Lesson 4: Recipes & More
Martinis
The Martini:
The Martini is having a renaissance – many restaurants now offer special martini menus similar to wine or draft beer menus. Cunningham, in the back of his book, lists over 130 martini variations.
Just what a martini is seems to be harder and harder to define. Nowadays, a martini seems to be defined as any white liquor shaken in ice with a second alcohol, usually vermouth, strained into a martini glass, and garnished. Experiment away; here are some variations to get you started.
All of these follow the same mixing directions:
- Fill a mixer half way with ice cubes.
- Add the rest of the ingredients except the garnish, shake or stir.
- Strain into a cocktail glass.
- Add the garnish.
NOTE: The "drier" the martini, the higher percentage of gin to the other ingredients. This is a matter of taste. The "driest" classic martini involves passing an open bottle of vermouth over the top of the glass so the gin merely absorbs a slight aroma.
Classic:
2 ½ ounces Gin
1 ½ teaspoons Dry Vermouth
1 lemon twist or 1 cocktail olive
Gibson:
2 ½ ounces Gin
1 ½ teaspoons Dry Vermouth
1-3 cocktail onions
Gimlet:
2 ½ ounces Gin
1 ½ teaspoons lime juice (purists insist this must be Rose's lime juice - fresh will not do)
1 lime slice
Cosmopolitan:
3 ounces Vodka
1 ½ ounce cranberry juice
1 ½ ounce Triple Sec or Cointreau
¾ ounce fresh lemon or lime juice
1 lemon or lime twist
Negroni:
1 ounce Campari
1 ounce Gin
1 ounce Sweet Vermouth
1 lemon twist
James Bond Martini, aka Vesper:
3 ounces Gin
1 ounce Vodka
½ ounce Blond Lillet (a French proprietary Vermouth)
lemon twist
(Remember, Bond always wanted his martinis “shaken, not stirred, in order not to bruise the gin” - also, this is a lot of alcohol, for a smaller drink use the same proportions)
Saketini:
3 ½ ounces Gin or Vodka
½ ounce Sake
Lemon Twist or Olives
Sour Appletini
2 ounces Sour Apple Schnapps
2 ounce vodka
1 slice apple
