The Elegant Martini

The martini's basic ingredients are simple. Use six to eight parts of a quality vodka or gin to one part or less vermouth. You can, of course, add your own special mark to your drink with lemon peel, olives, cocktail onions and other flavorings.

Part of the martini's mystique as the world's most elegant cocktail comes in the tools of the trade. A perfect martini is either made in a glass pitcher ( if you are a stirrer), or a stainless steel or silver shaker. Aluminum shakers will give the martini a tinny taste, and purists say that plastic barware also takes its toll on the drink. "You might as well drink it out of a milk carton," one martini lover says.

Presentation is everything. Martinis are always served chilled in the tall-stemmed triangular shaped glasses that hold up to four ounces. You won't see a martini purist serve the drink in one of those fishbowl-sized glasses that hold today's versions of the margarita or daiquiri. In fact, size really does matter. Experts say that it is important to make and serve the martini in small batches.

Martini lovers debate shaken versus stirred, gin versus vodka. But one of the major nuances of the truly elegant martini is its "dryness," determined by the amount of vermouth (less creates a more dry one) in the recipe. Martini perfectionists go to great lengths to create a truly dry martini. One martini lover suggests pouring the vermouth over the ice, in the pitcher or shaker, coating it, then pouring the rest of the vermouth out, before adding the other ingredients. Others use tools like eyedroppers, atomizers and misters to just get a hint of vermouth, for the driest martini possible.

And where would the martini be without the requisite olive? Some rinse the olives before putting them in the glass, yet there are martini lovers who like it nice and dirty, using the juices of the olive as flavoring. Olives used to be stuffed with the basic pimento, yet the well-stocked martini bar offers olives stuffed with anchovies, onions, jalapeños and even blue cheese. Aside from the classic cocktail, the addition of flavor-enhanced vodkas and gins (citron, currant, tangerine to name a few) and other flavorings from the bar, allows for the creation of literally hundreds of versions of the martini. But there is one cardinal rule to any elegant martini. It has to be cold. So chill your glasses, chill your vodka or gin and your shaker, and serve right away.