What follows is one of my special secret techniques for getting the proportion of vermouth to gin correct.
1. Gin lives in the freezer until ready for use. Vermouth is in the fridge.
2. My martinis are neither shaken (which introduces air bubbles into the gin, thus “bruising” it), nor stirred. They are SWIRLED within the shaker with a Vigorous Circular Motion.
3. Fill the shaker with ice cubes. Pour in a shot of vermouth. SHAKE the shaker (remember, this is just vermouth).
4. Pour out the vermouth. Enough vermouth will have frozen to the surface of the ice cubes. Pour in the gin and finish by swirling the frozen gin.
The above technique should give you a martini with the treasured Layer of Ice on top. The shaker can freeze like a canister of liquid nitrogen: do not lick it or you’ll end up like the kid who licked the stop sign in A Christmas Story. It helps to have a leather covered shaker.
If you want more vermouth, experiment with using crushed ice instead of ice cubes. Crushed ice has more surface area for the vermouth to cling to, therefore less will run off when you discard the vermouth. Additionally, you can control the relative proportions by swirling the martini for a longer period of time.
