Yuzu Kosho Bloody Mary

I love a good Blood Mary. The often spicy tomato juice, the inventive garnishes, the endless variations, the fact it's socially acceptable to drink one any time of the day: there's nothing about it I don't love.

The Bloody Mary in recent years is enjoying a lot of popularity due to the gastropub's love of garnishing it with insanity. These are cocktails meant for Instagram: garnished with burgers, pizza slices, pickles, peppers, cheese, onion rings, french fries, even a whole fried chicken at one establishment. Check out this one from Wisconsin that may be the craziest I've ever seen.

So with a storied history of people fucking around with it, I thought the Bloody Mary could stand if I decided to create my own Bloody Mary with a hapa twist!

Considering that Worcestershire sauce, lemon, and salt are three main ingredients of a classic Bloody Mary, the taste profile isn't too different but still distinctly Japanese American. In my version, the tonkatsu adds a subtle sweetness and twang, the yuzu kosho brings the citrus heat, and of course I had to have some insane garnishes.

In keeping with the hapa theme, I garnished this one with Japanese tsukemono pickles, a SPAM musubi, a chicken katsu musubi, a crab Rangoon, and a celery stick to keep everything healthy.

Yuzu Kosho Bloody Mary
serves 4-6, unless you're thirsty then I ain't judgin'

3 cups of tomato juice
1 cup of shochu (I used Satsuma sweet potato for smoky flavor)
3 tbs of tonkatsu sauce
2 tbs of shiso katsuo ninniku pickling juice*
1 tbs of red yuzu kosho (or more to taste)
shichimi togarashi or Bloody Mary rimming salt

*substitute pickled ginger juice if you'd like a gingery hit, or plain pickle juice if you have access to neither type of tsukemono

Take the yuzu kosho and shochu and mix well until the shochu turns orange and you have dissolved as much as the yuzu kosho as possible, then strain the shochu to remove the large chunks of pepper left behind after mixing. If you want a spicier drink, consider infusing the shochu further by letting this mixture sit for 2-3 days in a sealed mason jar (or other non-reactive container) before straining. Plus then you have yuzu kosho liquor you can use in other drinks!

Mix together the tomato juice, tonkatsu sauce, and pickling juice until combined, then pour in the yuzu kosho shochu. Mix well, and chill while you prepare your glasses. Rub a lemon slice along the rim of your glass and dip in some shichimi togarashi to put a pretty rim on your glass. Next, fill your glasses with ice and top with your bloody mary mix.

To garnish: I used a SPAM musubi, chicken katsu musubi, crab rangoon, shiso katsuo ninniku, and a celery stick. But my friend had the best idea: how about some cute little hot dog octopus? Or some potstickers, some other tsukemono, or even some california rolls! Whatever you can comfortably skewer will work. You could also rein it in a little and go more conservatively with just some pickles and celery as shown above.

See Also:
Umeshu
Ichigoshu
Slow Cooker Mulled Wine