How grown up can jelly be?

I used to live in a large group house in DC and every year we would throw a massive Halloween party. We would usually have between 150-200 people show up at this party. So yea. We needed a lot of booze.

One of the housemates was always on Jello shot duty. We’d make a few hundred of them and they were always a big hit.

While it’s pretty quick to mix some booze with some Jello and get a really tasty shot, sometimes you may want to class it up a bit.

When that times comes, ditch the plastic cups, put aside the box mix, and make these suckers.

Lemon Drop Jelly Shots

Yield: 25 shots (8x8 pan)

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes + 6 hours chill time

Ingredients:

Lemon Syrup:
4 large lemons, cut into eighths
2 Cups water
1 1/2 Cups sugar

Shots:
2 Cups lemon Syrup (you may have some left over)
1/2 Cup water
4 envelopes gelatin (1 ounce)
1/2 Cup Triple Sec or Cointreau
1 1/2 Cups vodka
Large raw sugar for garnish

Directions:

1) For syrup, cut lemons into eighths and add to a medium pot along with sugar and water. Put over medium heat.

2) As syrup heats, stir regularly and mash the lemons to get out juice and oils from the rind.

3) Once simmering, stir for 5 minutes and then remove from heat to cool a bit.

4) Strain to remove any lemon pieces.

5) Add water to measured amount of syrup and sprinkle gelatin over the top.

6) Heat mixture over low heat and stir to dissolve gelatin. It might take 5-10 minutes to get it all dissolved.

7) Remove from heat and add in booze.

8) Pour into an 8x8 dish and refrigerate for at least 6 hours.

9) Cut into cubes with a sharp, hot knife (run it under hot water).

10) Serve cubes sprinkled with raw sugar.

Adapted from the Jelly Shot Test Kitchen.

A Lemon Syrup

Most of the bitter-sweet flavor in these jelly shots comes from a strong lemon syrup. The basics are pretty simple. Just lemons and sugar!

Basics.

Cut your lemons into eighths and add them to a medium pot with the sugar. Add the water and put this over medium heat.

This will smell good!

As this gets hot and cooks, use a large spoon or something to mush the lemons down. Try to press out the juice.

If you’re wondering why you can’t just juice the lemons and add the juice it’s because there is tons of wonderful lemon flavor in the rind. As they get hot, they’ll release all sorts of awesome lemon oils that will make your syrup way more flavorful.

So bring this syrup to a simmer, mashing the lemons the whole time, and let it simmer for about five minutes.

You should see something like this!

Ummm... don't stick your finger in this.

Your syrup is done now. I recommend straining it just to get out any lemon bits and then you can immediately use it in your shots!

The Shots!

Instead of Jello, we’re using straight gelatin for these guys. This results in a really firm jelly that tastes exactly like what you put in it.

Oh. And you’ll need some booze!

Lots of gelatin!

Mix the syrup with some water and sprinkle the gelatin over the liquid. Let this sit for a few minutes and the gelatin should start to dissolve.

You’ll need to heat this up ultimately to dissolve all the gelatin. So you can either mix it in a pot over low heat, or mix it in a metal bowl and put the bowl over some simmering water (double boiler) to slowly heat the mixer.

I did it the second way just because I was worried about burning the sugar. You can do it either way though if you’re careful.

Great blooming gelatin!

Note that this is a lot of gelatin. It might take you 5-10 minutes of stirring as the liquid gets hot before all of it is dissolved. Take your time. There’s no rush.

Once all the gelatin is dissolved, pull the jelly mixture off the heat and add your booze!

Important note: Don’t continue to cook or heat the mixture after you add the liquor. Alcohol evaporates really quickly and if you continue to heat it you’ll lose all the punch in the shots!

Once everything is mixed together, you should have this beautiful shimmering liquid that will smell like an alcoholic lemonade stand.

All ready!

Pour this into an 8×8 dish and stick it in the fridge for at least 6 hours. That was enough to get mine to set completely. Ideally you can do overnight, but 6 hours should do the trick.

When cutting the squares, the easiest way to do it is to run your knife under hot water and then it should slice right through the jelly.

You could obviously make these as big or small as you want, but I found that a 5×5 cut, yielding 25 cubes, was a perfect size.

A hot knife is your friend.

I scooped these into some individual mini-cupcake tins and sprinkled them with a good amount of raw sugar.

