Although it seems like I was born with a martini in my hand, it wasn’t always so. Domenico and I used to have a glass of wine before dinner, and maybe another with dinner. But over the last 12 years or so we’ve shifted over to cocktails. I tried to track down the exact moment when the shift occurred, but could only find this old post on the basic Italian cocktails from 2010.
While I looked through all of my past cocktail posts (and there are many!) I am kind of nostalgic for the days when I would whip up a different cocktail each evening. These days though, we are mostly about martinis.
Yet even with martinis my taste has evolved over the years. While I do love a gin martini, I find myself more drawn to vodka martinis these days. If going through my past cocktails writings is anything to judge by, I’m sure if you check in this time next year, my tastes will have evolved. But for now, today, this is my current go to Vodka Martini recipe.
A few things to note:
- I like my vodka martini very dry. So dry that there is no vermouth in it at all.
- I like my martini dirty, so brine is essential. Not so much so it makes it overly salty, but just enough to make it briny.
- Stirred or shaken? I go back and forth. I was always a stirred girl, since I love the silky texture of a stirred martini. It’s also much less cloudy. Then, during lockdown, I decided I needed my drink watered down just a bit more than usual, and so began shaking. Today I go back and forth for no particular reason.
- Garnish: As I mentioned it has to be dirty, so there has to be brine. But it doesn’t have to be olive brine. I’m open to trying almost any well made pickled vegetable. Pickles obviously, but also onions or even cherry tomatoes or peppers. If I am using olives, they are usually the best I can get. I’m particularly fond of the huge green ones from Cerignola in Puglia. As those of you who follow me on TikTok know, I recently discovered blue cheese-stuffed olives. I am obsessed and want to get one of these little tools to make my own.
- Bitters: Here is where I make this martini my own. Since there is no aromatic vermouth, I add a few drops of celery bitters to our martinis. They are not easy to find, but worth the effort. I use Fee Brothers Celery Bitters.
- Vodka: Vodkas I like: Kettle One, Grey Goose, Zubrowka; Wybrowa
Vodkas I don’t like: Tito’s, Absolut, Smirnoff - Glass: Sometimes I use a standard martini glass. I like the ones from Bormioli since they aren’t too big or too expensive. But since they are a bit difficult to manage when filled to the brim, I’ve become partial to these sour glasses from Reidel. I use the bar range which are less expensive and more sturdy. I also love vintage glasses, but tend to break them right away which makes me sad.
Dirty Vodka Martini
Yield 1
Ingredients
- 2 oz vodka
- 1 tablespoon olive brine
- ice
- 2-3 olives
- Celery Bitters
Instructions
- Pour vodka and olive brine into a shaker. Add a few ice cubes. Close the shaker and shake a few times to chill and dilute your drink. (about 6 seconds should do it).
- Strain into a martini glass.
- Garnish with 2 or three olives on a toothpick.
- Add 3-4 drops of Celery Bitters
- Enjoy with potato chips of choice.
Here are a couple of fun reels I made on instagram:
Elizabeth I very much enjoyed your post about loving Martinis. I am sort of new to martinis (now in my 60s) but years and years ago my dad and I would go Christmas shopping for my mom and we always had a nice lunch and he had a martini before the shopping began. When I was an adult he bought me a martini too. We had sooooo much fun shopping for Mom for Christmas. I can still remember all the places we shopped and had lunch. My later adult Martini fetish began in Hawaii on Father’s Day when I was with friends who had all lost their fathers too. We went to Merriman’s at Kapalua Bay on the veranda and all ordered our father’s favorite drinks. It was so nice to remember our fathers. I guess you could say I reacquainted myself with the Martini. The Ketel One family lives in my neighborhood here in so cal and has been the local resort “vodka” for sometime. I can’t wait to try your celery bitters! Thank You.
What a wonderful story, thank you for sharing it!
Oh, I just had to add, the Waldorf Astoria in my neighborhood is serving Martinis in a champagne coupe. Yikes! I just cannot. Another venue in the resort serves Martini in a semi proper Martini glass but like everything else is has a smaller profile than before. Don’t they understand its all about the proper glass as well? Agree with touch, small touch of dirty as well and shaken, special olives only or forget it.
I actually like using a vintage champagne coupe, and do so quite often.
I love this post! I couldn’t agree more with your choice of cocktail. I have to share my new discovery— an MSG martini. For reference—tiktok msg martini milkstreet. Basically create a solution 1/2 cup water to 1T of accent. I put it in a dropper bottle. Crush my ice in a waxed bag with wood mallet. Stir vodka and ice pour into glass getting a few nice ice shards in the drink and then add two droppers of the solution. AMAZING BEST MARTINI
I’ll definitely try this!!
A martini glass holds 8 oz. So if you are pouring 2 oz of spirit plus 1 tbsp of brine, what makes up the rest? The melted ice cubes? Not trying to criticize, but I just honestly don’t know how this recipe works.
8 oz?! I’m not sure where you are buying your martini glasses, but mine holds 2.5 oz.
This is wrong. The drier a martini, the more vermouth.
Sorry, but you are wrong: First, ‘dry’ indicates that very little vermouth has been added to the cocktail, so the gin is the primary focus. The typical ratio is 6 parts gin to 1 part vermouth. However, order ‘extra dry’ and you’ll get the slightest splash of vermouth, or even just a glass-coating wash.