Chipotle Bloody Mary

It’s a bank holiday in the UK. It’s cold and raining so we haven’t been out other than to get the newspapers. The boy loves a Bloody Mary and I found this recipe from Tabasco, and thought I would ring the changes. I prefer mine without the vodka. The boy doesn’t.

The recipe uses American cups – UK cups are marginally larger but as you should taste and adjust to you preference to go along, this won’t matter.

¾ cup vodka

3 cups tomato juice

1/3 cup freshly squeezed lime juice

3 ½ tsp Tabasco Chipotle Sauce

1 ½ tsp celery salt

¾ tsp black pepper

Garnish

Lime wedges

Celery stalks

Salt to rim the glasses

This recipe doesn’t need instructions but my thoughts on the ingredients….

Use a good vodka – the boy likes Russian Standard. As this is mostly tomato juice, choose a good brand. Our choice is Libby’s or Princes. Increasingly we like Lidl’s own brand. Del Monte is insipid and a waste of time. Whichever brand, it needs to be “from concentrate” and not freshly pressed for the same reason.

Chipotle is made from smoked jalapeno’s. I make my own chipotle in adobo from dried ones – there is a recipe on here. Tabasco’s version comes in a bigger bottle with a wider opening than their usual red sauce as it is thicker.

Start with getting the glass rims ready. Rub a lime wedge around the rim and dip into a saucer of salt. Our favourite is Fleur Du Sel, a damp salt from Brittany, but a flaky salt would be good too. Cut the celery stalks into a suitable size - they should be thin as well as fairly short.

Mix the Bloody Mary ingredients and pour into a jug. Refrigerate. I don’t hold with ice as it just dilutes it, though it does need to be cold. We have been known to pop a jug into the freezer when we are impatient.

Pour into the salt rimmed glasses and garnish with the celery and a lime wedge.

Consume the newspapers with the boy.

Discuss the world at large.