The shots themselves are pretty tart and lemony (which is good) so the sugar helps cut that a bit.

If you’re curious, I did the math and each of these shots has about 2/3 of an ounce of booze in it. So if you eat three or four of these, it’s basically like having a martini. And you could eat a few of these way faster than you could drink a martini.

So be careful!

But yea. They are tasty and perfect on a hot summer day!

My cure.

Happy 2011 everybody! I hope everyone had a safe and fun night! It’s at least in the realm of possibility that you woke up today with a bit of a headache. At least for me, champagne always gives me killer hangovers.

And this, my friends, is the best cure I know.

I used to bar tend at a spot in DC that offered all-you-can-drink Bloody Marys for brunch. I was determined to make my Bloody Marys from scratch. No mix for me thank you. After a year or so of this, I’m pretty sure I’ve nailed the best Bloody Mary mix you can make. I’d put it up against any store bought mix any day of the week.

I recommend keeping a jar of it on hand if you’re in for a long drinking weekend!

Bloody Marys from Scratch

Yield: 7-8 large drinks

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

46 ounces pure tomato juice. If you use from concentrate, be sure to shake it well.
1 lemon, juice only
2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 Tablespoons Horseradish
1 Tablespoon hot sauce
2 Teaspoons celery salt
1 Tablespoon fresh black pepper
1 Teaspoon kosher salt
Vodka

Garnishes:
Celery
Pickles
Olives
Old Bay
Oysters or Shrimp (Fancy Schmancy)

Directions:

1) Mix all ingredients in a large bowl with a whisk. If you're unsure about an ingredient, add just a bit and taste it. Then add more until you get the flavor you want. Remember that the mix should be pretty strong since it gets diluted with vodka and water from ice.

2) To make a drink, add 1 part vodka to 3-4 parts mix over ice and stir well. Garnish with your choice of garnishes and enjoy!

Making the Mix

Ok. So I claim this as the best Bloody Mary mix out there, but that’s a pretty subjective statement. I like my Bloody Mary’s to be really spicy, really peppery, and have lots of horseradish. If you don’t like those things, then this probably won’t work for you.

A popular ingredient that I don’t add to my mix is clam juice. I’ve found that people are pretty split on it, so it’s something that I add to individual drinks if people like it.

An army of flavor.

Basically, I just pour all this stuff in a large bowl and whisk it well to combine everything. A few tips:

- On the Horseradish, make sure to get just jarred horseradish, NOT horseradish SAUCE. That stuff won’t work. Most supermarkets have grated horseradish next to the pickles and olives or near the mustards.

- If you’re in doubt about one of the ingredients, start with a tiny bit, mix it together and taste it. You can always add more, but it’s impossible to remove it once it’s in there!

- The mix should be almost too strong to drink straight. If you taste it by itself it should be really strong that way when it’s mixed, it still has plenty of flavor. Remember that the mix is going to be diluted by vodka and also water as the ice melts.

You know you’re in business if you can see specks of stuff in your tomato juice.

Specks are good.

Garnishes

Half the fun of Bloody Mary’s is putting in a lot of fun garnishes. Celery is pretty much a given. I’m not sure I would trust a Bloody Mary without celery in it.

I also like a pickle spear and olives in mine, but you can go crazy. One of my favorite variations is to dip the rim of your glass in Old Bay which gives the drink a certain Maryland feel.

If you want to get really high class you could add a shrimp or two to the drink!

My favorite parts.

Mixing the Drink

My general rule for Bloody Mary’s is 1 part vodka to 3-4 parts mix with lots of ice.

You can very much eyeball this, but if you want to be specific, use a shot glass to measure it. Mix all the stuff over ice and give it a good stir.

Add in your garnishes and you’re good to go.

Cure in a glass.

Now, of course, it would be best to have some foresight so you can have this already mixed up when you need it. I usually just pour my mix back into my tomato juice bottle and write over the label.

It should go without saying that a good Bloody Mary goes great with football which also happens to be in season.

Have a great weekend everyone and happy 2011!

Back in the pre-Macheesmo part of my life, I used to be a part-time bartender and it’s still one of my favorite past times to exchange awesome drink recipes with friends or occasionally come up with some of my own.

So pull out your stirrers and glasses and have a happy hour already! (Tuesday happy hours are the best by the way.)

The Cool Tease

Ok. So I changed the name of this drink to be G-rated. Macheesmo is family-friendly after all (as I write about ways to get you tanked.)

