shaken not stirred?

[Dru]

shakem if you gottem

[allthumbs]

russ said:

frickin amateurs....

 

Gin - Bombay Sapphire - either store in the freezer or pour over ice and service in well chilled glasses. Storing in the freezer gives it a slightly stronger taste, try both to see which you like better.

 

Olives - here's where you make the different. It's hard to find really good martini olives. Almost any served in bars are bitter - critter turds. The best I've found are Armstrong Pimento Stuffed. Thriftway and Larry's usual carries the brand, but not always the Pimento Stuffed (don't be fooled by California Pimento Stuffed - yuck - must have got the receipt from the French ). Any of the favored one won't do either. Slight step down are Santa Barbara Pimento Stuffed - easier to find. Either way once opened, good no more than a month or two in the refrig. They get bitter and a little mushie.

 

Vermouth - used only to clean toilets.

 

With the garnish, it's your preference. Olives if you're feeling gamey, lemon twists if you're feeling virtuous. I recommend green Spanish olives without red pimientos inside. An interesting thing you can do in making a traditional martini is to marinate the olives in vermouth instead of pouring the vermouth directly in the mixer. For lemon twists, prepare them like this: cut the ends off a lemon and use a spoon to push the fruit out from the peel. Then cut the empty lemon peel lengthwise into thin strips about a quarter-inch thick. Put these aside to chill.

[EWolfe]

I like 'em dirty: frozen glass, dry vermouth, swirl, then shake out, spanish olives, splash of olive juice and Sapphire. The booze is frozen, so no fuss 'n muss, just rinse, and throw the glass back in the freezer, wait 15 minutes ( which is a good idea anyway ), repeat as necessary

 

[Fence_Sitter]

Vermouth - used only to clean toilets.

 

and get college chicks drunk n' randy

[ken4ord]

For a real dry martini, what I do is chill glass and gin in freezer. Use a spritzer and spray the inside of glass with Vermouth or pour in Vermouth and swirl in glass and pour it out. If you keep your Gin in freezer you can pour directly into glass and add olives, olive juice (for dirty) or lemon twist and then sprits surface. For a slightly less drier martini stir gin with ice for aprox. a minute. Do not shake for a dry martini, in my opinion it just waters down your gin. Some people say it bruises the gin, yeah it looks cool when you shake a martini, but it ruins the gin flavor.

 

Cheers

[ken4ord]

Oh yeah someone mentioned olives. Not the piemento stuffed olive, blah. Use Niciose, them things is like butter, tasty not over powering. If you must use a cheap olive then go with the garlic stuff ones for a little spice.

 

Also, someone else mentioned TEN. Yeah, that is good stuff, though because of the stronger citrus flavor I would go with a lemon twist with that or caper berries is also good with that as well in a martini format. I actually like TEN for the new and improve T&T.

[forrest_m]

hey thanks for all the response - best beta i've ever gotten from this board. and look how on topic y'all stayed!

 

my personal verdict, after test driving many of your suggestions on friday night:

trask's bombay recipie is not dry enough. the whispering and setting the vermouth next to the shaker was too dry (though fun to say). the pour in vermouth, swirl, and pour out was just right.

 

we did a side by side taste test of shaken vs. stirred. about half the people in this blind test could not tell any difference, the others universally agreed that the gin flavor was more intense in the shaken drink. my friend's 1928 copy of "the gentleman's handbook" claims that this is because the bruising of the gin releases aromas, just as when you crush other spices.

 

oh, and for another variation, make it with akvavit (someone brought a bottle and we eventually ran out of gin). good stuff!

[bunglehead]

I'm telling you, you have to try that Cucumber Gin from Scotland. It makes a very different Martini.

 

It's pretty crazy tasting.