Bloody Mary

Nylon Magazine features a new drink each month. It’s a clever way to get additional advertising dollars since they’re always pushing someone’s alcoholic product in each recipe. This past month they featured a Bloody Mary Martini, which looked not so much as if it will cure your hangover as it will create a new one. So, we included that recipe as well as an actual Bloody Mary — plus a short history behind the name.

Today is Friday the 13th so we thought it fitting to have something spooky/gory and there used to be some mirror game when we were kids where you would say “Bloody Mary” three times into the mirror and something horrible or spooky was supposed to happen. I don’t know what since I got scared and stopped at two times. We also thought it fitting to finish the week with a Bloody Mary since only ONE of our recipes was non-alcoholic.

The name. Wikipedia claims that there are a few Mary’s ascribed to the drink, Queen Mary I of England, the actress, Mary Pickford and some random Chicago waitress named Mary who worked at the Bucket of Blood bar — how delightful. My money is on poor Queen Mary, Henry VIII’s eldest child. Here’s my logic:

She died without any heirs after several miscarriages. Her Spanish husband really didn’t love her and her newly protestant subjects never quite forgave her for burning 300 of them at the stake during the Marian Persecutions. Mary actually killed less of her subjects than her younger sister, Elizabeth I, eventually did. But, English protestants at that time were not that fond of Catholics and Elizabeth just killed Catholics so the majority of her subjects didn’t mind. Isn’t that so kind of them?

The drink. According to Wikipedia, it was invented by actor George Jessel in 1939 and perfected by a barman named Fernand Petiot:

“I initiated the Bloody Mary of today,” he told us. “Jessel said he created it, but it was really nothing but vodka and tomato juice when I took it over. I cover the bottom of the shaker with four large dashes of salt, two dashes of black pepper, two dashes of cayenne pepper, and a layer of Worcestershire sauce; I then add a dash of lemon juice and some cracked ice, put in two ounces of vodka and two ounces of thick tomato juice, shake, strain, and pour. We serve a hundred to a hundred and fifty Bloody Marys a day here in the King Cole Room and in the other restaurants and the banquet rooms.”

We’re not saying you should subscribe to the magazine purely for the drink of the month but if you’re a Fun, you might really enjoy the monthly recipes AND the magazine. If you’re an old foggy or en route to becoming one, it’ll keep you vibrant and in “the know.” You can get a paper subscription or their iPad version online through www.vinio.com.

Bloody Mary
by the New York School of Bartending courtesy of Wikipedia:

  • 1 oz. to 1½ oz. (30-45 ml) vodka in a highball glass filled with ice.
  • Fill glass with tomato juice
  • 1 dash celery salt
  • 1 dash ground black pepper
  • 1 dash Tabasco sauce
  • 2-4 dashes Worcestershire sauce
  • 1/8 tsp. horseradish (pure, never creamed)
  • Dash of fresh lemon or lime juice

Garnish with celery stalk.

May be shaken vigorously or stirred lazily, as desired. Garnish with a celery stalk; a skewer of olives, pickles, carrots, mushrooms or other vegetables; or even meat or fish (salami, shrimp etc.) and cheese. Occasionally, pickled asparagus spears or pickled beans are also used. [Wow, those random garnishes they suggest in this second paragraph sound gnarly. I would just stick to celery or you’ll frighten your guests.] 

Belvedere Bloody Mary Martini 
(published by Nylon) 

  • 60 ml Belvedere Bloody Mary
  • 6 cherry tomatoes 
  • Dash of lemon juice
  • Optional Tabasco to taste
Muddle tomatoes with lemon juice. 

Add Belvedere Bloody Mary and shake with ice cubes. 
Double strain into a chilled martini glass. 

Garnish with a lemon twist.