Recipe Description
Normally I consider New Orleans the home (and perhaps last refuge) of “the breakfast cocktail.” From the Sazerac to the Ramos Gin Fizz, no city owns the breakfast cocktail quite like NoLa, and to this day, there’s no place you can have a serious conversation about breakfast cocktails without any judgment or raised eyebrows quite like the Crescent City. Except maybe New York, the city that never sleeps. Many a breakfast cocktail has been consumed in the Big Apple straight off a night of partying without ever having made it home–at least foggy memories of my home town tell me that, but who knows what it’s like these days? New York is probably sanitized beyond all salvation, but the history remains: New Yorkers for generations have been taught that the Bloody Mary in its current form originated in the King Cole Bar at the St. Regis Hotel–a history taught first and foremost by the St. Regis Hotel, but I’m a buyer! Furthermore, I like my Bloodies a lot like the original recipe, though having transplanted to Texas for a spell, I learned to spice it up. Hope you like it!
In the spirit of not judging, I’m not going to tell you how many drinks this recipe is meant to yield–just make sure you have a pretty big vessel to mix it in before you get started!
Ingredients
- 12 ounces tomato juice
-
6 ounces "good" vodka
I'm not a fan of vodka, so "good" to me means basically the least offensive. I use Grey Goose but my guess is Tito's would elevate the drink. I've even heard you can use gin, and of course tequila would make it a Bloody Maria, but like I said--I'm not tricking this out. - 2 ounces fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon celery seed (not salt)
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
-
1 teaspoon Tapatio sauce
You can use tabasco, but this is a better flavor for the mix IMO. -
1 teaspoon horseradish
I use the stuff in the jar though i'm guessing fresh would be amazing! - enough for rim: salt & Tajin (save your lemon rind)
Preparation
Mix together all ingredients except the rim stuff. This is a very personal drink so tweak it as desired–maybe start with less of each of the add-ins and increase as desired??
Service
Wet a rim of a rocks glass with the lemon rind or a wedge of lemon and rim the glass in salt mixed with Tajin laid out in a saucer, then fill the glass with ice. The Tajin is optional but it is oh so good. I use a fat glass (a tall glass is usually recommended) because i like to maximize the amount of rim to drink just for the salt and Tajin but again, it’s up to your tastes. I love a pickled okra in this for garnish but I don’t believe it really could be called a Bloody Mary if you didn’t also garnish with celery.
Good morning!
