Brown - Bloody mary book - re-inventing a classic cocktail

Copyright 2017 by Ellen Brown

Photographs 2017 by Steve Legato

: Courtesy of The St. Regis New York

Published by Running Press,

An Imprint of Perseus Books, LLC,

A Subsidiary of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

All rights reserved under the Pan-American and International Copyright Conventions

This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or hereafter invented, without written permission from the publisher.

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ISBN 978-0-7624-6167-7

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016962307

E-book ISBN 978-0-7624-6168-4

Digit on the right indicates the number of this printing

Design by Joshua McDonnell

Edited by Kristen Green Wiewora

Typography: Brandon, Bembo, and Harman

Food Stylist: Anna Hampton (back cover and interior)

Food Stylist: Mariana Velasquez (front cover)

Prop Stylist: Kristi Hunter

Running Press Book Publishers

2300 Chestnut Street

Philadelphia, PA 19103-4371

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E3-20170324-JV-NF

While writing a book and developing recipes are solitary endeavors, transforming them into an exciting book certainly takes a village or two. My thanks go:

To Kristen Green Wiewora, editor extraordinaire, for appreciating that Bloody Mary variations really do need recipes, as well as yummy foods to serve with them.

To Joshua McDonnell, the talented designer at Running Press who created the dramatic look of these photos, and whose design makes this book a delight to read.

To Steve Legato, whose talent as a food photographer is only matched by his great taste in jazz.

To Anna Hampton, the gifted food stylist who made all of these libations and nibbles come alive for photography, and her assistant (as well as husband) Rob Hampton.

To Kristi Hunter, whose role of prop stylist included dozens and dozens of various glasses.

To Ed Claflin, my agent, for his constant support, encouragement, and humor.

To my dear family for their love and support, especially to Nancy and Walter Dubler; Ariela Dubler; Jesse Furman; Ilan, Mira, and Lev Dubler-Furman; Joshua Dubler; Lisa Cerami; Zahir and Charlie Cerami; David Krimm and Peter Bradley.

To many friends who enthusiastically volunteered to be taste testers and provided moral support, including Constance Brown, Kenn Speiser, Fox Wetle, Richard Besdine, Vicki Veh, Joe Chazan, Kim Montour, Nick Brown, Bruce Tillinghast, Sylvia Brown, Andrew West, and Bob Oates.

And to Patches and Rufous, my wonderful feline companions, who kept me company from their perches in the office and endorsed all the fish and seafood snacks when permitted.

Id much rather savor savories than swoon on sweets. Given the choice, Id pack potato chips into my piehole long before pie. And thats why I love Bloody Marys.

Therein one frosty glassalmost all of my favorite food groups are represented. Salty? Yup, and that makes the brain release oxytocin, a hormone also triggered by sexual satisfaction. Spicy? In at least three ways if you count ground pepper and hot red pepper sauce as two and then add in horseradish for good measure. Something sour like lemon juice or pickle brine to make my lips pucker? You betcha! And then theres the base. Its tomatoat least most of the timewhich is my favorite fruit juice.

If you pick your garnishes wisely you can include another important food: fat. A strip of crisp bacon laid across the top of a glass or a skewer of grilled sausage adds additional salt plus fat. And if you want to consider your garnishes healthy, the Bloody Mary and tuna fish salad are the two justifications for the existence of celery as a food.

Theres culinary artistry that goes into creating a world-class Bloody. You dont just pour in two fingers of bourbon, add ice cubes, and top it with a splash of branch water. A great Bloody Mary has a distinctive flavor profile; there are layers upon layers of flavors that play off of each other and build to a crescendo of happiness. The drink is balanced like a masterful sauce.

Bloody Marys require a recipe. A description is hardly sufficient. Ratios dont do the trick because there are too many ingredients for four-to-one to have any meaning. In fact, Ill go so far as to assert that bad cooks cant invent a great Bloody Mary.

Bloody Marys can elicit snickers in some circles because theyve so often been identified as a remedy for a hangover. Hangover libations are nothing new; back in the Middle Ages they drank a raw egg mixed into beer with lots of black pepper. We could say that the Bloody Mary is a new kid on the block because tomatoes were considered poisonous until the eighteenth century.

There are many nutrients in a traditional Bloody Mary. Salt and spices replace lost electrolytes, while the vitamin C, vitamin B6, and lycopene ease the havoc that overindulgence has wrought on the body.

Then, of course, theres a bit of alcohol. But theres no consensus within the medical community if that brings help or harm to the situation. Many scientists believe youre better off with the Virgin Mary.

My association with Bloody Marys is not as a curative, but rather as a festive beverage to share with convivial friends around a table. Its the best drink to pair with many of my favorite foods, most of which are served in the morning or at midday.

A plate of eggs Benedict topped with a rich hollandaise sauce, crpes stuffed with shrimp curry, or a Western omelet dotted with bits of ham, onion, and bell pepper go with a Bloody Mary the way rack of lamb pairs with an aged Bordeaux. It cant be beaten. A mimosa or screwdriver just doesnt compare.

A basket of tender and flaky biscuits right out of the oven begs for something spicy to perk the palate, or if its somewhat later in the day, you cant beat a Bloody Mary as the perfect drink with herbed focaccia or a plate of deviled eggs.

This book starts with the classics, because, as with music, you really have to master those before you can move on to improvisational jazz. There are recipes for a wide spectrum of traditional Bloody Mary mixes, and theres even a section on the best-tasting bottled versions. One of the trends today is flavored vodka, which is easy to make as a DIY project using real ingredients. You can infuse your booze with everything from citrus fruits to something as unexpected as smoky bacon, and youll learn how .

What follows are two chapters of Bloody Mary recipes that may have certain ingredients recognizable from or related to a traditional Bloody Mary, but that take off in different directions. In them are crystal clear but still taste like a Bloody Mary. Its not alchemy; its called careful straining. Interspersed with the drinks are easy-to-prepare recipes for bar snacks, because all sipping goes better with something to nosh.

The book concludes with a chapter on garnishes. Although the basic recipes have changed little in what is almost a century of sipping, the presentation of the drink has gone from minimalist to massive. Garnishes with the heft of Mount Rushmore of have replaced the traditional celery stick and lemon wedge: think gingery pickled carrots, maple bacon, and cubes of marinated ceviche.