Refreshing tomato juice dosed with a healthy splash of vodka, then jazzed up with a variety of spices and flavorings, typically including Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco or other hot sauce, salt and pepper, and served on the rocks, this drink is often touted as a morning-after cure for hangovers and it has long been the quintessential brunch cocktail.
However, it was soon after my first experience with this drink years back that I determined Bloody Marys were not just for breakfast anymore. An icy cold Bloody Mary makes a terrific cocktail to enjoy on a hot summer afternoon or evening. It is a great drink to serve up at cookouts or barbecues, as the bold tomato flavor goes wonderfully with grilled burgers, chicken or steak. Bloody Marys were a big hit when we offered them at our garden wedding reception last August and we find that the drink's spicy kick makes it a fine cocktail to enjoy in colder weather too, as evidenced by this photo of Scott and I, taken while cruising off the chilly coast of Alaska this past fall.
To stir up these cocktails at home, the simplest way is to add your own vodka to a really good prepackaged mix. After years of trying various brands, we came across the Bold & Spicy version by Mr. & Mrs. T, and it is definitely a keeper. The consistency of the mix is perfect, being neither too thick nor too thin as many other mixes are. The flavor is fabulous and needs no doctoring, except perhaps a grind or two of coarse pepper or a twist of lime to top off the drink. And, happily for travelers like us, it is readily available at groceries, liquor stores and carry-outs throughout the United States.
As to the vodka to be used, I was a longtime fan of both Absolut and Grey Goose, although the price of those made me wince every time I needed to replace a bottle. Last year, friends turned us on to Svedka, a relatively new Swedish upstart that instantly became our vodka of choice. People who really know their vodka swear by the stuff and, amazingly, it costs about one-third of the aforementioned brands.
For anyone desiring to mix their Bloody Marys from scratch, there are a mind-boggling number of recipes out there. Personally, upon discovering the Mr. & Mrs. T mix, I must confess that I have not made a single scratch Bloody Mary since. However, prior to that, I swore by a recipe that I stumbled across twenty years ago in a little cookbook entitled "Hot, Hotter, Hottest" by Janet Hazen.
To digress slightly, I will note that this book also contains a collection of great food recipes, all of which feature one of five different ingredients - ginger, horseradish, peppercorns, chilis or mustard - and which range from relatively mild to nearly incendiary in flavor.
For those who enjoy such food, or for anyone who wishes to add a little spice to their cooking, I highly recommend this cookbook, which can be ordered online for under ten bucks.
Back to the topic at hand, the Bloody Mary recipe from the cookbook follows, as modified by myself over time. It will produce a truly fine cocktail for purists who like to mix drinks from scratch and, for those who don't, may still come in handy for those times when a good prepackaged mix is not available. Cheers!
Hangover Bloody Marys (adapted from Janet Hazen's Hot, Hotter, Hottest)
1 quart tomato Spicy Hot V-8
1/4 cup prepared horseradish
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon hot sauce (I use Frank's)
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
Combine all ingredients and mix well. Adjust seasoning if necessary. Pour the mix into glasses filled with ice cubes, leaving enough room for the vodka. Generally, 1 to 1 1/2 ounces of vodka per 6 ounces of mix is used, but in the case of a hangover as little as a drop or as much as 3 ounces of liquor could be in order. Garnish each glass with a sprinkling of pepper and one stalk or celery or a lime slice. Serve immediately or sooner.
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