You may love to eat pizza, but have you considered drinking a pizza? In martini form, no less? Ben Wald, head of beverage programming and spirits expert at The Flatiron Room, has.
The result is a well-balanced cocktail that strikes the traditional notes of a martini while having a pizza-like twist that feels elevated. This is not your late-night slice; think crisp sip with a gourmet touch: flavorful yet not overdone.
"The drink is really focused around the vermouth,” Wald says. “I remember trying it in 2018, and the first thing I thought of was, 'This is a pizza, I must make a pizza drink.’”
Wald’s creation process took some time. He went through iterations of pepperoni fat-washing and other pizza ideas before landing on a version featuring a clean olive oil wash that is now served at The Flatiron Room.
“When I create a cocktail, I decide on what flavor I want to go with and then either find something to be the base naturally, or make a syrup or infusion to serve as the base,” Wald says.
He says the key is the fidelity of flavor.
“When creating the perfect cocktail, you don’t want to create a camel (a horse designed by a committee),” Wald says.” Everyone would rather have a clean, straightforward cocktail rather than one with 20 ingredients that you could omit seven of to create the same drink. This was the Pizza Martini’s process.”
The Flatiron Room shared its Pizza Martini recipe with Appetito for readers to try at home—but we highly recommend stopping into The Flatiron Room to experience the craft cocktail made by the expert team onsite.
Pizza Martini Recipe
(courtesy of The Flatiron Room)
- 100ml of olive oil per liter of vodka
- Combine the olive oil and vodka in a container and freeze overnight. "The oil will rise to the top and solidify. Strain off the oil and let it return to room temperature for future use—now you have olive oil-washed vodka," said Wald.
- To build the cocktail:
- 2 oz olive oil-washed vodka
- 1 oz sun-dried tomato liqueur
- 1 oz Lustau Vermut Blanco
- Stir and strain into a chilled martini glass
- Garnish with goat cheese-stuffed olives
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