This classic cocktail will still leave you shaken not stirred

The TV architect George Clarke was in a house the other day designed by a guy called Erno Goldfinger.

That’s his name, I kid you not. And apparently he was Ian Fleming’s inspiration for the Bond bad guy.

The house is, as George put it, a bit Marmite – you’ll either love it or hate it. Designed in the 1930s, most of us probably would have placed it in the early 60s. But that’s the point. This guy was way ahead of his time.

The story goes there were a fair few objections to the plans at the time as the property would be so out of keeping with everything around it.

Now, funny enough, it’s a National Trust property, albeit one of a rather different style to the usual grand mansions we will potter around while being kept at bay from the ornaments by lengths of rope.

The Goldfinger pad has been kept as if the family only left for the day with all their belongings still there, including a miniature of vodka . Obviously, G e o rg e c o u l d n’ t resist a “shaken not stirred” quip upon finding the bottle.

Obviously, that had me up and over to the drinks section of my private library. Doesn’t e v e r y o n e h av e o n e ? ! No .

Anyway, The Curious Bartender describes how the 1948 book The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks has the Martini down as “the most perfect of aperitif cocktails”. It’s a drink the book The Curious Bartender, I mean, says is almost “ma g i c a l ” in its simplicity.

Though, of course, that simplicity has many variations, not least the amount of dry Vermouth one adds to the gin. Certainly years back you’d have seen ratios like 15:1 gin over Vermouth to, more recently, a ratio of 3:1 gin to Vermouth.

It’s all about the level of dryness and kick you’re after given dry Vermouth is, well, slightly sweet.

I recall one recipe where you stirred a splash of Vermouth around a shaker full of ice before straining the Vermouth down the sink while retaining the ice which you used to make the Martini which was pretty much straight gin with barely a whisper of Vermouth.

Of course, there’s also the question of shaken over stirred. My book suggests wett er Martinis, with more Vermouth, prefer being stirred . As for garnish, twisting the lemon rind over the drink may add too much lemon flavour, so just drop it in. Otherwise, there’s something pretty cool about an olive and you eat it too.

It’s all about the level of dryness and kick that you’re after