What is the significance of James Bond鈥檚 famous phrase 鈥渟haken not stirred鈥�? Is there really a difference in the taste of a shaken vodka martini, as opposed to a stirred one? And if so why?
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鈥� Anna Collins of Washington DC told us that the reason James Bond ordered his martinis shaken was that at the time the Bond novels were written, vodka was widely made from potatoes rather than grain, as is common today. Potato vodka is noticeably oily and shaking it with ice dissipates the oil. This was confirmed in a blind tasting by reader Peter Simmons, of London.
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However, another reader in the UK, William France of Birmingham, wrote in to point out that in the book and movie Bond orders his martini to the recipe later known as a vesper, which contains more gin than vodka, yet he still requests that it is shaken. So why? 鈥� Ed
鈥� Bond鈥檚 martini in Casino Royale is made to the following recipe with thanks to the 1953 novel by Ian Fleming:
鈥淎 dry martini,鈥� [Bond] said. 鈥淥ne. In a deep champagne goblet.鈥�
鈥淥ui, monsieur.鈥�
鈥淛ust a moment. Three measures of Gordon鈥檚 [gin], one of vodka, half a measure of . Shake it very well until it鈥檚 ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon peel. Got it?鈥�
鈥淐ertainly, monsieur.鈥� The barman seemed pleased with the idea.
We can also presume the vodka used was a potato vodka because Bond goes on to tell the barman: 鈥淓xcellent鈥� but if you can get a vodka made with grain instead of potatoes, you will find it still better.鈥�
So we know there is a measure of potato vodka in the vesper. To check whether this still makes a difference to the martini, I and four friends repeated Peter Simmons鈥檚 blind tasting of the martinis, making one batch with potato vodka and another with grain. We had to amend the recipe slightly because the Kina Lillet in the vesper (which replaces the dry vermouth used in standard martinis) is no longer produced, the nearest modern-day product being Lillet Blanc. Lillet Blanc is less bitter than Kina Lillet (Kina referring to the bitter quinine that was in the original) so we had to add two drops of bitters to the drink so it matched the original vesper taste.
Without a doubt, the potato vodka vesper was oilier than the grain vodka version (despite containing only a single measure of gin, as opposed to three). And subsequently when shaken with ice, the oil in the potato-vodka vesper was much less pronounced. All tasters were unanimous in detecting this.
Thus, despite the modern convention of stirring martinis, it seems that Bond, a man of obvious sophistication, knew what he was talking about when always asking for his martinis to be shaken, recipe notwithstanding.
鈥淛ames Bond knew what he was talking about when he asked for his martinis to be shaken, not stirred鈥�
Janice Devaney, London, UK