The Perfect Martini, by Luis
Bunuel
To provoke, or sustain, a reverie in a bar, you have to
drink English gin, especially in the form of the dry martini. To be
frank, given the primordial role in my life played by the dry martini, I
think I really ought to give it at least a page. Like all cocktails, the
martini, composed essentially of gin and a few drops of Noilly Prat,
seems to have been an American invention. Connoisseurs who like their
martinis very dry suggest simply allowing a ray of sunlight to shine
through a bottle of Noilly Prat before it hits the bottle of gin. At a
certain period in America it was said that the making of a dry martini
should resemble the Immaculate Conception, for, as Saint Thomas Aquinas
once noted, the generative power of the Holy Ghost pierced the Virgin's
hymen "like a ray of sunlight through a window-leaving it unbroken."
Another crucial recommendation is that the ice be so cold and hard
that it won't melt, since nothing's worse than a watery martini. For
those who are still with me, let me give you my personal recipe, the
fruit of long experimentation and guaranteed to produce perfect results.
The day before your guests arrive, put all the ingredients-glasses, gin,
and shaker-in the refrigerator. Use a thermometer to make sure the ice
is about twenty degrees below zero (centigrade). Don't take anything out
until your friends arrive; then pour a few drops of Noilly Prat and half
a demitasse spoon of Angostura bitters over the ice. Stir it, then pour
it out, keeping only the ice, which retains a faint taste of both. Then
pour straight gin over the ice, stir it again, and serve.
(During the 1940s, the director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York
taught me a curious variation. Instead of Angostura, he used a dash of
Pernod. Frankly, it seemed heretical to me, but apparently it was only a
fad.)
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