User:Lee Daniel Crocker/The Perfect Martini
Some things are just too important to be done badly.
Ingredients
The primary liquor should be a good quality strong (100 proof) London dry gin, or a good 100-proof vodka. I prefer Tanqueray gin, but Bombay Sapphire also works well. "Malacca" gins do not harmonize well with good vermouth, so should be avoided. Ketel One vodka is the best vodka I have found, but Finlandia also works (it's not as flavorful as Ketel One, but some people prefer that).
Even though vermouth will be a small part of the total amount of liquid, its flavor and aroma contribute as much to the final result as the gin or vodka, so it should be premium--in other words, Martini & Rossi extra dry white vermouth. I personally believe that most people came to prefer extremely dry Martinis precisely because they use inferior-quality vermouth. Yes, it's expensive (about twice the price of common vermouth), but there is really no substitute for genuine Martini & Rossi. If you use vermouth for cooking, Gallo or some other common variety will work fine for a soup; save the M&R for drinking.
Finally, having experimented with every garnish I could think of from rare species of onions, lemons, and olives with various stuffings, I have settled for the tried-and-true queen size pimento-stuffed Spanish olive. I think a Martini needs the saltiness, but if you don't, then by all means use a twist of lemon instead (don't use both--they don't get along well). Lemon goes well with many vodkas. Gin Martinis definitely work better with the olive.
Technique
The most important feature of a Martini is that it be bone-chillingly cold. Before you begin mixing, bury the glass in crushed ice (use it to scoop some of the ice into the cocktail shaker, then leave it in the ice). Crushed ice is necessary; cubes just don't have enough surface area either for mixing or for glass-chilling.
Into the shaker with some crushed ice, mix the liquor and vermouth. A "dry" Martini should have about a 10:1 or 8:1 ratio of liquor to vermouth. "Very dry" can be 16:1, and "sweet" can be as high as 4:1. I prefer the "dry" range, though a particularly flavorful gin might do better a bit dryer. Don't let anyone talk you into the absurdly small amounts of vermouth some bars use--sometimes mere drops in a drink. Vermouth really does make a difference, so don't be afraid to use some, just not much.
James Bond notwithstanding, it makes not one iota of difference whether you shake or stir. Do whatever is most convenient for your mixing tools. The drink should be in the crushed ice for long enough to become very cold, but less than two minutes or it will pick up too much water from the ice. You do want it to pick up some water, but it will pick up enough in the first few seconds the liquor is poured over the ice. You may have to experiment here because the size of the ice and its temperature will vary. I use about 30 seconds most of the time.
The following order does make a difference: After mixing the drink, remove the glass from the ice, put in the olives (I like two queen sized olives per 4 ounce drink), and strain the drink into the glass, pouring it over the olives. Use a Boston strainer or other coarse strainer--you want a few small ice pieces to make it through the strainer and float on the drink. Pouring the mix over the olives is important to distribute some of their salitiness into the drink.
Serve immediately!