I made a homemade tomato juice and it was perfect. You have to strain it really well and there was more than just tomatoes in there. I cooked the tomatoes via a recipe I found online, that included celery, salt, sugar, onions, etc. the only think is that from 6-8 organic tomatoes I only got 8 oz. so it can get expensive to make and the process is very time consuming. It was worth it for that one drink though.
Yeah, there are a couple other fresh tomato juice Bloody Mary recipes in the Bartels book. But I ran some tomatoes through a juicer and tried it with a couple recipes. It was really different. The fresh tomato juice recipes, particularly the clarified tomato juice recipe sound interesting, but I haven't gone down that road yet. I'll have to try one of the cut, cook and strain recipes. Sounds interesting. Cheers!
A Bloody Mary with a dry sherry float? That's another on the 'to do' list. BTW Aylesbury Duck has almost disappeared from the UK - there are only 2 or 3 farms left breeding them - but is a must try if you ever visit the London area.
Yeah, it's great. Let me know how your Bloody Sherry turns out. Interesting to hear about the duck shortage. I had no idea. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aylesbury_duck#Decline
I guess I serve BMs every 2 months (and you need some horseradish) , Fino sherry maybe 2x a year and have bought and roasted an Aylesbury Duck every December since my big girl was aged 10. This coming birthday I may combine all three...thanks to you ;)
Ranked in order, here are my recommendations for books for home bartenders: 12 Bottle Bar (amzn.to/2l7GpOg) Imbibe!, Updated and Revised Edition (amzn.to/2jOeUr9) Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails (amzn.to/2kDQCnD) The PDT Cocktail Book (amzn.to/2l7Pu9w) Smuggler's Cove (amzn.to/2kcHDcy) Then old school books like The Savoy Cocktail Book (amzn.to/2kDHn70) The top of that list would be my go-to, 12 Bottle Bar by Lesley and David Solmonson. It's a great intro. They have brand recommendations, classic drinks, not so classic, homemade syrups and liqueurs, punches, drinks for different occasions, history of certain drinks, etc. They're big thing is focusing on these essential 12 bottles that allow you to make 100's of great drinks. That way you're not stuck with a $40 bottle of creme de whatever, that's only really used in one drink. Instead it focuses on the essentials. They made some difficult choices on which bottles to cut, but they came up with a great list that will let you hit the ground running. It's really the best place to start. Next would be Imbibe!, Updated and Revised Edition by David Wondrich. This is a seminal book in the cocktail renaissance. Wondrich is a cocktail historian and incredible resource for understanding and uncovering classic and forgotten cocktails. This book, when originally published, was instrumental in helping to push this cocktail resurgence. He then became an invaluable resource for researching and exploring misunderstood recipes. The Updated and Revised Edition expanded on the first edition, explored more drinks, talked about certain brands and spirits that more recently became available. There is an incredible amount of history in this book, so it's sometimes a little challenging to cut through and get to the recipes, but that’s because it’s first and foremost a history of cocktail culture in the US. Not being a traditional recipe book is not ideal at times, but it’s definitely worth it if you’re interested in what you’re drinking and where it came from. After that, I’d get Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails by Ted Haigh. This was another seminal book, published a year or so after Imbibe!. It is first and foremost a recipe book, but there is a page or two of history for each drink. There are lots of classics and revived drinks in there. There are also some esoteric ones and lots of esoteric spirits, but it is pretty agnostic when it comes to bottle recommendations, which is why for me, it doesn’t edge out 12 Bottle Bar. It really focuses on the classics, just as the title suggests. Then the books start getting a little more advanced and esoteric. The PDT Cocktail Book by Jim Meehan and Smuggler's Cove by Martin & Rebecca Cate are both good books by modern bartenders who are really dedicated to the craft and making classic and modern drinks as best as they can be. The PDT gives great recommendations for each bottle to use with each recipe, so there’s never a question of, is this the right rum? or is the Scotch smoky enough? It spells all of that out for you. There’s very little history in it, not a lot of DIY syrups or liqueurs or whatever and there are plenty of esoteric and advanced drinks in there. So, this would probably be a year two book. Same with Smuggler’s Cove. It is heavy on the esoteric, but it’s a great resource for Tiki and rum drinks. It gets pretty specific when it comes to the recipes. The Cates really care about the craft and restoring some dignity to the world of the