How To Eat Your Love Of Dirty Martinis With A Fork And Knife

Few things are better than a dirty martini done right. Deliciously briny with a boozy warmth, all punctuated with mouthwatering bites of lemon-tinged poultry — oh wait, did you think we were talking about the cocktail? If you haven't tried dirty martini chicken yet, and you're a fan of its cocktail inspiration, get ready to add some exciting new dinner plans to this week's menu. Brazenly flavorful, it's like eating a dirty vodka martini with silverware, and it might just become your new favorite savory dish.

Prepping the dirty martini chicken is pretty simple. Just grab a bottle of dry vermouth — cheap is fine, since it's for cooking, not drinking — and pour one to two cups into a pan with some olive juice. There are a couple of braising methods for chicken, and this mix will give the meat a tender, herbaceous succulence, regardless of the technique you use. Serve the poultry with a tasty vodka sauce, sprinkled with cut olives as desired, and voilà! Your dirty martini chicken will be ready to go.

Just like tweaking a cocktail to your personal preferences, you can take some liberties to make the dirty martini chicken your own. For example, you don't have to stick with just vermouth during braising. If you normally take your martinis more balanced liquor-wise, go ahead and use vodka in addition to vermouth here, adjusting the ratios as you like.

Naturally, how you cook the chicken matters for how pronounced the flavors turn out. While you can always roast or bake your chicken, braising is recommended because the long, steady cooking process helps mellow the potent flavors of the alcohol and olives. You can even make things easier on yourself by using your favorite basic roasted chicken recipe as a base, incorporating the martini-inspired ingredients where they make sense. 

A perfect vodka reduction sauce is often creamy, but you can opt for a lighter consistency by using olive brine if you really want the "dirty" part to shine through. On that note, if you're a big fan of olives, you can chop them up to mix in with the braising alcohol, adding a tapenade twist to the chicken.

To state the obvious, you could pair your dirty martini chicken with its boozy inspiration for dinner. However, if that seems like too much olive flavor for you, there are plenty of options for a more balanced yet still flavorful experience. Consider flavors that go well with olive- and herb-heavy dishes, such as bright citrus, lemongrass, florals, and subtle spices. Think a gin twist, lemon drop, French 75 — anything that falls along those zesty lines.

Wine is also an excellent choice, as it is with most chicken dishes. If you enjoy white wine, opt for a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc or another wine with crisp acidity to balance out the chicken's briny layers. If red is your preference, a nice Cabernet or Nebbiolo will have the tannic profile that pairs well here. Of course, there is also the belief that you shouldn't focus wine pairings around protein anyway. So, in the spirit of crafting a meal around your personal tastes, you can always go ahead and pair your dirty martini chicken with whatever wine you like — extra olives on the side are optional.