What is the second largest day of food consumption in the United States?

If you answered Super Bowl Sunday, than you know your stuff. According to the USDA this de facto American holiday ranks second only to Thanksgiving in American food consumption.

Typical fare usually includes sausages, chicken, barbecue and all other manner of eats. But when it comes to mixed drinks, the only true Super Bowl cocktail is the classic Bloody Mary. Perhaps this tradition started because originally the Super Bowl was a brunch time event. The first 10 Super Bowls were played late morning or early afternoon, therefore some type of breakfast cocktail was called for since champagne seems somewhat antithetical to football. Can you picture rabid football fans in Viking hats and pirate suits clinking mimosa glasses together after a particularly vicious hit on the opposing quarterback? I don't think so. It was time to send in another classic American cocktail, the Bloody Mary.

I say American, because although the name seems to allude to Mary Queen of Scots, the drink is based on a Mesoamerican staple, the tomato. Discovered in the Aztec capital Tenochtítlan (today's Mexico City) in 1519 by Cortez, the then little yellow fruit was named the pomodoro or golden apple by Italian botanist Pietro Andrea Mattioli after the golden apples of Greek myth. English-speaking countries, however, used the Aztec/Nahuatl word for the fruit, calling it first the tomatl, which is pronounced TOM-a

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TAY, and later tomato.

By the early 1900s the American-born fruit changed size (getting larger) and color (primarily to red) just in time for one enterprising New York bartender named George Jessel — in search for a morning pick-me-up — to mix its juice with vodka, add a lemon and proclaim it the Bloody Mary.

Later, around 1934, a French bartender named Fernand Petiot (working at the American expat bar in Paris, Harry's) added the spices we now associate with the drink. Both men became famous and, after having been interviewed many times over the years by myriad magazines, changed their stories so often that most of the history of this drink (including the origin of the name) has been clouded in hyperbole.

One thing is for sure; if you're going to host your own Super Bowl party this year, then serving Bloody Marys is a must. So depending on what kind of host you are and in keeping with American tradition, here are three versions.

 

RECIPES

Easy Bloody Mary

Best for parties of 15 to 25

2 46-ounce bottles Spicy V8 juice

1 liter pepper vodka

Pour about 14 ounces of juice from each V8 bottle into a large plastic serving pitcher. Add about 8 ounces of vodka to each plastic bottle, adding remaining vodka to juice in plastic pitcher. Refrigerate.

Provide 12-ounce plastic cups and ice to guests. Instruct them to shake mixture before pouring (or stir in the case of the pitcher). Pick the best seat in house, sit back and watch, from pre- to post-game.

Standard Mary

For parties of 6 to 15

2 32-ounce cans good-quality tomato juice (organic is preferred)

10 ounces Worcestershire sauce (Chinese black vinegar is an excellent, usually cheaper, substitution)

1 ounce Tabasco sauce (half a small bottle)

1 teaspoon celery salt

1 tablespoon ground black pepper

1 ounce prepared horseradish

1 ounce bottled lemon juice

2 bunches celery, cleaned and trimmed (about 20 sticks)

1 liter good-quality vodka

Combine first seven ingredients in a large non-reactive bowl and whisk. Transfer mixture to serving pitchers.

Fill 8- to 10-ounce serving glasses with ice. Add 1 1/2 ounces vodka, add Bloody Mary mix (stirring mixture before pouring) then stir drink with a spoon, garnish with celery stick and have plenty of time to watch most of the game.

Bartender geek Bloody Mary

Makes one drink; for parties of 5 or less

1 1/2 ounces premium vodka

1 5 1/2 ounce can of organic tomato juice

1 tablespoon good quality balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon Asian chili sauce

Pinch celery seed

Fresh ground long pepper

1/2 teaspoon fresh grated horseradish

1 lemon wedge (quarter of a lemon)

1 pickled green bean

Combine first seven ingredients in a 16-ounce glass and stir. Squeeze juice from lemon wedge into mixture, discarding fruit. Gently add ice until liquid is half an inch from top of glass, top with silver shaker tin and shake until just combined.

Garnish with pickled bean and repeat for each guest. Game? What game?

 

Jeff Burkhart is an award-winning bartender at a Marin bar/restaurant and an author. His columns appear weekly in Here. Contact him at jeffb@thebarflyonline.com.