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| Photo: Heath Fradkoff |
OK, we're projecting. Half the Slashfood staff is enamored with the show (see New York Magazine's handy primer) that is about to plunge into its third hard-drinking, heavy-philandering, Gotham-glamorizing season this Sunday. We are over the moon about the style, the cocktail culture, and those insane retro recipes.
It's the perfect excuse for a cocktail party (especially a costumed one), so bust out the pearls and heat up the curlers -- or grab the fedora and tiepin -- because it's totally OK to drink with friends on a Sunday night. No one batted a heavily lined eye at such a thing back in the day.
Our party primer, with tune selections, deviled eggs and LeNell's perfect martini, after the jump.
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| Blue Smoke's Deviled Eggs. Photo: Roboppy, Flickr. |
Let us not mince words here: Drink was considered food back in the early '60s, when the show is set. As this stellar New York Times piece notes, these were the heady days of the three-martini lunch. The show focuses on cocktails (occasionally made by Don and Betty's small children at their parents' behest) more than any other edible element.
 Photo: Romulo Yanes, Gourmet.com |
Our resident mixology maven, LeNell Smothers, revealed her method for making a dreamy martini:
"Mix equal parts gin with dry vermouth. Add in 2 to 4 dashes of bitters depending on your maturity level. Up the sexy factor by 10 by using an antique metal martini pitcher or spouted glass shaker with matching martini glasses. Stir with ice till you think it's ready to be handled. Strain into a small, chilled cocktail glass that's about 3-4 ounces. You want to drink it while it's still cold and laughing at you, not swim in a warm puddle. For 3-ounce glasses, use 1 to 1.25 ounces each gin and vermouth. Larger glasses can handle 1.5 ounces apiece."
We also love these old-school Moscow Mules from Gourmet, which are a bit lighter on the liquor but still utilize boss Roger's beloved spirit, vodka. Fresh lime juice, ginger beer and a few hunks of lime keep it an easy cocktail to make at a moment's notice (especially if you juice the limes in advance). We've personally tested these suckers out at parties, to the delight of attendees.
As per "food" food, it should take a secondary role. Think: fewer dishes to clean up Monday morning! Deviled eggs are fine (we love those at Manhattan's Blue Smoke, and spied their recipe here), but so are olives, casseroles, shrimp cocktails, popovers, or a nice "cheese-frosted sandwich loaf," as this writer spied -- to her horror -- clipped amongst her grandmother's favorites from that era. (One sample shopping list read: "Celery, olives, pickles, radishes, coffee, rolls and butter, pie.")
 1950s and 1960s recipes. Photo: Alex Van Buren. |
And as regards style, we're big believers in dress-up parties, so look into the many great resources out there, and think bright (for ladies) and dark (for gents). There's a fine interview with the actress who plays Joan Holloway, the show's buxom fashion heroine, here.
Music of that era, such as this fantastic Girl Group Sounds Lost and Found box set, never gets old. And keep the tunes just above conversational level, advises designer Alexa Hampton: "Don't have music too soft, because when people raise their voices to talk over music it sounds more like a party." Hampton's also a fan of "really flattering" candlelight.
If things look like they're winding down too soon for your taste, bust out the Isley Brothers. Give "Shout" and "Twist & Shout" a pass unless you're desperate; try "Take me in Your Arms (Rock me a Little While)" instead. Or, to make things crystal-clear, pop Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons' wonderful "Stay" on the stereo. It's pretty tough to resist -- almost as much as this show.
Related: Our sibling site StyleList on the launch of the Banana Republic "Mad Men" line, and Joan Holloway-inspired fashion.
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| "Mad Men"-inspired fashion. Photo: Heath Fradkoff |
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8-12-2009 @5:33PM nscheffey said... Equal parts gin and vermouth?! That would be the worst martini ever. No one drinks their martinis like that, especially not Don Draper.
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8-12-2009 @5:56PM R. P. McMurphy said... Ummmmm actually people DO drink their martini's like that. I do. As long as it's not "sitting behind the bar for decades" vermouth.
It's actually one of my top 5 cocktails. 50/50 with Old Tom gin and Dolin vermouth (fresh, not stale)
However, a more "traditional" would be 2:1 ratio.
Take a look at any cocktail book from the 60's a Mr. Boston should be your first stop.
A martini with so little vermouth, should be called "chilled gin"
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8-12-2009 @10:02PM nscheffey said... Ummmmm actually you couldn't be more wrong. Martinis were made with a one to one ratio in the 1900s, to disguise the taste of inferior gin. As gin quality improved it began to take a dominant role in the cocktail. By Prohibition the ratio was 3:1 in favor of gin. By the 1960s it was 5:1. Today a standard martini uses a 6:1 ratio.
Go into any bar and order a martini and see what you get. I guarantee they won't serve the atrocious 1:1 recipe you describe.
I'm not suggesting you don't enjoy your drink. Only that it isn't a martini.
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8-13-2009 @10:44PM Slashfood Editor said... It should be noted that LeNell, when interviewed, admitted to loving her martinis on the far end of the vermouth spectrum -- wet, rather than dry. Since everyone has his or her own preference, here are two other martini recipes we encountered that looked darn tasty. A 3-to-1 gin-to-vermouth recipe from Martha -- http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/classic-martini?autonomy_kw=classic martini -- and a "Black Tie" martini from Gourmet: http://www.gourmet.com/recipes/2000s/2008/10/black-tie-martinis
Happy sippin'!
-Alex
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8-14-2009 @3:22AM meg4fancast said... I wish I liked martinis! If anybody needs to catch up on last season, you can watch on Fancast now. Fancast will have the new season once it airs too. Happy watching! http://www.fancast.com/tv/Mad-Men/95854/full-episodes
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8-15-2009 @7:55AM eas said... Up until the 1950's the standard for a martini was 1:1 gin to vermouth, and 2:1 for a dry martini. For avoidance of doubt, refer to "A Wine Primer" the 1947 seminal work by Andre Simon, perhaps the best wine writer of his era (in this instance covering the uses of vermouth).
The quality of gin of this era bears little difference from today, but sadly today, if you go into just "any bar", you'll get mediocre vermouth at best that is far too stale/oxidized for consumption.
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8-27-2009 @9:48AM R. P. McMurphy said... Walk into any REAL bar today (Pegu, Absinthe, PDT, etc...) and ask for a Martini and you'll likely get closer to 2:1. Look in any reputable cocktail book (Mr. Boston, the new Meehan edition...Gary Regan, DeGroff) as well.
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