As I told you last week, the perfect accompaniment to a great cheese soufflé is a Bloody Mary. The preparation of this one has always fallen into my husband’s hands, so as I’m a bit tied up with gardening and teaching cooking classes this week I’m going to share his version of a Bloody Mary.
The origin of the recipe is a little red volume of Mr. Boston Deluxe Official Bartender’s Guide New Worldwide Edition. It’s another of those little gems that has been in our family since the late 1970’s. The printing we have is the 54th, but the original dates back to 1935, two years after the repeal of prohibition. A pretty busy two years for the Boston Bartender’s school to amass some 600 recipes (the “new” version has over 1000). My husband’s version actually combines ingredients of the Bloody Maria (a tequila based beverage) with the Bloody Mary. I’m not going to vouch for the complete accuracy of all of the measurements because he never measures! However the measurements are close to those found the Mr. Boston and who’s going to argue with 70 years of success.
The special ingredient for this batch is some of my homemade tomato-vegetable juice, but any good quality tomato or tomato-vegetable juice blend is fine.
We mix them directly into the glass which makes it easy to personalize each one. I like mine heavy on tomato and lemon juice. Start with the ice cubes and vodka and then pour in the tomato juice.
Squeeze in some lemon juice and add a splash of Worcestershire sauce.
Top it off with a few drops of hot sauce , a sprinkle of celery salt and a grinding of black pepper.
Give it a good stir with a chopstick and taste to see if you need any adjustments. When you’re happy, insert a stalk of celery. Now all you have to do is wait for the Camembert Soufflé to arrive at the table.
Cheers!
M.B.
Bloody Mary
by: M.A. Einerson
Adapted from Mr. Boston Deluxe Official Bartender’s Guide New Worldwide Edition copyright 1935, 54th printing August 1974 – Cost $2.50
Servings: 1
- Ice cubes
- 1 ½ oz. vodka
- 3 oz. tomato juice, V-8 juice or a combination of the two
- ½ tsp lemon juice
- 1 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce
- 1 to 2 dashes Tabasco sauce
- 1 dash celery salt
- A grinding of black pepper
- 1 small stalk celery with leaves
Fill tall glass (16 oz.) glass ½ to ¾ full of ice cubes. Pour in vodka and add tomato juice, lemon juice, and the next 5 ingredients. Stir well. A chopstick works well for this job. Garnish with celery.
Cheers!
M.B.
MB's Table 