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This classic Bloody Mary recipe probably dates back to the 1920s. Ever since then, bartenders have been working to improve it, and there are some fantastic variations out there.

This is the simple, no-frills classic version of the recipe. But feel free to dress it up as much or as little as you want.

Some people would tell you the Bloody Mary is all about the garnish. And you can and should have a ton of fun with the garnish. You can add meat and veggies of all sorts.

But the original just called for a stalk of celery, and there’s something classic about the look of it.

Fancy garnish really is so much fun for this drink. But before you play with the garnish, you want to master the flavor of the actual tomato juice mix.

Here it is, pictured with celery, bacon, a gherkin pickle, an olive, a cherry tomato and a celery salt rim. Which almost makes it lunch.

Get more ideas about savory garnishes for the Bloody Mary!

The taste of this drink is really all about how you season the tomato juice. That’s what you want to get just right.

This classic Bloody Mary  is pretty straightforward. It’s the best recipe to start with, and from there, you can tweak it to make your own signature version of it.

Signature tweaks

So how do you go about creating your own special version of the tomato juice mixture for a Bloody Mary? Start with little changes and work your way up to bigger ones.

For example, experiment with the measurements for the hot sauce and Worcestershire sauce. You may like it more spicy (more Tobasco) or more savory (more Worcestershire), so try a few combinations to get the levels of spicy and savory just the way you like them.

You can also try different brands of hot sauce. For example, Tapatio is a little more spicy and tangy than Tobasco, with a wonderful robust flavor that you may actually prefer.

One of our top suggestions is to add beef stock or beef bullion to the tomato juice. It makes the drink more hearty,  almost like a beefy tomato stew. This is especially great in wintertime – sometimes in hot weather, you just want the light, bright flavor of tomato juice.

We recommend Knorr beef bullion in powder form because this stuff has so much yummy au jus flavor. A little goes a long way, and a whole cube in a single Bloody Mary would knock you over.

The trick is to add a small amount of the powder – maybe just an eighth of a teaspoon at first – and taste it. Add a little more and a little more until you find just the balance you like.

You can also add a dash or two of soy sauce. And by soy sauce, we mean the real stuff – brewed and aged, and tasting nothing like the stuff in bottles at the sushi bar. We recommend Eden Organics Shoyu sauce, and not too much of it.

Again, you want to add a dash at a time and taste. This soy sauce has a lot more flavor than you’re used to compared to normal soy sauce.

Another delicious option is horseradish. Again, a little goes a long way, so start small. This horseradish sauce is extra spicy and doesn’t have as many additives and filler ingredients as most.

You can also try lime juice in place of lemon juice. Try anything that comes to mind and sounds good. It’s a drink that’s hard to perfect, but even harder to ruin. Even garlic works in this drink, if you’re a garlic lover.

Extra celery salt can be a nice touch, too. You can also make a celery salt rim (here’s how to rim a glass), or mix celery salt and chili powder together for a salty-spicy rim.

This is also one of the all-time great cocktails to serve Virgin style. The Virgin Mary tastes almost exactly the same, just without the vodka. That makes it a great option when you’re entertaining drinking as well as non-drinking guests.

Both the Bloody Mary and the Virgin Mary are perfect for brunch and even breakfast, or breakfast-for-dinner, which is just breakfast food like pancakes, eggs and bacon eaten later in the day.

It also tastes great with egg dishes, such as omelets and scrambles, or even quiche. Try it with this Spinach and Bacon Omelet from Valentina’s Corner for a hearty breakfast. The smoky and savory flavors of the bacon and spinach will bring out all the wonderful seasonings in your Bloody Mary.

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