Anyway, the real name is “The Rhymes-with-Spock Tease.” I got this recipe from a bachelorette party so that name makes sense I guess. Whatever you call it, it’s very refreshing on a hot summer day.

The G-rated name.

Watch out with these. They are pretty dangerous. You can’t taste the alcohol at all. The fresh ginger and apple juice are a perfect match for each other and the club soda gives it some fix. This drink seriously rocks.

To make it, just rub a sliced lime around the edge of a glass and then dip it in some sugar to give the glass a nice sugar rim. Then grate fresh ginger in the bottom of the glass. Using the back of a spoon or a muddle if you have one, mash the ginger in with the vodka, just to get the flavors together.

Then add ice and enough apple juice to fill a tall glass 3/4 of the way to the top. Top with club soda and serve with a lime wedge!

Coolin' it down.

The Watermelon Julep

I happened to have some watermelon in the fridge and some mint and I figured that if I added a little bourbon I might just have myself something delicious!

This was a very solid drink. And colorful!

Bourbon. Gotta love it.

I don’t really like to give specific proportions on drinks, but I generally assume about a shot or 1 1/2 shots of liquor. For this julep I used a few small pieces of watermelon (take the seeds out obviously) and a few sprigs of mint. Add about a Teaspoon of sugar and mash all that up in the bottom of a glass. I don’t have a muddler so I just use the back of a spoon for this.

This is pre-muddle.

Do you know how to muddle?

After you get all that mixed up, add your bourbon and stir, then the ice, then top with club soda. Its really refreshing and the watermelon and bourbon work really well together.

The Night Cap

The person I learned this recipe from said that it’s best to drink it on the beach, but I kind of love it as dessert for a dinner or as a night cap.

Sleep tight!

So I made this drink a bit more complicated than it needed to be I think. The first time I made it I thought it’d be fun to make a really strong batch of cold-brewed coffee and use that for the drink. When I tried a round using the coffee with a few friends, the consensus was that it was good, but just missing something.

First we tried adding Scotch and that definitely changed the flavor! Not bad but not exactly right.

Then we tried a second batch with Kahlua and it was perfect.

The ratio I used for this drink was 1 part vodka, 1 part Kahlua, 1 part coconut milk, and ice. The liquid part should cover the ice in the blender.

Just blend it up, taste it and adjust to your liking and serve it up!

Coffee is okay. Kahlua is best.

If you aren’t a drinker, you could definitely make the first two drinks virgins. Just leave out the booze and add either more apple juice or watermelon/club soda to each drink. I think the night cap wouldn’t be great without the booze honestly.

Be sure to check back tomorrow for the second leg in the 3×3 Series!

And of course, feel free to share your favorite cocktail recipe in a comment!

If I only knew then what I know now. Turns out you can pretty easily make homemade coffee liqueur that tastes surprising like the brand name stuff!

Recycle!

Thanks to my good friend Donna who gave me this recipe which has apparently been in her family for a good long while. Nice of her to share it.

Homemade Coffee Liqueur

Yield: Makes 10 cups.

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes + 3 week wait

Ingredients:

4 Cups water
4 Cups sugar
2-3 Cups vodka (depending on how potent you want the stuff. Oh... and no need to use Grey Goose for this stuff.)
1/2 Cup dark roast ground coffee (freshly ground is best)
1 whole vanilla bean

Helpful Equipment:
Coffee Grinder

Directions:

1) Measure out vodka and add it to a clean gallon jug.

2) Slice the vanilla bean it open lengthwise and then slide your knife down the inside of the bean. You could also use a spoon to do this. There will be a bunch of tiny crystals that you can scrape out of the bean. Scrape them all into the gallon jug with the vodka! You can also chop up the bean itself into 3 pieces and throw into the jug. No reason wasting a $5 bean.

3) Grind up some coffee. If you don’t have a coffee grinder, it would be worth it to get some fresh ground coffee from the store for this recipe. Since it’s steeping for so long, it’s important to have flavorful and quality coffee.

4) Add the coffee to the jug. Give it a good shake and you’ll have a very dark brew.

5) In a large pot, add water and sugar together and heat it up. Stir it every once in awhile. Once all the sugar is dissolved, let it cool for a few minutes and then add syrupy mixture to the jug!

