How does the amount of ice in a shaker affect a martini?
May 20, 2013 6:11 PM Subscribe
Does more ice in the shaker make the drink colder faster? Is there more or less dilution per second of shaking? in short, is there any reason I would want to have a particular level of ice in a shaker when making martinis?
You don't need to shake a martini -- they don't contain any citrus, so you only need to stir them.
That said, I've generally been advised to coat the inside of a shaker with vermouth, fill it entirely with ice, add the gin, stir, then strain into a chilled glass.
posted by Narrative Priorities at 6:29 PM on May 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
That said, I've generally been advised to coat the inside of a shaker with vermouth, fill it entirely with ice, add the gin, stir, then strain into a chilled glass.
posted by Narrative Priorities at 6:29 PM on May 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
The melting of the ice is the main thing that cools the drink. So, for the most part you can rest easy because if you want it to be a certain coldness, you're going to have to melt a certain amount of ice. I think it's going to basically come to equilibrium at some point well below freezing and at that point you should quit because you're bringing in heat from your hands and the air and that's melting more ice than you needed.
I suppose smaller ice will get you to that point a bit faster, so there's that. But I'm not sure about those minor tradeoffs.
posted by ftm at 6:31 PM on May 20, 2013
I suppose smaller ice will get you to that point a bit faster, so there's that. But I'm not sure about those minor tradeoffs.
posted by ftm at 6:31 PM on May 20, 2013
I'm not a chemist, but as best I can explain without looking up references: the magnitude of cooling and dilution when shaking/stirring a cocktail is largely a function of surface area. Many large cubes = smaller volume of small cubes = even smaller volume of crushed ice. The amount of ice you'll load into a mixing glass depends on a) ice cube size, b) amount of dilution wanted, c) volume of spirits you're mixing. Generally, you'll want to put in an excess of ice and mix until the drink is the coldness you desire. The classic rule of thumb, I understand, is to shake in the rhythm and length of the chorus of the song Brazil, by which time the shaker should be painfully cold.
A martini, however, is never shaken, largely for aesthetic reasons -- the texture should be smooth and sleek, not lively with bits of chipped ice. Stir with a bar spoon, about 30-60 revolutions depending on taste, strain into a chilled glass. You can make it however you want, though; after a minute or two a shaken martini will look fairly similar to a stirred one.
posted by demons in the base at 6:38 PM on May 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
A martini, however, is never shaken, largely for aesthetic reasons -- the texture should be smooth and sleek, not lively with bits of chipped ice. Stir with a bar spoon, about 30-60 revolutions depending on taste, strain into a chilled glass. You can make it however you want, though; after a minute or two a shaken martini will look fairly similar to a stirred one.
posted by demons in the base at 6:38 PM on May 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
The temperature of a two-phase mixture (drink/ice) is fixed, regardless of the amount of one or the other, so in principle it shouldn't matter -- as much ice will melt into the drink as is required to bring the drink's temperature down. This doesn't take into account the time it takes for the mixture to equilibrate, though -- assuming you have a non-adiabatic cocktail shaker, the longer it takes to chill, the more heat from outside penetrates into the shaker. Faster chilling would require lots of ice/drink contact, so I suppose crushed ice would chill the drink faster.
posted by irrelephant at 6:41 PM on May 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by irrelephant at 6:41 PM on May 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
Not to mention the temperature of the ingredients. A martini made with freezer temperature ingredients in a cold shaker isn't going to take up much water when mixed with ice because it doesn't have much heat to reject, relative to the ice. It might even be a bit much, since the water from the melting ice may be a flavor issue. (IE, a little harsh.) Similarly, all room temperature ingredients might take up too much water and taste a bit watered down.
posted by gjc at 7:01 PM on May 20, 2013
posted by gjc at 7:01 PM on May 20, 2013
Dilution is what causes the drink to chill. More ice, especially smaller ice, should make the process happen quicker, but from what I've read with vigorous shaking it only takes like 15-20 seconds for the temperature to reach equilibrium (at which point any further shaking/diluting won't lower the temperature appreciably). So yeah, I guess if you use lots of really small ice you might shave a second or two off.
It should be noted that stirring will reach the same equilibrium point as shaking (amount of dilution and temperature) it just takes longer. On the order of 1.5-2 minutes. For people who care deeply about all things mixed drinks, it's generally preferred to stir the martini. Shaking introduces lots of little air bubbles which affects the final look (though the bubbles do dissipate in time) as well as introduces small ice shards (which can be strained). The stirred martini will be silky smooth. Drinks with significant amounts of citrus or dairy juice need to be shaken in order to achieve proper emulsification (and their looks aren't going to be hurt at all by the shaking).
Also, if you use sweet vermouth (apparently the original martinis did) then you definitely don't want to shake it as shaken sweet vermouth turns very muddy looking (ugly). Again, it'll calm down but who wants an ugly drink?
Finally, since this is all about martinis, do not fear vermouth! It's a key ingredient. Just be sure to use fresh vermouth as it is a lightly fortified wine and will go bad after opened (not as quickly as wine but it will happen). I generally do a 3:1 ratio of gin to vermouth.
And for real finally, add a couple of dashes of orange bitters to the drink. Again, many early recipes did this and it does do a lot for the drink.
