Delicious Bloody Mary Mix

November 9, 2015 4:54 PM

Where I work, our current Bloody Mary mix is uninspired. I'm putting together a new recipe, but I want to try making a bunch of other tasty recipes first! What are some good Bloody Mary mix recipes for me to try?

My preferences:

1. A fresh (rather than canned) tomato base is best.

2. I'm especially interested in recipes with a French/Francophone twist to them.

3. Weird is good! Those green mixes are intriguing.

Also: what about interesting/cool/tasty extras? Rims, garnishes, glasses...

posted by rue72 to Food & Drink (17 answers total)

What goes in your current mix?

I've found the best bloody marys, and indeed this is how the make them at my local watering hole, to be made to order rather than a mix that is shaken upon request.

Other than that a few things that I've found to make a big difference:

-Half a shot of stout/porter really helps temper the drink in a really nice manner

-Interesting vodka bases, cucumber, habanero, etc. home infusion is pretty easy and my bar uses a sous vide to make it even quicker

-Enough Worcestershire sauce to give a real depth of flavor
posted by Carillon at 5:03 PM on November 9, 2015

I don't like a Bloody Mary I have to chew, so please don't put horseradish or pickled ginger in it. Bleah.

Our home recipe is:

2 oz gin (already better than vodka right there);
5 oz tomato (we use low-sodium V8);
½ oz lemon juice (usually ¾ by the time I'm done juicing the lemon);
3 dashes Lea & Perrin's Worcestershire (I always call them shlunks, not dashes, because of the extra-wide dasher);
3 dashes hot pepper sauce;
2 dashes Angostura bitters;
2 dashes celery bitters (well, 2 if using Bitter Truth, and like 5 if using Scrappy's, which has a tiny hole in the dasher);
10 or so turns of the pepper grinder;
Pinch salt, if using low-sodium tomato or V8.

Shake, strain over fresh ice, garnish with lime wedge and celery stalk. My wife garnishes hers with a couple martini olives too.

The best thing we did for our Bloody Mary was to start putting bitters in it. You could skip the celery bitters if you rimmed the glass with celery salt. If you have celery salt on hand, that is. Lots of places around here used to rim the glass with Old Bay, but I only like Old Bay on seafood, so it seems like a waste of a good Bloody Mary to do that.

If you want to get all mixologist-fancy about it, probably the weirdest, most interesting thing you could do would be to clarify the tomato juice (one of agar, freezing, or simple filtration ought to work).

Report back!
posted by fedward at 5:27 PM on November 9, 2015 [3 favorites]

It's only Francophone in that it's the most popular mixed drink in Canada, but clearly you need to see the light and start mixing Bloody Caesars instead of Marys.

If you don't have Clamato available, this recipe calls for 12 oz clam juice to 20 oz tomato juice. That recipe suggests adding Montreal Steak Seasoning to the mix. Perhaps rim the glass with it in place of the usual seasoned salt.
posted by GuyZero at 5:35 PM on November 9, 2015 [2 favorites]

If there is no horseradish in it it is not a Bloody Mary, sorry fedward.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 5:44 PM on November 9, 2015 [5 favorites]

you could always try infusing vodka and then using that to mix things up a bit. I've had good luck with basil vodka (and jalapeno), but I'd bet there are lots of different flavors you could try.
posted by likeatoaster at 6:22 PM on November 9, 2015

I never much liked bloody marys until I had one made with rye whiskey. Vodka/gin is just too sweet on top of tomatoes, but rye has a great dry/peppery character that fits perfectly.
posted by nsillik at 7:00 PM on November 9, 2015

Response by poster: We pour the liquor to order. I'm looking for recipes for the non-alcoholic (aside from the bitters, anyway) mix.

This is a business, so I can't just mess around with the liquor stock on a whim. It would screw up my boss's budget. So there can't be any infusing, pre-mixing the liquor in with the Bloody Mary mix, etc.
posted by rue72 at 7:02 PM on November 9, 2015

A bloody bull is the standard mix with beef bouillon added. If you wanted something suggesting France, you could do a version with strained onion soup -- I bet it would be amazing.
posted by neroli at 7:47 PM on November 9, 2015

Another thing I've appreciated has been multiple hot sauces, not so much as to be overwhelming but so you get some more complexity. A little siracha with a more vinegar based one and perhaps a green one to top it off. That can add some nice depth.
posted by Carillon at 9:27 PM on November 9, 2015

My favorite hot sauce for Bloody Marys is Tabasco Chipotle; it adds a really nice, smokey flavor.
posted by neushoorn at 10:18 PM on November 9, 2015

Rachel Maddow suggested on her show using gin instead of vodka in a Bloody Mary proving for me that she is not completely wrong about everything.
posted by three blind mice at 5:37 AM on November 10, 2015

I came in here to mention adding Guiness/stout beer or beef broth, but I see others have already suggested those.
posted by zyxwvut at 5:38 AM on November 10, 2015

Also you mention green bloody mary's, I'm not sure if you can get tomatillo's where you are, but if you can you could make something like this. That's fresh not canned, and would likely have a nice herbaceous flavor.
posted by Carillon at 8:00 AM on November 10, 2015

I'm biased because I live in Baltimore, but Old Bay makes most Bloody Marys better.
posted by Ham Snadwich at 8:32 AM on November 10, 2015

I use the recipe in Joy Of Cooking.often using V8 instead of tomato juice.
posted by SemiSalt at 10:40 AM on November 10, 2015

This may sound a bit weird, but capers are very, very good in bloody marys (as long as you either mince them or are prepared for them to sink to the bottom). Caper juice adds a nice saltiness.

Tony Chachere's is also really good in them.
posted by Miss T.Horn at 11:47 AM on November 10, 2015

If there isn't pickle juice in there somewhere you are doing it wrong.
posted by jasondigitized at 2:48 PM on November 10, 2015