Makes 6 servings Tasia Malakasis, proprietor of Belle Chevre Creamery in Elkmont, Alabama, usually welcomes guests to her home with one of two drinks: champagne or a julep. For brunch, though, a Bloody Mary bar lets her guests get their drinks just right. “Everyone is their own Bloody Mary expert,” she says. She prefers hers spicy and in a glass with a salted rim, garnished with lots of pickled things.
Malakasis’s young son learned the first lesson of hospitality at age 4, when his “aunt” Terri taught him to ask guests, “May I offer you a drink?” He repeated the question to everyone who arrived at the house for weeks, a gesture that delighted his “aunt” and chagrined his mother.
BLOODY MARY MIX
4 cups tomato-based vegetable juice blend
¾ cup premium vodka
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Generous shakes of salt and pepper
4 generous dashes Worcestershire sauce
4 generous dashes hot pepper sauce
GARNISHES
Pickled okra
Celery sticks
Fresh horseradish
Pimento-stuffed olives
Lemon or lime wedges
Hot pepper sauce
Combine the vegetable juice, vodka, lemon juice, salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and hot pepper sauce in a large pitcher and mix well. Arrange the okra, celery, horseradish, olives, and lemon in pretty dishes or glasses and set the bottle of hot pepper sauce alongside. Provide tall glasses and ice. Let your guests customize their drinks as desired.
Makes 6 servings