Luis Buñuel once devised the perfect martini recipe
Spanish surrealist filmmaker Luis Buñuel is hailed as one of cinema’s all-time greats, with his career traversing both the silent and talkie eras. His most famous title is 1929’s Un Chien Andalou, which was so profound for the time that even today, it still shocks the viewer. Outside of this vital film, his other celebrated works are the likes of Los Olvidados, Belle de Jour, The Exterminating Angel and That Obscure Object of Desire.
Besides Un Chien Andalou, 1972’s The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie is his most significant. A deconstruction of the pretences of the middle class, it centres around a dinner party interrupted by a host of bizarre events that oscillate between the satirical and the genuinely horrific. Although the main talking point of the title is largely the contradictory nature of the plot, there is another fascinating element people often miss – its depiction of alcohol, namely Buñuel’s favourite tipple, the martini.
In his 1983 autobiography My Last Sigh, Buñuel wasted no time in heaping praise on the cocktail, expressing that it played a “primordial” role in his life. Afterwards, he was kind enough to describe his perfect recipe for the drink in an extended musing that even mentioned the work of Saint Thomas Aquinas.
He said: “Connoisseurs who like their martinis very dry suggest simply allowing a ray of sunlight to shine through a bottle of Noilly Prat before it hits the bottle of gin. At a certain period in America, it was said that the making of a dry martini should resemble the Immaculate Conception, for, as Saint Thomas Aquinas once noted, the generative power of the Holy Ghost pierced the Virgin’s hymen ‘like a ray of sunlight through a window – leaving it unbroken'”.
After revealing his preference for how he likes his vermouth, Buñuel gave some pointers on how he made his martini: “Another crucial recommendation is that the ice be so cold and hard that it won’t melt since nothing’s worse than a watery martini. For those who are still with me, let me give you my personal recipe, the fruit of long experimentation and guaranteed to produce perfect results.”
The auteur continued: “The day before your guests arrive, put all the ingredients – glasses, gin, and shaker – in the refrigerator. Use a thermometer to make sure the ice is about twenty degrees below zero (centigrade). Don’t take anything out until your friends arrive; then pour a few drops of Noilly Prat and half a demitasse spoon of Angostura bitters over the ice. Stir it, then pour it out, keeping only the ice, which retains a faint taste of both. Then pour straight gin over the ice, stir it again, and serve.”
As noted by the BFI, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie also contains some other recommendations from Buñuel on how to enjoy the perfect martini. The famous scene involving the cocktail states that “a classic cone-shaped glass is best” and that “a dry martini should be sipped like champagne” and not gulped in one as Maurice, the chauffeur, does.
