A Pitcher of Bloody Mary Mix
Tuesday, September 25th, 2007
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It’s football time here in the university town I call home, so on Saturday mornings my kitchen often becomes the epicenter of pre-game madness. I like to put out a bottle of vodka, a pitcher of my Bloody Mary mix, and a tray of fun garnishes for the fans and let people put together their own drinks.
Now, I understand the benefits of juicing your own tomatoes for the ultimate do-it-yourself Bloody Mary. However, I’ve got to point out that in the middle of winter here in the Pacific Northwest, canned tomato juice tastes a hell of a lot better than the mealy specimens my local grocery store is peddling for $3.99 a pound. So here’s a beefed-up Bloody Mary mix you can make any time, with ingredients you can find just about anywhere.
1 46-oz can tomato juice
1 garlic clove, minced
½ small avocado
¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
1½ oz lemon juice
1½ tbsp steak sauce
2 tsp cracked pepper
1½ tsp celery salt
1½ tsp hot sauce
1 tsp horseradish
Purée garlic, avocado, and eight ounces of the tomato juice in a food processor or blender until smooth. Add to remaining ingredients in a large pitcher and stir until combined.
As an aside, I’ve found that this recipe works best when it’s allowed to sit overnight to let the flavors combine. So if you have the time, try to make it the night before.
To make a Bloody Mary, fill a 16-ounce glass to the rim with ice and add two ounces (¼ cup) of your favorite vodka. Salting the rim of the glass is optional, but I like to pre-salt a few glasses and set them out. Top with Bloody Mary mix and garnish as you like. Here are some suggestions for your garnish tray:
Celery stalks
Stuffed olives
French cornichons
Pickled white asparagus
Lemon and lime wedges
Pearl onions
Pickled green beans
Cherry tomatoes
Pickled garlic cloves
Pickled pepperoncini peppers
Cooked, peeled shrimp
And for a wonderful treatise on making a single Bloody Mary the right way, check out this video my peeps over at the Small Screen Network have put together.
26 Sep 2007 at 10:09 am 1. anita
I highly recommend making your own tomato juice year-round with canned tomatoes, if you can’t get your hands on good fresh ones. I promise it’s better than canned by a wide enough margin that you won’t mind the effort.
Method described here:
http://marriedwithdinner.com/2006/12/29/dotw-bloody-mary/
26 Sep 2007 at 10:30 am 2. Jeffrey
Anita, did I forget to mention that I’m also lazy?
Okay, I’ll try it this weekend and report back, I promise.
30 Sep 2007 at 11:32 pm 3. Cheryl Charming
I love that beautiful pitcher you are using! This is also the first time I’ve seen someone else use steak sauce besides me. I like to use A-1.
Cheryl
01 Oct 2007 at 10:27 pm 4. Jeffrey
Thanks, Cheryl!
I stole the steak sauce and the avocado from a good friend here in town, Ric Lee, who has been making the best Bloody Marys in Oregon for a long, long time.
He wouldn’t give me his recipe, so I had to try to reverse-engineer it here.
And Anita, you’re right. The Muir Glen tomatoes, when pureéd, taste wonderfully tomato-y in a Bloody Mary.
However, for those of you making Bloody Marys in a pinch, I stand by my original recipe.
03 Oct 2007 at 12:37 pm 5. Diana
I’m making a gallon (probably two) of your bloody mary mix to take to the Skins game this Sunday. Will it taste as delicious if I add the vodka to the mix the night before, or at least the morning of the game so it’s all in one container for easier transportation?
03 Oct 2007 at 1:14 pm 6. Jeffrey
Diana
I don’t see why it would hurt, so try it and give us a full report on Monday, will ya?
Jeff
03 Oct 2007 at 1:15 pm 7. Diana
Wow, you’re fast.
I shall.
07 Oct 2007 at 7:51 pm 8. Scott
Where can I get that wonderful pitcher in your picture?
08 Oct 2007 at 2:40 pm 9. Jeffrey Morgenthaler
Hey Scott
I’ve gotten a lot of comments about that pitcher, but I don’t know what to tell you. I think it belonged to my girlfriend’s grandmother.
09 Oct 2007 at 7:06 am 10. Diana
Mixing the vodka in with everything else the night before didn’t seem to bother the BM’s at all. It definitely made transport to the field much easier.
09 Oct 2007 at 10:37 am 11. Jeffrey Morgenthaler
Thanks, Diana!
But let’s call them something other than “BMs”, can’t we?
10 Oct 2007 at 1:39 pm 12. Steph
We made yuor bloody mary mix last weekend and it was a huge hit! Thanks for a wonderful website.
21 Oct 2007 at 10:10 am 13. Anne
What would be the amount of vodka to add to the recipe to make Bloody Marys in quantity, similar to your superb “margaritas by the gallon” recipe?
22 Oct 2007 at 5:31 pm 14. Jeffrey Morgenthaler
Anne
I think one full fifth of vodka would work well with these quantities.
But try it yourself and let me know!
Jeff
16 Jan 2008 at 4:42 pm 15. kara
Thanks for the recipe. Going to mix up a batch right now!
30 Jan 2008 at 11:24 pm 16. Brendon
Hmm.. That does sound like it could be good, but generally speaking, I don’t like my bloody marys to taste like a prime rib. Isnt the focus of the Bloody Mary supposed to be on the tomatoe?
31 Jan 2008 at 10:56 am 17. Jeffrey Morgenthaler
This is definitely not the classic Bloody Mary recipe, Brendon, but rather one of the billion variations out there.
But if you’re gearing up for Super Bowl Sunday this weekend, a little prime rib might be just what the doctor ordered.