6) Seal up the jug and let it sit in a cool dark spot for about 3 weeks. It’s a good idea to give it a shake every day or two just to make sure that all the flavors are getting infused.

7) Three weeks later………slowly pour mixture through a colander with a coffee filter inside. Work slowly, it will take some time for the liquid to all filter through and you may need to change your filter a few times as all the grounds accumulate. You can use the same jug or use clean wine bottles.

8) Add a bit of the liqueur to a glass with some ice and a touch of half and half or cream.

To kick off this recipe you need some vodka and a clean gallon jug. I used a plastic water jug that I cleaned out well. It’s very important that it has a lid also because this stuff needs to steep for 3 weeks.

Measure out your vodka and add it to your jug. I went with 3 cups of vodka because it seemed like the right thing to do.

Biggest shot ever.

The flavors

The flavors for this are very simple. There are only two: coffee and vanilla. So it’s really important that you use high quality stuff. This unfortunately means that you need to splurge on real vanilla beans which cost almost more than the vodka. These two beans cost me $10. Don’t worry though, there is a ton of flavor in these guys.

One expensive bean.

To extract all the flavor out of the bean, slice it open lengthwise and then slide your knife down the inside of the bean. You could also use a spoon to do this. There will be a bunch of tiny crystals that you can scrape out of the bean. These are packed with flavor. Scrape them all into the gallon jug with the vodka!

Cool stuff.

Just for good measure, I also chopped up the bean itself into 3 pieces and threw it into the jug. No reason wasting a $5 bean.

Next, grind up some coffee. If you don’t have a coffee grinder, it would be worth it to get some fresh ground coffee from the store for this recipe. Since it’s steeping for so long, it’s important to have flavorful and quality coffee.

Fresh ground coffee.

Add the coffee to your jug. Give it a good shake and you’ll have a very dark brew.

Vodka and flavor.

Making the Simple Syrup

Meanwhile, in a large pot, add your water and sugar together and heat it up. Stir it every once in awhile. Once all the sugar is dissolved, let it cool for a few minutes and then add your syrupy mixture to the jug!

Note that this recipe makes for a fairly sweet final product. I actually think that if I made it again, I might reduce the sugar to 3 1/2 cups.

Add the simple syrup.

The hard part – Waiting

Seal up your jug and let it sit in a cool dark spot for about 3 weeks. It’s a good idea to give it a shake every day or two just to make sure that all the flavors are getting infused.

Filtering the stuff

When you’re ready to finish off your Kah- I mean coffee liqueur, get out a colander with a coffee filter and slowly pour your liqueur through the filter. Work slowly, it will take some time for the liquid to all filter through and you may need to change your filter a few times as all the grounds accumulate.

Three weeks later...

I did my filtering in a few batches, each one taking a few minutes, and resulting in this beautiful richly colored liquid.

Liquid gold!

You could of course store your coffee liqueur in the same plastic jug you used to steep it, but I washed out a few wine bottles and stored it in those. Keeps like a charm for a very long time.

When you’re ready for a nightcap or feel the need for a Big Lebowski session, just add a bit of the liqueur to a glass with some ice and a touch of half and half or cream.

The Dude abides.

So good.

I actually found that mine was best after the ice melted a bit, which I think means that my mix was a bit sweet for my tastes. It’s all relative though and the drink gets less sweet as the ice melts so I would rather have it be too sweet than not sweet enough.

This was a really fun project and took no time at all to actually make, but I will say that the waiting was rather painful. It was like waiting for Christmas.

To kick things off, I made this sweet and very orange cordial: The Candy Corn Martini!

Kind of sweet for my tastes...

Ok. So I’m really not big on sweet cocktails and so I didn’t love this specific drink because as you can imagine, it is really sweet. But it’s pretty and very orange and I think I maybe didn’t put in enough lemon juice to balance the sweetness.

Candy Corn Martini

Yield: 4 martinis

Prep Time: 15 minutes + Time for Candy Corn Vodka

Total Time: 15 minutes + Time for Candy Corn Vodka

Ingredients:

Candy Corn Syrup:
3/4 Cup vodka (you can use the cheap stuff for this)
1/4 Cup candy corn

Final drink:
3 parts candy corn vodka
1 part orange liquor (triple sec)
1 part lemon juice
1/2 egg white (I used one egg white per two cocktails. This is optional, but the egg white does make for a very frothy and delicious final drink.)

