How to Make a Bloody Mary Bar

Carson: Hey guys! It's Carson, I am a radio personality and I love to cook and another thing I love to do occasionally is drink, of course, in moderation and sometimes not so much.

Today, because football season is here, we are making the Ultimate Bloody Mary. Yeah!

As far as our ingredients are concerned, guys, you want to give your guests a variety, a variety of options. I have got a bunch of different kinds of pickles here. These are actually some pickles that I did myself, these are Dill-pickled green beans, you can buy these at a gourmet store or you can pickle them yourself like me. I have got some pickled asparagus. Again, you can buy it at the gourmet store. I have got your basic stuffed olives, Pimiento stuffed olives, you can use garlic stuffed olives, you can use blue cheese stuffed olives, so good. Jalapeno stuffed olives, they are awesome. Of course, I have got your basic dill pickle which is always good.

You can make your own Bloody Mary Mix or you can do like most bartenders do and just find a nice Bloody Mary Mix that's already on the market. It's a lot like barbecue sauce, I don't make my own barbecue sauce; there is hundreds of different kind of barbecue sauce. These people have perfected the barbecue sauce and these people have perfected the Bloody Mary Mix, so I buy a Bloody Mary Mix.

This is a Mr. & Mrs. T's hot and spicy Bloody Mary Mix, which is very nice. This is a Lehmann Farms Caesar Bloody Mary Mix. So, it tastes a little bit like a Caesar salad ans it's really good.

This is one of the things that I have had in my cabinet for a while that has one of the scariest names you have ever heard, Clamado. I think I don't need to elaborate on that. When you are going to a party, don't walk in and say, I have Clamado. It is not a good idea. So, like I said, a lot of companies have perfected the Bloody Mary Mix. So, I get several of them; everything from spicy to mild and I give my guests the option to choose whatever they want. Also, hot sauces. I usually put up about three, four hot sauces because I am a very hot sauce fiend, everything from Chipotle to a mild green Tabasco, to a hot Tabasco, to a Habanero, whatever you want, give your guest an option, a variety of options.

You want to get a decent Vodka, something in the mid-price range. Don't get a really cheap Vodka made in the Shadow of Chernobyl, that's not a good idea, alright. You want to get a decent Vodka but not a really high-end Vodka, save that for your Martini, save that for your Cosmos and the other drinks. The Bloody Mary has a lot of intense flavors and the Vodka will be overpowered by all the spices we are going to put in here. So, get a mid-price Vodka.

Another thing, guys, I want you to notice, I created a tablescape and while I am not an interior decorator, it's actually fairly easy to do and if you like to come along, I will show you how I did it. Alright, so let's peel back the curtain on the illusion of a really cool tablescape, shall we? I grabbed a couple of pieces of cloth that my wife had, this is just a shear piece of cloth and this is a tablecloth and underneath, you will notice, it's a cutting board and boxes of pasta. It creates a nice platform for stuff. Under here, that's just a big stockpot. You will also notice directly in front of me, a 1957 Tudor electronic football game, yeah, this was your dad or your grandpa's PS3. He is going forward! He is across the goal line! Yes! Yes!

Okay, so let's get started and make a Bloody Mary. I have got a pint glass, this is a standard pint glass. You can use a highball glass, you can use another drink glass, you can use a jelly jar, I don't care; I use the pint, it works beautifully.

First thing we are going to do, is we are going to rim the glass with celery salt. Lot of people will put celery salt in or on top of the drink; I actually like to rim the glass like you do in Margarita. Take a little bit of water, I am going to take my glass and put it right there on my celery salt.

Next, we are going to add about half-a-teaspoon of horseradish. This is your basic horseradish, they make a really spicy horseradish, you can use little more horseradish; it depends on how many nose hairs you want to fry out of your head, I like mine spicy.

Next, I am going to add about a teaspoon of Worcestershire. Worcestershire is a wonderful sauce, I don't even know how they make it, doesn't matter, it's awesome.

Now, this is one of my favorite parts; I add a little bit of heat. You can use a Tabasco, you can use a Chipotle, whatever you want to use as far as the hot sauce is concerned, whatever is most flavored for you, because really they compliment tomato very well. I am going to add a little bit of this right here. Oh, little more than a little. Then I am going to add my Vodka. I would use a shot glass but generally, I just go with one part of Vodka, two parts of Bloody Mary Mix, so I am just kind of Iranian. I am going to stir this up, so it's nicely emulsified. Then I add my mix, about two-thirds, there you are. You got to leave rooms to put some ice and you are also going to need room for the trimmings. I like to make my Bloody Mary almost into a salad. What I will do is I will add a little bit of celery, this is always nice, makes you feel like you are being healthy. I am going to add a Dill spear to this one and of course, what Bloody Mary would be complete without a nice couple of olives. There you go, alright. So there you go, guys. You can add your Dill-pickled spears, you can add your pickled asparagus, you can add your regular pickle, whatever you want to put in and it's fine and you have got the Ultimate Bloody Mary. Cheers to you!