Tiki cocktail, which was sidelined, perhaps not totally unfairly, for years as an example of what not to do, particularly at the start of the craft cocktail renaissance. The organization of the drinks and particularly of the type of rums for each drink could be better. It’s tough because each drink is so specific, it may call for 3 different types of rum, not including the absinthe, falernum, pimento, etc. This book will make you some of the best Tiki drinks and provides a lot of background on the culture, tools, techniques, etc, and it has recipes for homemade syrups and ingredients, but it is pretty deep down the rabbit hole. I mean some drinks require 5 or 6 bottles, not including fresh juices and homemade syrups. It takes some serious dedication to make these things and it takes quite a love of rums to fully appreciate it. This might be a year three book. If you're interested in a Tiki drink's history, Beachbum Berry's books would be a better way to go. They go DEEP into the history of Tiki and the history of pre-Tiki. The best part about Smuggler's is that they often times have the best recipes for a given drink and make for a great intro, without going too far into the deep end of the pool on the history. After these essentials, I’d probably go with the vintage books, like The Savoy Cocktail Book by Harry Craddock or other books like that. The vintage books are great and they provide some good insight, but they often times require some translation and interpretation because so much has change between when it was written and now. Measurements could be different. For instance a recipe could call for a pony of this or a wine glass of that or it’s 2/3 one spirit, 1/6 of another, but it also includes specific amounts for other ingredients in the recipe. So, it’s a little tough to wade through those waters. That’s why something as formative as The Savoy, is ranked so low on my list. It’s full of great stuff, but it isn’t always the most accessible. Anyway, I hope that helped. Let me know if you have any questions.
The Simon Ford recipe called for a rim with salt and pepper. I just opted to do it without that. There are endless variations for this drink, but if you want to do the celery salt, go for it. Cheers!
For all my love of all things mixology, I just cannot love this drink. In fact, I loath it. To me, you may as well throw a shot of vodka in a bowl of soup, which is what it tastes like to me. I think my initial experiences with this drink have further tarnished my appreciation for savoury cocktails in general, which I for the most part just cannot get on with. That just might be my sweet tooth though. As ever, you make it look appetising in the extreme and I love the history, but I opt to sit this one out. *sips another negroni*
Haha. Yeah, I wasn't always the biggest fan of this drink. A lot of my friends are though, but for me, it was always about trying to find a good balance with the bold, savory flavors. I dug through a lot of recipes and didn't even get into the other spirits or Clamatos or whatever. Some of them were pretty good, but this recipe finally did it for me. Anyway, I agree. Totally acquired taste.
Same here. I actively dislike tomato juice. Also, I know a lot of people prepare this drink with Clamato, which makes me gag just thinking about it. Great history, though. Another fine episode!
It would be basically this: 36 oz Vodka 72 oz Tomato Juice 12 oz Lemon Juice 2 oz Tabasco 1 oz Worcestershire (salt and pepper to taste) That is a little shy of a gallon, but that allows for easy measurement and for the sherry float, which I would do separately. I would probably batch the non-alcoholic stuff and serve each one at a ratio of 5:2 Mary Mix (3.5 oz) to Vodka (1.5 oz), then float the 0.25 oz sherry on each one. If you wanna make it easier, on yourself or your designated Bloody Bartender, mix the Vodka into the Mary Mix, that way it's just a roughly 5 oz pour of Bloody into an ice filled glass, garnish, 0.25 oz float of sherry. This is easier, but the other way-with the vodka out-you can have more control over the rowdiness level of the party.
Here is the Kitchn article where you can see the reasoning behind 1/5 tsp: www.thekitchn.com/when-it-comes-to-cocktails-whats-in-a-dash-behind-the-bar-218109 However there are apparently measuring spoons that have a dash as 1/8 tsp.
If you want to do 1/5 tsp for a dash then that comes out to 3 oz. 1 dash of tabasco and 1 oz. 3 dashes Worcestershire by my calculations. But if you keep it 2 oz. to 1 oz. then it keeps the same ratio as when it is made a la minute.
Actually, the original Red Snapper, in the 1930's, was made with Vodka because it was just the Bloody Mary rebranded to spare the delicate sensibilities of the guests at the St. Regis. The Gin version of the Red Snapper is theorized to have come about when pre-made Bloody Mary mix came on to the scene in the 1960's. The Red Snapper has become a shorthand for the Gin version of this drink, but originally it was the Vodka version. Cheers!
