This post was originally published on February 20, 2015.
THE BLOODY BULL HAS HORNS! Ah yes, indeed he does. This recipe will tickle your taste buds as you experience flavors ranging from spicy to salty, from orange hints to notes of beef. The Bloody Bull, a twist on the classic Bloody Mary, is made with beef buillon in addition to tomato juice. Some recipes call for half tomato juice, half beef buillon, but I sought to create the mix with a 3:1 ratio of tomato juice to buillon. For an acidic kick, I used orange juice instead of my usual inclusion of lemon and/or lime juice. I read in a somewhat recent article that Dale DeGroff, an original founder of the Museum of the American Cocktail, uses orange juice in his Bloody Bulls to evoke the tastes you find when eating orange beef from a Chinese restaurant. So I took the risk and it was successful.
The Bloody Bull was created in the Big Easy, surprise surprise (New Orleans sure does love their Bloodys…), by Owen Brennan of the original Brennan’s Restaurant. As the Bloody Bull was created in the deep South, I sought to incorporate the flavors of Cajun/Creole cooking by using all of the spices in my house that you would find in a Cajun seasoning mix. Therefore, we see notes of black and cayenne pepper, basil, paprika, and garlic (I, sadly, could not find any oregano or thyme in my spice cabinet and did not want to use salt since buillon itself can be quite salty). And for the burst of spicy hotness? I used horseradish and some New Orleans hot sauce. Funny that this is my first time making a Bloody in years with horseradish For the garnish, I wanted a southern touch to a charcuterie plate on a cocktail pick. That means pickled okra, friends– and cheese, salami, and olives. YUM. For the finishing touch, I placed a beef jerky stick in the glass to use as a stirrer. As many of my other recipes have called for a night or two of infusing in the fridge, The Bloody Bull Has Horns can be created in just minutes. I decided to let the mix sit in the fridge for about an hour before constructing the cocktail, but you can make it instantly, as well.
Check out the recipe for The Bloody Bull Has Horns below.
Ingredients
Mix (makes 2 big Bloodies or 4 small Bloodies)
- 3 cups (24 oz) tomato juice
- 1 cup (8 oz) beef buillon
- 1 tbs orange juice
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp horseradish
- 1 tsp black pepper
- ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
- ¼ tsp dried basil
- ¼ tsp paprika
- ¼ tsp granulated garlic
- dashes of hot sauce
Garnish
- 1 big slice of salami
- 1 pickled okra
- 1 chunk fontina cheese*
- 1 chunk maple smoked cheddar*
- 1 blue cheese stuffed olive
- 2 mazanilla olives
- 1 beef jerky stick
- 1 lemon wedge
*use whatever cheeses you see fit!
Directions
Preparing the Mix
- Pour the tomato juice, beef buillon, and orange juice into a pitcher or sealable container.
- Add the Worcestershire sauce and horseradish to the pitcher.
- Toss in the black pepper, cayenne, dried basil, paprika, and granulated garlic.
- Finish off with some dashes of your favorite Southern-style hot sauce (as many as you want according to what level of spice you like!)
- Place the pitcher in the fridge for an hour or follow through to the next steps immediately.
Constructing The Bloody Bull Has Horns
- Place the pickled okra, a chunk of cheese, the blue cheese stuffed olive, slice of salami, another chunk of cheese, and 2 manzanilla olives on a cocktail pick.
- Move a lemon wedge around the rim of a glass.
- Rim the glass with Tony Chachere or your homemade Cajun seasoning (same as used in the mix, but with the addition of salt).
- Fill a 32 oz jar half full with ice (or smaller glasses if you want to make more than 2 cocktails).
- Pour 3-4 oz of vodka in the jar.
- Pour The Bloody Bull Has Horns mix into the jar.
- Stir.
- Place the cocktail pick with all of the garnishes horizontally on top of the jar.
- Place a lemon wedge on the rim of the glass.
- Toss in the beef jerky stick to use as a stirrer.
- Grab the reins of the bull ‘cause you’re gonna feel really good in a second!!!