Above: Mel Ramos, Martini Miss, 1993, oil on linen, 64 x 48 in., (Modernism Gallery, San Francisco)
The Classic Martini Recipe (there are many and this is mine):
3 oz. of the finest gin (classic) or vodka (your choice).
In America, I never put any vermouth in the drink, as customers would always complain that it was “not dry enough” with even the smallest addition of vermouth. Either wash out the glass with vermouth and discard it or just add a few drops of vermouth; this is probably the best compromise in these times where “dry” is so important even though, the original recipe called for a great deal more. Use your own judgment.
Pre-chill the glasses with ice and discarding it just previously to pouring the Martini Cocktail into them.
Fill a large glass container with the best quality ice as it will hold. (it means no tap water or ice-machine varieties; only ice made from pure water) I buy Japanese ice from Mount Fuji.
Stir using a long bar spoon and stir with a swirling motion as well as a swift upwards/downwards motion (this creates fragments of ice to break-off from the larger pieces of ice) and if you have accomplished this you will see tiny fragments of ice floating on the top of the drink when it is poured into the Martini glass.
You may use a small or large Martini glass, this is entirely up to you, but it must be the classic Martini glass.
Strain the mixture from the container into the chilled glass shaking vigorously to remove all fragments of ice into the drink.
Garnish with finest Italian green olives stuffed or not (preferably not), or a lemon twist this is up to your personal preference.
Cheers!
Following are some of my favorite Martini quotes:
Robert Benchley, a featured player was in and out of the water tank all day while filming the MGM classic China Seas, starring Clark Gable and Jean Harlow. When he was finally allowed to climb out of the tank he reputedly announced, “I must get out of these wet clothes and into a dry Martini.” Another rendition follows: Robert Benchley’s famous line delivered to Ginger Rogers in the film “The Major and the Minor”, “Why don’t you get out of that wet coat and into a dry martini?”
“One martini is all right. Two are too many, and three are not enough.”
James Thurber
I like to have a Martini
Two at the very most—
After three I’m under the table,
After four I’m under my host.
Dorothy Parker
“A Drink with Something in It”
There is something about a Martini,
A tingle remarkably pleasant,
A yellow, a mellow Martini;
I wish I had one at present.
There is something about a Martini,
Ere the dining and dancing begin,
And to tell you the truth,
It is not the vermouth—
I think that perhaps it’s the gin.
Ogden Nash
An Excerpt from “To the Gibson and Beyond”
By M.F.K. Fisher
The first Martini I ever drank was strictly medicinal, for threatened seasickness, and in spite of a loyal enjoyment of them which may be increasing in direct ratio to my dwindling selectivity of palate, I must admit I still find them a sure prop to my flagging spirits, my tired or queasy body, even my over-timid social self. I think I know how many to drink, and when, and where, as well as why; and if I have acted properly and heeded all my physical and mental reactions to them, I have been the winner in many an otherwise lost bout with everything from boredom to plain funk. A well-made dry Martini or Gibson, correctly chilled and nicely served, has been more often my true friend than any two-legged creature.
Man drinking absinthe and eventually the “green fairy” appears
