The Dry Martini - Alec Waugh's Recipe

[Ravenor Bullen]

I once sat next to Alec Waugh (this would have been in the late 70s) at the bar of Madame Porte's Salon de The in Tangier. I did not know at the time who he was (brother of writer, Evelyn Waugh, author of Island in the Sun, made into a sumptuous film in 1957 with James Mason, Joan Fontaine and Harry Belafonte), but he made the remark as I perused the drinks menu that this bar made the best gin martini in the world. He should know, he wrote a very good book on wines and edited the TIME LIFE book, Wines and Spirits.

I took up his recommendation and ordered one. It was good and I asked Alec (who I later became well-acquainted with) how it was made as I hadn't watched the barman closely:

To make 1 cocktail

1/4 fl.oz. dry vermouth
2 1/2 fl.oz. gin
3 or 4 ice cubes
1 strip lemon peel

A 4 fl.oz. cocktail glass, chilled

Combine the dry vermouth, gin and ice cubes in a mixing glass. Place a shaker on top of the glass, shake quickly 5 or 6 times. Rub the cut edge of the lemon peel around the inside rim of a chilled cocktail glass. Remove the shaker, place a strainer over the mixing glass and pour the Martini into the cocktail glass. Add the lemon peel.

It certainly was good. Alec told me that he had never tasted finer. I later became better acquainted with the Moroccan negro barman and he told me that the recipe was actually Alec Waugh's and he had learned it from him.

 

[Ethan Bentley]

Quite dry a 1:10 ratio of vermouth to gin, sounds like a perfectly acceptable way to mix a Martini; after all the taste is the most important thing.
I personal prefer my gin Martinis stirred, after trying both methods several times. But 5 - 6 shakes sounds like it would get the drink cold without diluting it too much.

The routine with the citrus, I've seen it done before and it works quite well.

The one thing that I think that does make a difference is chilling the glass first though.

Most Martini drinkers have their own pet way of mixing but it was nice of him to share his with you and I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Are you much of a Martini drinker these days?