One more final note, use a lemon twist instead of olives. Olives tend to overpower much of the more subtle flavors of the gin and vermouth.
And to wrap it all up, use gin instead of vodka. There are a number of really terrific gins on the market at very reasonable prices. If the juniper rubs you wrong try some of the American gins which do not emphasize the juniper as much as traditional London Drys do.
posted by bfootdav at 7:02 PM on May 20, 2013 [5 favorites]
It should be noted that stirring will reach the same equilibrium point as shaking (amount of dilution and temperature) it just takes longer. On the order of 1.5-2 minutes. For people who care deeply about all things mixed drinks, it's generally preferred to stir the martini. Shaking introduces lots of little air bubbles which affects the final look (though the bubbles do dissipate in time) as well as introduces small ice shards (which can be strained). The stirred martini will be silky smooth. Drinks with significant amounts of citrus or dairy juice need to be shaken in order to achieve proper emulsification (and their looks aren't going to be hurt at all by the shaking).
Also, if you use sweet vermouth (apparently the original martinis did) then you definitely don't want to shake it as shaken sweet vermouth turns very muddy looking (ugly). Again, it'll calm down but who wants an ugly drink?
Finally, since this is all about martinis, do not fear vermouth! It's a key ingredient. Just be sure to use fresh vermouth as it is a lightly fortified wine and will go bad after opened (not as quickly as wine but it will happen). I generally do a 3:1 ratio of gin to vermouth.
And for real finally, add a couple of dashes of orange bitters to the drink. Again, many early recipes did this and it does do a lot for the drink.
One more final note, use a lemon twist instead of olives. Olives tend to overpower much of the more subtle flavors of the gin and vermouth.
And to wrap it all up, use gin instead of vodka. There are a number of really terrific gins on the market at very reasonable prices. If the juniper rubs you wrong try some of the American gins which do not emphasize the juniper as much as traditional London Drys do.
posted by bfootdav at 7:02 PM on May 20, 2013 [5 favorites]
Yes, you do want a certain amount of ice. Too little and you dilute the drink because the ice melts more than it should in order to chill the drink. Smaller ice carries a larger amount of melted water on its surface, so larger ice cubes are better if you want to avoid dilution. Here's the lowdown on some cocktail science regarding ice :
Bar ice is 0° Celsius (it isn’t stored in a freezer). This is important. If your ice is in the freezer, it can chill your drink before it starts to melt. The ice will lower the temperature of your drink while getting warmer till it hits 0° C. After the ice gets to 0° C, it doesn’t get any warmer. ALL FURTHER CHILLING IS DONE BY MELTING ALONE. In a bar situation, all chilling is done by melting. There is no chilling without dilution.
You use “enough” ice. We did initial experiments that showed that using too little ice results in poor chilling and greater dilution. The benefit of adding more ice plateaus at a certain point so that it neither helps nor hurts the temperature or dilution. I don’t have exact numbers for the plateau point (I lost my old data cause I’m a jerk), but using Kold-Draft ice, Eben and Alex shook a 100 ml gimlet with one cube, two cubes, three cubes, and up. They were able to keep getting better results up to at least 5 cubes.
You don’t use ice so broken down that it carries a huge amount of water with it. The volume of an ice cube goes up as the third power of its size, but the surface area goes up as the square of the size. Small ice cubes, therefore, have a larger surface area per gram than large ice cubes. Since water resides at the surface of wet ice, immense amounts of surface area will unfairly add to dilution.
You shake “enough.” Putting ice in the drink and walking away doesn’t constitute shaking. You need enough agitation to get fresh drink in contact with the ice. It doesn’t take a whole hell of a lot, as we shall see.
posted by oneirodynia at 8:26 PM on May 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
Bar ice is 0° Celsius (it isn’t stored in a freezer). This is important. If your ice is in the freezer, it can chill your drink before it starts to melt. The ice will lower the temperature of your drink while getting warmer till it hits 0° C. After the ice gets to 0° C, it doesn’t get any warmer. ALL FURTHER CHILLING IS DONE BY MELTING ALONE. In a bar situation, all chilling is done by melting. There is no chilling without dilution.
You use “enough” ice. We did initial experiments that showed that using too little ice results in poor chilling and greater dilution. The benefit of adding more ice plateaus at a certain point so that it neither helps nor hurts the temperature or dilution. I don’t have exact numbers for the plateau point (I lost my old data cause I’m a jerk), but using Kold-Draft ice, Eben and Alex shook a 100 ml gimlet with one cube, two cubes, three cubes, and up. They were able to keep getting better results up to at least 5 cubes.
You don’t use ice so broken down that it carries a huge amount of water with it. The volume of an ice cube goes up as the third power of its size, but the surface area goes up as the square of the size. Small ice cubes, therefore, have a larger surface area per gram than large ice cubes. Since water resides at the surface of wet ice, immense amounts of surface area will unfairly add to dilution.
You shake “enough.” Putting ice in the drink and walking away doesn’t constitute shaking. You need enough agitation to get fresh drink in contact with the ice. It doesn’t take a whole hell of a lot, as we shall see.
posted by oneirodynia at 8:26 PM on May 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
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posted by rossination at 6:28 PM on May 20, 2013