Helpful Equipment:
Cocktail Shaker

Directions:

1) Add vodka and candy corn into a vessel of some sort, cover it, and let it sit for about 2 or 3 hours.

2) Strain vodka before making the drink just because there may be a few bits of undissolved candy corns.

3) Add some ice cubes to cocktail shaker, then add a few ounces of the candy corn vodka. If you aren’t comfortable with guessing at mixology, I would start with 1/4 cup of vodka.

4) Assuming you added 1/4 cup of the vodka, go with 1.5 Tablespoons lemon juice (fresh is best), 1.5 Tablespoons orange liquor, and 1/2 of an egg white. Add all that stuff to your cocktail shaker!

5) Because of the egg thing, it’s easier to make two cocktails at once in a larger shaker so you don’t have to divide an egg white.

6) Once all of that is in the shaker, just shake if up for 30 seconds or so until it is super-chilled and frothy! Pour it into a martini glass and garnish with a few candy corns!

From a Food Network recipe.

Making the Candy Corn Vodka

So it turns out that candy corn dissolves in vodka. That makes it pretty easy to get that very signature, sugary flavor infused with the vodka. All you have to do is add your vodka and candy corn into a vessel of some sort and let it sit for about 2 or 3 hours. It’s probably a good idea to cover it just so stuff doesn’t get in it.

Kind of odd.

After the few hours of sitting, all that awesome orange color will be dissolved in the vodka!

Whoa!

I’d recommend straining your vodka before making the drink just because there may be a few bits of undissolved candy corns.

Mixing up the drink

Add some ice cubes to your cocktail shaker, then add a few ounces of the candy corn vodka. If you aren’t comfortable with guessing at mixology, I would start with 1/4 cup of vodka.

You’ll need these ingredients also!

You could not use the egg white if that is worrisome for you.

Cocktails are usually given in proportions (as I listed it above) that way you can make as much as you want! Assuming you added 1/4 cup of the vodka, go with 1.5 Tablespoons lemon juice (fresh is best), 1.5 Tablespoons orange liquor, and 1/2 of an egg white. Add all that stuff to your cocktail shaker!

Because of the egg thing, it’s easier to make two cocktails at once in a larger shaker so you don’t have to divide an egg white.

Anyway, once all of that is in the shaker, just shake if up for 20 seconds or so until it is super-chilled and frothy! Pour it into a martini glass and garnish with a few candy corns!

Like I said, I’m not one for sweet drinks really so this wasn’t my favorite. Also, I didn’t use enough lemon juice when I made it so it was really really sweet. Be sure to taste it as you go though and adjust to your tastes.

Honestly, I think that this mixture might be better as shots instead of martinis! A full drink of it is almost too much, but it would be cool to have it as a shooter!

10 Other Drinks! Ok. So if candy corn isn’t your thing, I didn’t want to leave you high and dry for Halloween! Here’s 10 links to a variety of drinks that I think would be great for a Halloween Happy Hour.

Witch’s Brew – A pretty good looking lime punch. You can probably fore-go some of the kitschy Sandra Lee decorations. You could also leave out the vodka and add more water (or Sprite) to make a non-alcoholic version. (@ Food Network)

Slime Rickey – The grapes look creepy! I love it. Also, I’m not the only one who digs the candy corn cordial idea. (@ Yum Sugar)

Blood and Bones – I love a good meringue and the hot chocolate recipe looks great! (@ Joy the Baker)

Maggotini – Now this is my kind of drink! Not because of the maggot factor, but because I enjoy gin. (@ Talk of Tomatoes)

Satan’s Whiskers – One more gin based drink, but this one has some interesting flavors going on. Not sure what makes it Halloween-ready besides the name, but it does look tasty! (@ Serious Eats)

Eyeball Highball – Ok. Maybe the most realistic cocktail I’ve seen. It looks pretty real if you ask me. (@ Martha)

Bloody Apple Cranberry Cocktails – An easy recipe that can be made in bulk for a party! (@ The Cooking Photographer)

The Warlock – This drink has some interesting ingredients that you may not know. No better time than Halloween to try out some new beverages! (@ Al Dente)

Pumpkin Cocktail – Get on this one today if you want to have it ready by Saturday! You need to let the vodka infuse with pumpkin for at least a few days. (@ Slashfood)

Blood Orange Cocktail – So this is exactly a Halloween specific recipe, but it has blood in the title! And it’s an awesome color! (@ The Hungry Mouse)

That’s a start, but my hunt for good Halloween cocktails is far from over. Have a favorite? Leave a comment!

