"Julia Child preferred an Upside-Down Martini, with five times as much dry vermouth as gin in the glass." ©iStockphoto.com/DNY59 You wouldn’t know it by looking at the way it’s used today, but vermouth was the belle of the mixological ball once upon a time. While vermouth can list details such as “revolutionized the late 19th century cocktail” and “enabled creation of the Manhattan and the martini” on its resume, today it's like the elderly greeters at Wal-Mart, picking up whatever gigs it can get in the years that came after the glory ones. While vermouth played a major role in countless cocktails from the Gilded Age and beyond, perhaps no other drink has been as tightly connected to its contemporary...
Continue reading »
Lock the doors and bar the windows—the new Noilly Prat dry vermouth is coming, and, according to Eric Felten in the Wall Street Journal, your martini will never be the same again, and that's terrible news. Or maybe not. While Felten praises the aperitif qualities of the new style of vermouth—which isn’t new at all, but rather the European blend of the wine that has been sold pretty much everywhere except the United States for decades—he dismisses the vermouth’s qualities as a mixer in cocktails such as the dry martini, going so far as to call a martini made with the European vermouth “a mess”. Which is strong language, considering Noilly Prat’s history with vermouth. The dry, or French style,...
Continue reading »
Vermouth has an image problem. For many people, vermouth is the stuff you're supposed to be miserly with when mixing a martini—or, taking the Winston Churchill route, it's the liquid you merely glance at across the room before proceeding with mixing the drink. If you've gotten curious what it tastes like on its own and have taken a swig from a bottle that's been lying around ever since that party in 2004 when you thought it would be fun to mix martinis, you probably received a rude shock. "No wonder you're supposed to avoid it," would be the common reaction. Pity, that. Along with sherry, port, and marsala, vermouth is one of the world's great fortified wines. Flavored with herbs...
Continue reading »
Because it spoils quickly and most people store it improperly,
dry vermouth has acquired an unsavory reputation over the years. With a little care, however, it can go from stand-in to starring role in recipes and drinks.
The Paupered Chef duo on storage and use—including
a recipe for mussels.
Continue reading »
