The Ultimate Hairy Dog
Hairy Dogs and all That
(These words were written at Christmas time!)
‘Tis soon the season to be jolly and we will all, well most of us, be nursing a hangover of some magnitude at some point and will be looking for that all important magical cure to bring us back into the land of the living before embarking on the next episode of frivolity and alcohol induced fun.
The answer is surely the ‘hair of the dog’! Of course this comes in many guises dependent on your preference but it has to be said the supreme ‘hair’ is the classic Bloody Mary and you can certainly excuse yourself from being a complete drunk by engaging in this traditional pick me up as it has such medicinal properties.
The basic Bloody Mary is vodka, tomato juice, Worcestershire sauce and Tabasco garnished with a resplendent stick of good old celery. There are of course a plethora of variants to this wonderful pick me up.
So what are the medicinal properties? Well, tomatoes contain lycopene which is known to protect against breast cancer and research has also shown that men eating around eight tomatoes a day have a much lower incidence of prostate cancer. Tomatoes are, furthermore, rich in the protective antioxidant betacarotene, which the body turns into life-prolonging vitamin A, and they have vitamins C and E, essential for a healthy heart, circulation and immune system. The low levels of sodium and high levels of potassium in tomatoes means that they aid in the prevention of high blood pressure and fluid retention.
Hurray! We are being health conscious with every sip we take, but evidently the benefits don’t stop there! Tabasco sauce can increase metabolism and fat-burning ability by up to 25% and should you choose to add a smidge of horseradish to heat things up a bit it acts as a digestive stimulant, fabulous! And lastly, Vodka is perhaps the purest of spirits, and therefore not likely to induce the hangover effects, because who wants another one? It would be a perpetual circle of dogs and hairs otherwise!
How to make your Bloody Mary. To make a jug of Bloody Mary’s take a big jug and put loads of ice in it. Mix 1 pint good vodka and an equal amount of chilled tomato juice, or Clamato juice (clams and tomatoes) if you want to be posh! Add a table spoon full of Worcester Sauce. Stir. Then add a squeeze of fresh squeezed lime juice. Stir. Then add small amounts of celery salt, cayenne pepper, black pepper. Keep on stirring and taste it to see how it is doing. If you get it too powerful weaken with more tomato juice, however if it lacks punch add more vodka, duh!
Bloody Mary, great name but where does it originate from? One story is that Fernand Petiot, an American who bartended at Harry’s New York Bar in Paris in the ‘20’s, is the famed inventor of the legendary Bloody Mary, that when he mixed tomato juice and vodka, a patron suggested that the drink be named the Bloody Mary, because it was reminiscent of the Bucket of Blood Club in Chicago, and a girl there named Mary. Another account is that the drink is named after the lovely Bloody Mary herself, Queen Mary I, famous for her persecution of the Protestants.
Whatever the origins of the drink, it quickly became popular back in the US when Petiot began bartending at the St. Regis Hotel, and spiced it up for his classy New York clientele. However, on returning to the US Petiot thought the name Bloody Mary too offensive for his customers so he renamed it a Red Snapper, but soon other barmen were serving Bloody Mary’s so he reverted to its original name!
Lastly, a few Bloody Mary Rules (which I pinched from somewhere else but feel are pretty pertinent):
- If there’s any debate over whether a Bloody Mary is the appropriate drink to order, it is.
- If there’s any debate over whether to order a second one, order a second one.
- Find a barman who makes a good Bloody Mary, return frequently.
- Eleven a.m. is the perfect time for the first Bloody Mary of the day. Ten is also good. So is nine. And noon. As are all other times of the day.
- A good Bloody Mary should be hot enough to clear your nasal passages.
- The single celery stalk is the conventional garnish; an asparagus spear is far classier!
- Disregard all rules, recipes, suggestions and advice rather than go without!
Happy Hangovers!
