Name: Bloody Mary
Prep time: 8 min
Total time: 8 min
Yield: 1 serving
Cuisine: International
Ingredients: 60 ml vodka; 180 ml good tomato juice, well chilled; 2 tsp prepared horseradish; 1 tbsp lemon juice; 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce; 6 dashes hot sauce, such as Tabasco; ¼ tsp celery salt; ¼ tsp coarsely ground black pepper; A pinch of smoked paprika; 1 tbsp celery salt mixed with 1 tsp smoked paprika; 1 lemon wedge; A celery stick with leaves; A lemon wedge, olives and a pickled cucumber; A crisp rasher of bacon, optional

Bloody Mary

Vodka, tomato juice and a long list of savoury seasonings, built in the glass and rolled rather than shaken. The garnish has become a competitive sport, but the drink itself is a matter of balance.

8 min total Serves 1 serving Easy

Make Ahead and Storage

Batch the seasoned tomato mix without vodka up to 3 days ahead; it improves as the horseradish infuses.

How to Make Bloody Mary

Tap a step to highlight it, or turn on Cook Mode for large type and step-by-step focus.

Run the lemon wedge around the outside rim of a tall glass and roll it in the celery salt and paprika mixture. Rim the outside only, so the seasoning does not fall into the drink.
Fill the glass with ice.
In a second glass or a shaker tin, combine the horseradish, lemon juice, Worcestershire, hot sauce, celery salt, pepper and paprika.
Stir them together into a paste so the horseradish disperses.
Add the vodka and stir, then top with the chilled tomato juice.
Roll the drink: pour it back and forth between the two vessels four or five times from a height of about 20 cm.
Taste and adjust — more lemon for brightness, more Worcestershire for depth, more hot sauce for heat.
Pour over the ice in the rimmed glass.
Garnish with the celery stick, lemon, olives, pickle and bacon.

Something wrong or unclear in this recipe? Report a problem with this recipe.

Worth Knowing

Roll, do not shake. Shaking turns tomato juice pale, frothy and thin.
Rim the outside of the glass so the salt does not collapse into the drink and over-season it.
Taste before you pour. Tomato juices vary enormously in salt and acidity.

Why the Method Is What It Is

Rolling — pouring the drink between two vessels — mixes it thoroughly without shaking, which would aerate the tomato juice into a pale, frothy mess. Building the seasonings into the glass before the juice ensures they dissolve rather than sitting on top, and the horseradish needs that contact to bloom.

What to Put Next to It

Brunch — eggs, bacon and toast · Oysters · A morning that needs assistance

The Numbers per Serving

No nutrition figures are given for this recipe: they cannot be worked out reliably from its ingredient list (some ingredient lines cannot be read). Why some recipes have none.

Dairy-Free