call for lemon twists.
Ingredients:
3 oz Gin
1 oz Vodka
½ oz Lillet Blonde
2 orange twists
Glassware: cocktail glass
Recipe:
Add the vodka, gin, and Lillet to a cocktail pitcher then add ice. Stir vigorously until the outside of the shaker is thoroughly beaded with sweat and extremely cold to the touch.
Pour into cocktail glasses, Express the oils from an orange twist over the drink, rub the twist along the rim of the glass and drop it into the cocktail, and serve.
