Bloody Mary
The quintessential breakfast cocktail makes a meal on its own
If you’re in New Orleans for any length of time, the question will inevitably come up: “Who makes the best Bloody Mary – or Creole Mary – in the city?” The answer will of course depend on how spicy you like it and what kind of accoutrements you prefer.
La Petit Grocery serves their Bloody in a Mason jar with poached shrimp, blue crab claws and house-pickled vegetables. Forget the straw – you’re going to need a fork for many of the Bloody Marys served around town – they don’t accompany breakfast, they are breakfast. Try one out and about and then play bartender at home with the recipe here.
Creole Bloody Mary Recipe
- 1 cup vodka
- 4-1/2 cups chilled tomato juice
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 4-6 dashes Tabasco hot sauce
- Celery salt and black pepper
For garnish: celery stalks and lime slices – and your choice of pickled okra, asparagus, string beans etc...
A footnote: Although the Bloody Mary is thought to have been created in Paris at Harry’s New York Bar in the early 1920s, the invention of Bloody Bull, made with beef bouillon instead of tomato juice, is attributed to Brennan’s circa 1950 in the French Quarter. Try one.