Foodie Friday: Martinis

Back in 2020, we met John Grey from Going Gently for dinner near where he lives in Wales. I ordered a dry gin martini, and the waiter came back a few minutes later with a troubled look on his face and asked, "how do you make that?" John had a good laugh, he had lived and worked in New York and knew what I was asking for, a rarity in small town Wales. 

To make a dry Gin Martini start with good Gin, add a splash of white vermouth, shake with ice, and strain into a frozen glass, the proper garnish is an olive. It really is that simple. Be very sparing with the vermouth, the flavor should be the herbals in the gin. 

Some people make Martinis with Vodka. I am in the camp that thinks a dry martini needs to be made with gin. A flavored martini is best made with vodka, as the flavor comes from the added flavor, not the clear liqueur. 

I recently made a coffee cordial to be used to make Espresso martinis. It is fairly easy to make. Start with ground coffee, you need about half a pound of good dark roast and about 700 ML of vodka. Buy a vodka you would drink. Combine the coffee and the vodka in a tightly sealed container, shake, and let sit. Shake it a couple of times a day, for a couple of days.  In essence you are making a vodka based cold brew coffee. Strain it, I used a fine mesh strainer for the first pass, then re-strained through a coffee filter (if you don't do this the final produce will be gritty.) Combine  1 1/2 cups of sugar, with 1/2 cup of water and a squirt of corn syrup in a small sauce pan, heat over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved and it is mostly clear. You don't want to boil this, probably 165-170 degrees F. Let this cool. 

Combine the strained coffee with the sugar syrip, and bottle. 

To make a coffee or expresso martini, 

1 part coffee cordial, two parts vodka over ice, shake, strain into a frozen glass. Enjoy!