No olives?!? What goes in the Martini, then?

Cafe Society
1

I don’t care for lemon peel. If I want boozy lemonade, I’ll make a Tom Collins.

No green olives in the fridge tonight. No pickled onions for a Gibson.

So I made a big dollop of iced gin with a splash of vermouth and dropped a piparra in the bottom of the glass. That’s a small mild Basque pepper pickled in vinegar. It was EXCELLENT. I may dub it the “Ukulele Ike.”

What other pickled things have you put in your Martinis when no olives were available? Or WOULD you?

I wouldn’t use a kosher half-sour; it would displace too much gin.

2

I’ve never tried 'em, but my father swears by pickled pearl onions.

3

Best bet is a vodka martini, hold the vermouth and the garnish.

4

Thanks for nothing, buddies.

I said “no pickled onions,” and cold vodka in a glass is a drink only fit for a pig of a Krushchev. Unless I have a spread of good caviare and pickled mushrooms.

5

I’ll bet one of those little French cornichons would go well. They’re pretty tiny, too, so they won’t take up too much room.

6

Cold vodka is not a martini, it’s cold vodka is for people who don’t like booze. Try a pickled jalapeño or cherry pepper.

7

Wouldn’t be a problem around here. I’d just run over to the local Walmart (which is open twenty-four hours a day) and buy a jar of olives.

This is what you get for choosing to live in a small town that doesn’t offer the conveniences of modern living.

8

No olives?! Where are you, Korea? Without olives, a martini just doesn’t quite make it: MASH The New Chest Cutter - YouTube

If you must, this sounds interesting… (but to hell with vodka, I’d make it with gin.)

Garlic Black Pepper Vodka Martini

2 ounces vodka, Hangar 1 used here*
1/2 ounce dry vermouth, Vya Extra Dry used here
1 garlic clove, sliced
2 grinds black pepper, on the coarse side

In a shaker 2/3 filled with ice, combine vodka, vermouth, garlic slices and black pepper. Shake hard for 20 seconds and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Optionally add the garlic slices back to the glass.

9

No vodka.

In the absence of an olive, I’d use a pickled green bean. Or two. (Also delicious in Bloody Marys!)

10

Pickled ginger.

11

Pickled tomato. Or Pickled herring.

12

Never tried it, but for some reason I’m thinking a cube of bleu cheese would work well.

13

Raw chicken heart just scratched from your bare foot would also be a good alternative. (Might be that we are escalating this to quickly)

14

That’s a Gibson, not a martini.

15

What is the difference between a Gibson and a Martini? Is is just the garnish?

16

Yeah…you can have a Martini with a twist of lemon or a Martini with an olive, but you have to call a Martini with a pickled onion a Gibson.

17

I have a copy of an ultimate martini book around here somewhere. If I can find it I can read off some of the alternative garnishes.

One I remember is to use some hot sauce instead of vermouth and garnish with a shrimp. I think this would work better with a vodka martini than most gins.

18

Ya got it, a martini contains gin (default) or vodka, plus a measurable, detectable amount of vermouth. Garnished iced vodka/gin is not a martini.

19

A COOKED shrimp, I hope.

At what point does changing the garnish (or the vermouth ingredient) change the name of the drink? There’s an English thing where they put a few dashes of bitters into a glass of gin, but that’s just called a “pink gin.”

If you put a whiskey sour into a tall glass, filled it with ice, and topped it with seltzer, you’d have a John Collins, the whiskey alternative to a Tom Collins. But making the same drink with vodka or rum yields a Vodka Collins or a Rum Collins…no proper Christian name given.

A Gimlet is a whiskey sour made with gin. A Daiquiri is a Gimlet made with rum.

I think I need to go lie down.

20

Y’know, you didn’t have to *sample *them all.