OK, so I’m somewhat of a philistine, but at least I know that. I decided I wanted a Martini, so I went with what I imagined would work.
How I made the Martini I’m sipping now:
• two jiggers of Absolut in a highball glass filled with ice
• add the barest amount of Martini & Rossi vermouth that will allow me to legitimately say some did, in fact, come out of the bottle
• shake
• pour into martini glass, leaving the ice behind
• add swizzle stick with one cocktail onion and one Jumbo Queen spanish olive
You need martini glasses and a narrow mouthed tall tumbler. In the tumbler put two ice cubes. Poor in one measure of extra dry vermouth. Add two measures of good gin (vodka for Bond fans). Stir quickly with a knife blade (good agitation - chills quickly and prevents melting ice diluting drink). Pick up tumbler with knife blade across mouth of glass. Pour martinis leaving ice behind. Squeeze thin sliver of lemon into each martini. Wipe sliver around rim of glass. Throw sliver in. Drink.
Olives and onions belong in a salad although a celery stick may be permitted in a bloody mary.
Sounds fine to me. Personally, though, I prefer gin, so I use Tanqueray, and ceremonally just pass the bottle of vermouth over top of the shaker. Also, I’d lose the olive and put in an extra cocktail onion (making it, of course, a Gibson and not a Martini). But to each his or her own.
I’ve noticed in bars that they don’t even use vermouth anymore unless you ask for it. I think the standard procedure now is to put in the gin or vodka, and then allow the concept of “vermouth” to float into your consciousness briefly and nebulously.
Not a Martini drinker myself, as I prefer a nice Vodka Collins with plenty of cherries and oranges (I’m a girly drink drinker, what can I say). My brother however believes in the olive/martini concept so strongly that he routinely orders his “extra dirty”…which I think means that they pour some of the vinegar stuff out of the olive jar into the drink with the olive. Yuk.
Take martini glass, fill with ice and water, let sit to chill.
Fill my shaker with ice, and add my gin or vodka, along with a few drops of the olive brine (I like my martinis like my men–just a little dirty), and give a good shake.
Dump out ice water from martini glass.
Add a bit of vermouth into martini glass, swirl, then toss out excess.
Pour gin/vodka into glass.
Turn down the lights and turn up the Dave Brubeck.
Here’s my (ok, my dad’s, but I use it, too) recipe:
Put a bottle of Grey Goose in the freezer.
Wait 48 hours
Pour a bit of Martini & Rossi into a Crown Royal Martini glass (I think they came free with the Crown Royal. I guess some people like Manhattans. Ugh.)
Swirl the vermouth around in the glass. Tip the glass upside down over the sink for a second. Return to right side up.
Take the bottle of Grey Goose out of the freezer.
Fill the martini glass with Grey Goose.
Skewer three (3) olives, with pimentos, on a wooden toothpick.
Drop olives into drink.
Enjoy!
I think the key here is three things:
a) The brand of vodka. Absolut is just mediocre. Fine for mixing, maybe even shots, but if you’re going to be sipping what amounts to 6 or 7oz of pure vodka, spend the extra $10 a bottle, or so, and spring for the Grey Goose. It’s worth it.
b) The lack of shaking. Shaking lets a bit of ice into the mix as it breaks off of the cubes, no matter how well you strain it. Plus, the vodka won’t get as cold as it can in 15 or so seconds of shaking. And finally, who wants to take the time?
c) The amount of vermouth. It’s in there. You can taste it. But you can’t taste it THAT strongly. It’s just the right amount.
Boy. You folk sure like to put a lot of effort into getting loaded.
This is what works for me:
Grab a glass, fill it with ice, and pour in whatever amount of gin you want to consider a serving.
If you have a lemon, lime, olive, cocktail onion handy, fine. If not, fine.
Drink.
Repeat.
Vodka is even easier.
Grab bottle out of freezer.
Fill shot glass.
Drink.
Repeat.
I’ve been boycotting them ever since I heard their parent company also owned/manufactured thalydemide (sp) and offered a paltry few thousand bucks to those victims. I’m sure the gin is wonderful, but I’ve never been able to get passed that.
Sounds like a lot of work to make one. I believe I will stick to the simple pleasures of life.
step one: open fridge door
step two: grab a bottle of Bacardi Raz[sup]TM[/sup]
step three: remove bottle cap
step four: drink
step five: repeat as often as desired
We make ours the exact same way as JavaMaven if we aren’t using frozen vodka and our homemade martini olives, in which case add 3.
With frozen vodka, no need to shake but sometimes still do just because it is just fun to use a shaker and to keep the ice recycling.
Homemade martini olives:
Get three jars queen sized olives or bigger. Drain juice of one jar into large glass and set aside. Take the olives out, de-pimento, and re-stuff the olives with as large a slice of the freshest garlic you can find that will fit. Put olives back into jar, then fill 1/3 full with the olive juice, then use vermouth to cover.
Repeat on the second jar with anchovies, and the third with bleu cheese.
Put one of each olive into iced glass, then cover with icy vodka. Perfect amount of vermouth and olive juice, and the olives are great. And they get far better the longer they sit.