You could make a bloody mary by mixing together some vodka and mix. But you're better than that. Horseradish, pickle juice (!!), citrus, Worcestershire, hot sauce ... these are all beautiful mixins you should be having fun with come brunch time.
Below is our breakdown of two very popular and extremely different bloody mary recipes. The first comes from Bobby Flay, Food Network star and brunch aficionado. The latter: Carson Daly. According to his wife Siri, this "magical" formula is highly coveted.
BOBBY'S RECIPE
Bobby begins by mudding lemon and lime wedges, horseradish, jalapeño, and salt in the bottom of a pitcher, which sounds lovely. Except that he expects you to do it with ice. Not fun if you're using the kind from a mold. Seriously, be careful, or use crushed ice.
Next, you stir in 2 cups vodka (respect), 3 cups tomato juice, and 1 tablespoon Worcestershire. We're into the idea of using tomato juice as opposed to a mix, however doing so means you should be adding a ton of other flavors. Sadly, the single lemon and solo lime don't really cut it — the bloody mary just tasted like watered down tomato juice.
CARSON'S RECIPE
There's a lot (of very specific stuff) going on here: Ketel One vodka, bloody mary mix (such as Mr and Mrs T), 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce, 1 teaspoon bread-and-butter pickle juice, 1/2 tablespoon horseradish, 3 dashed of hot sauce, 1 mere teaspoon lemon juice, and a pinch each of celery salt and black pepper. Plus, lemon wedges, celery stalks, and BEEF JERKY for garnish. It all works.
There's just enough tang, spice and booze to each sip. Will we bring out our measuring spoons each time we want to make one? NO. Honestly, it could probably use more pickle juice, and I'd like it to be dill, thank you very much. But overall, it's a solid cocktail recipe that you can make as-is and be very happy with.
THE VERDICT
Carson wins! There's way more depth of flavor to his drink, and his technique is nice and easy. Fill a glass with ice and just pour everything in. Between hosting the Today Show in NYC and The Voice in LA, we're not sure when and how he has time to develop awesome recipes, but we're so glad that he does. More plz, Carson.
PRE-ORDER NOWDelish Cookbook, $30, amazon.com
Follow Delish on Instagram.
