It’s National Bloody Mary Day!

Bloody hell, it’s National Bloody Mary Day! Invented by bartender Fernand Petiot in 1920’s Paris, this delicious drink was perfected in New York’s St. Regis Hotel in Manhattan in 1933. So to celebrate the concoction’s 75th anniversary, New Yorkers kicked off with a Bloody Mary toast in Times Square this morning.

New York bars are offering give-a-ways and deals on the drink all day long, with TGI Friday’s offering the drink for only 99-cents, the same as its price in 1933. But since you might not live in or anywhere near NYC, here’s my personal recipe for this bloody delicious drink, so you can make your own at home.

Ingredients:

-Tomato juice
-Ice
-Vodka
-Lime/Lemon Juice
-Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce
-Garlic Tabasco sauce
-Habanero Tabasco sauce
-Salt
-Celery salt
-Horseradish
-Onion powder
-Garlic powder
-Black pepper

1. Fill a pint glass or a martini mixer about 3/4 of the way to the top with tomato juice. (This should give you enough for about two drinks.)

2. Add about 1 teaspoon – 1 tablespoon lime juice (depending on flavor preference).

3. Add 2-3 tablespoons Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce, which will add flavor and saltiness.

4. Add a dash each of: salt, celery salt, onion powder, garlic powder and black pepper.

5. Add about half a teaspoon of horseradish.

6. Add 1-3 tablespoons garlic Tobasco sauce (which is slightly less spicy than regular Tobasco) and 1/2-1 tablespoons Habanero Tobasco sauce, to add extra kick.

7. Mix all ingredients very well and taste. Add additional ingredients as necessary, to even out and perfect the flavor.

8. Fill a pint glass most of the way with ice. Add vodka till it fills about 3-inches up the glass.

9. Pour in your Bloody Mary mix into the vodka and ice. Mix well and drink!

*You can add a stalk of celery, if you like – it is traditional. But I hate celery, so I don’t do that.

NOTE: Any good Bloody Mary should be pefected for your personal taste. I like mine spicy, bold and intense, with lots of flavor. If you want to make yours a little less extreme, just reduce the ammounts or leave some of these ingredients out. However, lime/lemon juice, worcestershire sauce, horseradish and Tobasco are all required to make a true Bloody Mary.