Big Little Recipes

Your Dirty Martini Is Due for an Update

July 27, 2021

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One hundred and thirty-three years ago, the martini made its publishing debut. In an overhauled edition of Bartender’s Manual, Harry Johnson shared a recipe calling for equal parts of Old Tom gin and sweet vermouth, plus a few dashes of gum syrup, bitters, and Curaçao, strained into “a fancy cocktail glass.”

As one century blurred into the next, the martini rose to an Olivia Rodrigo level of popularity and, in the process, started to have an identity crisis. In its early years, the drink was either sweet or dry, or somewhere in between, depending on the gin and vermouth. But by the mid 1900s, the refreshing, ruthlessly dry martini won out.

And then, in the early 1990s, there was a crack in the space-time continuum. “Bartenders started slipping a little of the salty stuff into the usual mix of gin or vodka and vermouth,” writes Robert Simonson in The Martini Cocktail (a must-read for anyone who looks forward to a martini after work). This changed everything.

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Top Comment:
“So…..after viewing your video on the martini with feta brine I just had to try it. I am a every night very dirty martini gal so this intrigued me. I asked my husband to pick me up some feta with the brine, that confused him, but he came home with it. Since it is cocktail time here in Florida, I made my self one. I did not have the olives to stuff with cheese but I did have some Cerignola olives. A nice cold martini glass with rhinestones at the base, I loved every sip of it. What a nice change. I had to hunt thru all the drink segments to find it, but I am glad I did. ”
— Russet
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What started as an amber drink, and became famous as a clear one, had now turned dirty. You know, in a good way. The “salty stuff” refers to brine—almost always olive (and occasionally cocktail-onion, though I’d argue such a swap is swimming away from a martini and toward a Gibson).

Photo by ROCKY LUTEN. PROP STYLIST: MOLLY FITZSIMONS. FOOD STYLIST: ERICKA MARTINS.

But why stop at olive brine? (No offense to olive brine, which I love and never don’t have—and, by the way, did you know that you can buy it straight-up?) There are so many brines out there. Pickle brine, which has become a newfangled dirty martini favorite. Or caper brine.

Or feta brine.

This milky liquid tags along with any block of good feta. And while the cheese might have been the intended purchase, the by-product is a special ingredient all its own. Look no further than this genius Feta-Brined Roast Chicken from Melissa Clark. Or this passionate ode to feta brine from our columnist Ella Quittner. One commenter shared, “I actually drink it sometimes.” To which Ella responded, “Honestly, same.”

And honestly, same. Because while olive brine is too salty and vinegary to sip solo—and this comes from a person who, as a child, ate capers, just capers, as a snack—feta brine is mellower. It is salty and savory, but fuller and softer, the round boy of the brine world.

With a feta-overstuffed olive, it yields my new favorite martini. And you don’t even need the fancy cocktail glass.

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Emma was the food editor at Food52. She created the award-winning column, Big Little Recipes, and turned it into a cookbook in 2021. These days, she's a senior editor at Bon Appétit, leading digital cooking coverage. Say hello on Instagram at @emmalaperruque.

10 Comments

Russet February 8, 2022
So…..after viewing your video on the martini with feta brine I just had to try it. I am a every night very dirty martini gal so this intrigued me. I asked my husband to pick me up some feta with the brine, that confused him, but he came home with it. Since it is cocktail time here in Florida, I made my self one. I did not have the olives to stuff with cheese but I did have some Cerignola olives. A nice cold martini glass with rhinestones at the base, I loved every sip of it. What a nice change. I had to hunt thru all the drink segments to find it, but I am glad I did.
 
Connie B. July 31, 2021
My favorite (nightly in fact) vodka martini is over ice with a crushed fresh basil leaf or two and a twist of Meyer lemon....so delicious!
 
Emma L. August 2, 2021
Sounds so good!
 
Connie B. August 2, 2021
Forgot to mention.......I add a good splash of water too.
 
Russet February 8, 2022
That sounds soooo good.
 
Connie B. February 8, 2022
I received a "Click & Grow" Smart indoor Garden for Christmas, so now I'm growing my own basil :-)......So much fun (and satisfying)! I'm hoping to get a potted Meyer Lemon tree next. Cheers!
 
Steve July 27, 2021
A Martini is a gin cocktail. Your cocktail was originally called a Kangaroo Kicker, then a Kangaroo. Now it is most often called a Vodkatini. A fine cocktail. But not a Martini any more than a Boulevardier is a Negroni.

https://www.absolutdrinks.com/en/drinks/kangaroo/

Kangaroo Kicker, 1943 Cocktail Digest by Oscar Haimo of the Hotel Pierre, p49
https://euvs-vintage-cocktail-books.cld.bz/1943-Cocktail-Digest-by-Oscar-Haimo-of-the-Hotel-Pierre/49/

Kangaroo Kicker, The Stork Club Bar Book by Lucius Beebe, 1946
https://euvs-vintage-cocktail-books.cld.bz/1946-The-Stock-Club-Bar-Book-by-Lucius-Beebe/90

https://cold-glass.com/2011/02/21/what-was-your-first-cocktail/
 
jeanfc1 September 22, 2021
i agree martini's started as a gin drink.then vodka came into the picture. what really gets me these sweet or concocted drinks being called a martini when i look at a menu and it shows all kinds of concoctions as a martini. yuk too moste of them!
 
R December 28, 2021
Alas, cocktails, like life move on. Ask any bartender if they serve gin when preparing a martini order unless their patron has specified vodka, I think you’ll be hard pressed to produce someone who cites that a martini IS a gin cocktail. We all know it started life that way, but for the past 20 years at least it is pretty much understood to have evolved and changed.
 
jeanfc1 December 30, 2021
I still prefer gin. he taste of gin is smoother. i do prefer gin made with juniper berries. of course the world goes aroubd on our differences and preferences many other mixed drinks such as a tom collins is so good with gin. a neighbor made it with vidka was horrible again respect all but celebrate your self