I confirmed a few things last Saturday night:

1) Never, ever start a land war in Asia. You will LOSE THE GAME.

2) Sangria is really good. Especially white sangria in the summer.

3) The sangria recipe below is not intended for two people unless you don’t mind being bedridden the next day.

Here's to a good night!

The thing I don’t like about some white sangrias is that they end up being really sweet. If you look up other recipes, a fair number of them have simple syrup in them which I don’t really like to add to mine. I think it makes it too sweet and less boozy and who wants that?

So let’s make some the real way.

White Sangria

Yield: Serves 6.

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

1 bottle white wine. I used a pinot grigio.
1/2 Cup Citron vodka
1/2 Cup Peach brandy
1 peach, peeled, diced
1 apple, peeled, diced
2 plums, diced (skin is cool)
Handful of grapes, halved
1/4 Cup orange juice
Sparkling water (club soda)

Directions:

1) Peel the peach and apple.

2) Chop fruit into about 1/4 inch cubes.

3) Mix peach brandy and citron vodka together. If you want your fruit to be really tasty though, mix your vodka and peach brandy with your fruit and let that sit for about 30 minutes. You could let it sit for an hour or two though without a problem.

4) Mix fruit mixture, white wine, and orange juice in a large pitcher.

5) In each glass add a few ice cubes, pour in some of sangria mixture and then top with a splash of club soda or sparkling water.

Prepping the fruit

There’s a lot of fruit in this recipe. I like to pretend that I’m being healthy while getting drunk. I think you should do the same.

Healthy!

I peeled the peach and apple just because the skin on those can be kind of cumbersome. I got a bit lucky with my apple peelings. I couldn’t replicate this if you paid me:

First try.

For this recipe, chop your fruit into about 1/4 inch cubes. For the record, you don’t need to use all the fruit I used. I just really like to eat the fruit when it is all booze filled. Call me crazy but I find it delicious.

If you do you all the fruit that I did, you’ll end up with a bowl like this.

Fruit.

So some sangria recipes call for simple syrup which is basically sugar and water. For this recipe I substituted that for peach brandy which is sweet enough but has peach flavor and alcohol. Basically it’s an all around win.

Instead of adding lemon or lime juice, I added some citron vodka which gives the sangria a necessary bite.

Fruit next to booze.

Now it would be fine to mix all these things together and let them mingle for an hour or two. If you want your fruit to be really tasty though, mix your vodka and peach brandy with your fruit and let that sit for about 30 minutes. You could let it sit for an hour or two though without a problem.

Fruit in the booze.

After that, basically just mix your fruit mixture, your white wine, and orange juice in a large picture.

In each glass add a few ice cubes, pour in some of your sangria mixture and then top with a splash of club soda or sparkling water.

Whatever you do, don’t drink this (and eat all the fruit) between two people. It’s seriously a bad idea.

Hangover in a pitcher.

In all reality though, this is an amazing sangria recipe. I highly recommend it.

Feel free to substitute liberally for fruit additions and white wine varieties.

If you have some good suggestions, leave a comment!

I really really love these.

We’ll get to the benedicts later. First, let’s talk about the drink because your guests will be thirsty while they wait for you to make the meal.

A few years ago, I used to moonlight as a bartender and my favorite shift I would work was Sunday brunch. In general, people are always in a good mood for brunch and the restaurant I happened to work at had a bottomless mimosa/bloody mary deal that was huge hit. After working that shift for about a year, I got pretty darn good at making various versions of bloody marys.

Turns out the recipe for a stellar bloody mary can vary greatly. My very few rules are:

- Don’t use a mix dude. Use real tomato juice. Most mixes suck.
- I think heat is important. Make it spicier than you would think because it will get diluted.
- Make sure your acids balance. This usually means adding something like lemon juice.
- Don’t overdo it on the extras. Sometimes I’ve had bloody marys that have so much stuff in them they just taste like CRAZYTOWN.

What you need for a bloody.

Here is the recipe I used for this round of Bloodys.

