Today is January 1st, or New Years Day as most people in the western world tend to call it. But were you aware that the first day of the new year also happens to be National Bloody Mary Day? I'm not quite sure which nation this applies to, but I'm presuming it’s America as that is apparently where this questionable cocktail was invented. Why questionable, you say? I have always been highly dubious of Bloody Mary cocktails as a drink of choice, to the point where I'm not actually sure if I've actually had one before. It’s more than possible that I have had the odd drunken sip of someone else’s cocktail, but as everyone knows this must always be done when one goes for cocktails with one’s friends, and one must bear in mind that when one elects to go for cocktails with one’s friends, there is a high chance one will have a very sore head and not remember much of it in the morning, until photos surface on the internet the next day...
...and that was before we went out. If we are to presume that I have in fact never really had a Bloody Mary before, why do I have such a deep distrust of them? Well, let us begin with tomato juice. I LOVE tomatoes, whether raw or cooked, cherry or beef, on or off the vine, as a snack on their own or as part of a bigger meal, I think they’re amazing. When I was a kid my dad used to call me the tomato vampire. Yeah. Tomato juice though? Ugh, no thanks. I have half buried memories of being forced to drink disgusting tomato juice that I hated with a passion (and even, horror of horrors, being given it as a treat that I was expected to be grateful for!) and although this was many, many moons ago I remain unimpressed at the prospect of facing it again.
Regarding vodka, there is only one thing I have to say: vodka always ends badly.
So, let’s move onto the garnishes. Notably, celery and shrimp. No token floppy slice of citrus for this cocktail, oh no. Let’s stick some salad and fish in there instead. I have a tempestuous relationship with celery at best. I like the vast majority of produce out there, and it is only the odd vegetable that I don’t get along with. I make an effort to try and conquer all of my fears and aversions as much as possible, but despite my repeated attempts to train myself to like celery, I still hate it. My personal pride won’t allow me to admit I've been bested by a vegetable, so I keep doggedly buying it, biting it and then throwing it away, but in my heart of hearts I know that celery is evil & (pardon my French) can go fuck itself.
So onto shrimp... I'm trying to get over it my natural distaste but I'm still not keen on fish, and I'm not very good with the idea of eating a creatures face. I've had this fear for as long as I can remember - for years as a child, flying in the face of logic (but then, what use do children have for logic?), I flat out refused to eat a Jelly Baby’s face. I would eat the rest of the Jelly Baby quite happily, but not the face. Never the face. I would get very upset if some other family member went to eat my carefully collected Jelly Baby heads as I didn't want them to die. This reaction was prolific enough within the limited social circles of an 8 year old for me to be teased about it to this day. I've come on in leaps and bounds since then (I ate an entire whitebait last year for the first time, and it was quite a milestone for me ^_^) but I'm still not a fan. Furthermore, I would imagine that shrimp has a similar texture to prawn, and the texture of prawns freaks me the hell out.
Now I’ve got all off my personal prejudices off my chest (I know I sound like a massive hater but I am quite a positive person, I promise, I just have strongly held opinions), we can move on. I find it somewhat apt that January 1st is Bloody Mary Day, as traditionally (and I am using nothing but my own personal experience as reference here) it is known for being a good hair of the dog hangover cure. Thinking about it, it is quite possible that more people are hungover on New Year's Day worldwide than any other day of the year. In fact, today is also International Bad Hangover Day, a holiday that people around the world will be celebrating whether they know it or not, as it mostly consists of rolling around in pyjamas nursing your sore head. Even better, there is actually a website to honour this holiday that consists of nothing other than a up to date stream of publicly available tweets with the hashtags #hangover and #hungover. As far as I'm concerned, both the holiday and the website are excellent.
After doing a little research into the Bloody Mary, I’ve discovered the cocktail's supposed origins. There are various slightly different stories, most of which are unsubstantiated , but they mostly seem to agree that the beverage was invented by a bartender called Fernand Petiot, probably at Harry’s New York Bar in Paris circa 1921. This trendy venue was frequented by the likes of Ernest Hemingway during his time in the French capital in the roaring twenties, and referenced in numerous Ian Fleming novels, most notably in For Your Eyes Only as being the place James Bond was drinking the night he lost his virginity.
I have to admit, I watched Woody Allen’s latest film Midnight in Paris quite recently, and I did get a little swept up in the romance of the period. Paris in the twenties seemed to be a hub of creativity, and I was pleasantly surprised to learn that it is from this exciting environment that the Bloody Mary originates. Why is is called the Bloody Mary, though? Well, the most obvious answer would be that the drink was named after Mary I of England, the staunchly Catholic Tudor Queen who earned herself the sobriquet 'Bloody Mary' by the widespread persecution of Protestants during her short reign (1553-1558).
He (Petiot) had no idea that his concoction would become world famous when he agreed with the guy in the bar who suggested he call the drink "Bloody Mary." The patron said it reminded him of the Bucket of Blood Club in Chicago, and a girl he knew there named Mary.
Well, I didn't expect that. As it turns out, this cocktail has got a much more colourful and interesting past than I originally anticipated, and I am definitely willing to put my predispositions aside and give it a go. I will try to be as unbiased as possible...
.JPG)
I opted to forgo the traditional garnishes as it seemed wasteful to pick up a bunch of celery and a packet of shrimp if only one tiny portion of each was going to get used. Therefore I used a slice of lemon as my garnish, as lemon juice is recommended in some recipes. I also added the customary dash of salt and pepper and a reasonable helping of Worcester sauce aka Tabasco sauce for wimps. The result tastes...interesting. It's a cacophony of strong tastes that all fight for dominance in your mouth. I'm not really sure how this drink can be an effective as a hangover cure, unless it it used to induce vomiting from the riot of flavours and how heavily it sits in your stomach. After about 5 mouthfuls I remained unconvinced. To be honest, it felt like I was drinking mildly spicy ketchup, and unfortunately ketchup is pretty much the only other form of tomato I'm not keen on. I tried to persevere, but I had to admit defeat and abandon the attempt after only finishing half of it. Still definitely not the drink for me I'm afraid. Yuk. Maybe next year...
For anyone who would like to celebrate Bloody Mary Day with me, it’s basically just tomato juice and vodka really, but various recipes can be found here.
References
1)Top image of cocktail http://www.lucini.com/recipes/category/breakfast/sensational-bloody-mary
2) Portrait of Queen Mary http://thetudorenthusiast.weebly.com/1/post/2012/07/mary-tudor-becomes-queen-of-england.html
3) Name origin quote http://www.bestbloodymary.com/history.php
No comments:
Post a Comment