Cinco de Mayo is coming up soon and a few days ago we were discussing how we make margaritas. Everyone had a slightly different recipe and everyone made them using different “techniques.” Well, this conversation eventually led to to how other drinks are made and to martinis and the “shaken or stirred” controversy — or at least difference of opinions.
So — James Bond is noted for lots of things, among them a famous phrase that goes something like, “A vodka martini, shaken, not stirred.” You’d think a world famous superhero like James Bond would know the proper way to make a martini…. but from what I’ve learned over the years, he apparently doesn’t.
Should a martini be shaken or stirred? Just about every bartender I’ve talked to and every “bar book” I’ve read are very clear on the subject — there’s no gray area. If the cocktail contains only alcohol-based ingredients (spirits, vermouths, liqueurs) it should be stirred; if it contains any non-alcoholic ingredients (citrus juice, fresh fruit, eggs, cream or herbs) it should be shaken.
Most bartenders agree that there is a right way and a wrong way to mix the ingredients in various cocktails. As to why certain drinks should be stirred and not shaken is an area that will probably never be agreed upon.
Stirring a drink, like a martini, produces a silky mouth-feel with precise dilution and perfect clarity. Shaking adds texture and aeration, changes the mouth-feel and binds ingredients that would readily separate with simple stirring. Naturally, this is just one school of thought.
And if you’re making a drink like a daiquiri — that should be shaken — stirring is as outrageous as shaking a martini.
But back to James Bond… he always demanded from the bartender: vodka, straight up, very cold, and —always, always —shaken, not stirred. So if you’re a James Bond fan, I’m sorry to tell you that even though he might know a lot about wearing tuxedos, using ingenious gadgets, and getting female foreign agents to bend to his will, when it comes to the martini, he’s a bit of a rube. All traditionalists will tell you that a martini is made with gin and is always stirred.
I hate it when I have to disappoint a lot of people, but sometimes we just have to face the facts…. contrary to what James Bond often famously declared, a martini should never ever be shaken, and it should contain gin — not vodka.
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