Mazeh Martini

The story

No Iranian drinks aragh without mazeh, the spread of small salty things that makes the glass bearable and the evening long: olives, pickles, cheese, nuts, cucumber. Spirit, brine and an olive have always been a mazeh in a glass. This one is built on aragh, whose raisin and grape-skin character stands up to brine better than vodka does, and the olive for zeytun parvardeh, Gilan’s olives marinated in walnut, pomegranate molasses and herbs. Stir it very cold and serve it with the rest of the spread.

Method

1. Chill a coupe or Nick & Nora in the freezer.
2. Stir the aragh, dry vermouth and olive brine with ice for 30 seconds, until very cold.
3. Strain into the glass.
4. Add two zeytun parvardeh olives on a pick.

How it tastes

Cold, dry and savoury: brine and vermouth on top of the raisin spirit, then the walnut and pomegranate of the olives as you eat them. A martini for people who order the mazeh first.

Persian taste: shoor (salty), talkh (bitter)

Pair it with

• Food: The rest of the mazeh: torshi, feta with herbs, salted cucumbers, pistachios.
• Sweet: Not this one.
• Snack: Zeytun parvardeh

Variations

Cleaner

Skip the brine and garnish with a lemon twist for a Persian dry martini.

Rudbar

Compare with Rudbar Olive, the gin version with the same olives.

Pisco

Pisco works, but it is sweeter; use 10 ml brine.

Balancing tips

• Stir, never shake; the drink should be clear and silky.
• Use the brine from good green olives, not the jar the parvardeh came in, which is oily.
• Everything cold: glass, spirit, vermouth.

Allergens

• Tree nuts (walnut in the olives)
• Sulfites (vermouth)
• Contains alcohol. Please drink responsibly.

Development notes

• Status: original recipe draft v0.1, not yet taste-tested.
• Test brine at 5 and 7.5 ml; test vermouth at 10 and 15.
• See the article: Aragh, the Persian raisin spirit.