A Bloody Mary Recipe (makes 4-6 drinks)

- 32 ounces tomato juice
- 2 Tablespoons horseradish
- 2 Tablespoons hot sauce, adjust accordingly
- 1 Tablespoon celery salt
- 1 lemon, juice only
- Salt and pepper to taste

Now that is just a base, but basically, just mix all of that together and feel free to add more of any of the ingredients depending on your taste. Some other things you might consider adding (although I wouldn’t recommend adding them all at once): Old Bay seasoning, Worcestershire sauce, or clam juice just to name a few.

Action shot!

I usually use Tabasco for my bloody marys, but I was out this time so I tried Frank’s Red Hot. The problem is that Frank’s just doesn’t quite have the heat I wanted. Don’t get me wrong, I love Frank’s, but I need some more spice.

I added a few shots of this to the mix to spice it up a bit more.

BAM.

You can make this mix even a week before you are ready to use it. Just make sure you relabel the bottle so people don’t think they are getting tomato juice. There is no vodka in this yet, just the mix.

The mix.

For the end drink, I use about a shot and a half to two shots of vodka per 6 ounces of mix. But use your own judgment depending on what kind of a Sunday you want to have. Need a good garnish? Try: olives, celery, cucumber, oyster… anything else?

Good way to start the day!

Ok. Let’s talk about the eating part of this brunch. So there are four basic parts to a good egg Benedict and we will handle them in turn.

The English Muffin. I always toast my English muffin for a Benedict. For this round I also made them, but buying them is perfectly fine. It is definitely not essential to make them.

The Filling. Normally, the thing between the muffin and the egg is a thick slice of ham. I definitely like that, but there are tons of other things you can use. For these versions, I used bacon and sauteed spinach. The key thing about the filling is that you don’t need too much of it. You don’t want it to overflow.

For the spinach, I sauteed it in a tablespoon of oil for a few minutes until it wilted and turned bright green. Then remove it from the heat right away.

This part is easy.

The hollandaise. Eggs Benedict is simply not good without a good hollandaise sauce. That’s just my personal opinion. And frankly, I think that a lot of restaurants don’t make the best hollandaise sauce and with reason. It is hard to keep it good for hours. It’s best within 30 minutes or so of making it.

So let’s make it. These are the things we will need.

The start of something beautiful.

The standard recipe I used I got from Ratio, although I simplified it a little bit.

Basic Hollandaise (Makes enough for 5 plates of benedicts.)

- 1 Tablespoon cider vinegar (I added this because of the Ratio recipe and it was good, but I’ve made it without this also.)
- 2 egg yolks
- 2 1/2 sticks butter, melted
- Pinch of salt
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
- Pinch of Cayenne (optional)

Start by making a basic double boiler. Fill a medium sized pan with water and get it boiling and then place a metal bowl over the pan. If you don’t have a double boiler setup you can make this directly on the stovetop, but just make sure you keep the heat on low and watch it very carefully. It is very difficult to do without a double boiler though.

Add your cider vinegar, salt, and egg yolks to the top pan of your double boiler and whisk together. Keep whisking! After a few minutes it will start to steam a bit and foam up. Once the yolk mixture triples in volume (it will do that very quickly), start drizzling in your melted butter, whisking the entire time.

The butter should emulsify with the yolks perfectly. If the mixture starts separating, take it off the heat and whisk continuously. If it starts to coagulate, add a few drops of water. I think you’ll be surprised at how easy it is to make though. At the very end, add your lemon juice and cayenne and whisk until it is silky and thick.

If you aren’t using it immediately, turn off the heat and you can keep the sauce on the double boiler for 30 minutes or so without a problem. Whisk it every 10 minutes or so just to make sure it stays together.

The eggs. I’m also a purist when it comes to eggs on a Benedict. I’ve seen fried eggs and scrambled eggs, but a runny poached egg is the only way for me. I’ve talked about how to make poached eggs before, so check out this post if you need some help on how to make them. HINT: You don’t need one of those fancy poaching dishes. All you need is a pot, some water, and some vinegar.

Then all you have to do is slap it all together!

The bacon version.

I guess this is kind of an advanced meal, but if you take it one thing at a time, it is very doable. And very delicious. I love make a few different fillings and giving people options.

Mid brunch action shot.

Obviously, this isn’t the healthiest brunch ever, but if made correctly, I think it is worth every calorie.

This was my second helping.

So, make the bloody mary’s from scratch. It is very doable. Once you have some liquid courage, give the benedicts a shot. Honestly, even if you don’t get it perfect, it will still be better than most that you find in a restaurant these days.