Recipe: The Ice-less Bloody Mary - Tiki Drinks and Food

T thinkingbartender Member London, England Joined: Apr 06, 2006 Posts: 62	T thinkingbartender Posted posted on Sat, Oct 31, 2009 7:47 PM Over the years I have had a very shakey relationship with the Bloody Mary, and by that I am not referring to its reputation as a morning after remedy. Too many times I have constructed Bloody Marys for customers while thinking, why are they drinking vodka with tomato juice? Regardless of how many "Ultimate" Bloody Mary recipes I have sampled, I have never quite been impressed by them; The reason for this ambivalence was never apparent until very recently; It was the wateryness of the mixture, and its increasing wateryness as it sat on the bartop which repulsed me. My "masterstroke" was to simply remove the ice, and thus the water, from the equation. Chill/ freeze the vodka, and chill the tomato juice; And then the drink is at the correct dilution from start til finish; Your only concern will be the temperature of the libation; But will it last that long in the glass when the drink is consistently good, rather than degrading into a watery fruit juice? Whilst re-imagining this drink I wanted to experiment with the mouthfeel and texture of the libation; So along with coarsely ground black pepper, I ended up with finely diced cucumber, which gave pieces of crunchy bite, as well as being refreshing at the same time; Next up I settled on finely diced cocktail gherkins, which gave crunch, saltiness, and sourness. Another good addition, though not included in the recipe below is finely diced celery stalk, which goes exceedingly well with celery salt. As the tomato juice is thicker, due to the lack of dilution, which would normally be expected due to the use of ice in the preparation phase of this drink, the pieces are nicely suspended in the mixture; Almost guaranteeing that each sip/ gulp recieves an equal amount of solid material to mull over. Bloody Mary. Into an empty rocks glass: Finely dice two slices of cucumber and a cocktail gherkin, then pile it into a rocks glass. Add a heaped tablespoon of Nando's Peri-peri sauce, and 6 dashes of Worchestershire Sauce; And then squeeze the juice of half a fresh lime into the glass, Add salt and pepper to taste; 35ml of chilled/ frozen vodka; Top with chilled Tomato juice, Stir thoroughly with a teaspoon; Serve. Note: There must be no ice, and no straws for this drink; A teaspoon is allowed. There are even more refinements that can be made to this recipe, and this is best applied to jugs/ pitchers of the stuff; The tweaks to be recommended are freshly grated horseradish, celery salt, and finely diced celery, Finely Diced Capsicums, Finely Diced Red Onion, Dill, Garlic Salt, Salmon Roe. Enjoy! George

Over the years I have had a very shakey relationship with the Bloody Mary, and by that I am not referring to its reputation as a morning after remedy. Too many times I have constructed Bloody Marys for customers while thinking, why are they drinking vodka with tomato juice? Regardless of how many "Ultimate" Bloody Mary recipes I have sampled, I have never quite been impressed by them; The reason for this ambivalence was never apparent until very recently; It was the wateryness of the mixture, and its increasing wateryness as it sat on the bartop which repulsed me. My "masterstroke" was to simply remove the ice, and thus the water, from the equation. Chill/ freeze the vodka, and chill the tomato juice; And then the drink is at the correct dilution from start til finish; Your only concern will be the temperature of the libation; But will it last that long in the glass when the drink is consistently good, rather than degrading into a watery fruit juice?

Whilst re-imagining this drink I wanted to experiment with the mouthfeel and texture of the libation; So along with coarsely ground black pepper, I ended up with finely diced cucumber, which gave pieces of crunchy bite, as well as being refreshing at the same time; Next up I settled on finely diced cocktail gherkins, which gave crunch, saltiness, and sourness.

Another good addition, though not included in the recipe below is finely diced celery stalk, which goes exceedingly well with celery salt.

As the tomato juice is thicker, due to the lack of dilution, which would normally be expected due to the use of ice in the preparation phase of this drink, the pieces are nicely suspended in the mixture; Almost guaranteeing that each sip/ gulp recieves an equal amount of solid material to mull over.

Bloody Mary.

Into an empty rocks glass: Finely dice two slices of cucumber and a cocktail gherkin, then pile it into a rocks glass. Add a heaped tablespoon of Nando's Peri-peri sauce, and 6 dashes of Worchestershire Sauce; And then squeeze the juice of half a fresh lime into the glass, Add salt and pepper to taste; 35ml of chilled/ frozen vodka; Top with chilled Tomato juice, Stir thoroughly with a teaspoon; Serve.
Note: There must be no ice, and no straws for this drink; A teaspoon is allowed.

There are even more refinements that can be made to this recipe, and this is best applied to jugs/ pitchers of the stuff; The tweaks to be recommended are freshly grated horseradish, celery salt, and finely diced celery, Finely Diced Capsicums, Finely Diced Red Onion, Dill, Garlic Salt, Salmon Roe.

Enjoy!

George

Post #491243 by thinkingbartender on Sat, Oct 31, 2009 7:47 PM