Bloody Mary Shrimp

I know y’all like detailed history lessons and such, but I’m busy this week and you’re just going to have to make do with the condensed version. Here it is: bloody marys have been around since the 1920s; they were probably invented by Fernand Petiot at Harry’s Bar in Paris; Hemingway drank a bunch of them; everybody you know likes them now.

Fast forward to the 2020s: down here we aren’t really into this whole bigger-is-better, crazy bloody mary garnish movement you see on Pinterest. After all, that’s a lot of trouble to pull off. Celery? Yes. Dilly beans? Yes. Pickled okra? Of course. But we’re way too laid back to skewer a fried whole chicken–plus heaven knows what all else–for a Sunday morning cocktail.  (Honestly, what if you have more than one person imbibing?  What if they want two bloodies?  How many chickens are enough?!)  Down here we’ve always known that bloody marys are good garnished with boiled shrimp.  This recipe puts the bloody mary IN the shrimp, not the other way around.

You can eat Bloody Mary Shrimp any way you like. They’re good chopped over a thick smear of cream cheese and eaten with crackers or crostini. There’s no reason you can’t boil some of the poaching liquid down and serve it all over pasta or rice. But I like Bloody Mary Shrimp served as part of an hors d’oeuvre platter. I’m a threat to have an hors d’oeuvre platter for dinner even if no one else is here. My favorite food group is party food! You can always scale up the recipe and serve it at a real party that includes other people if you like.

Bloody Mary Shrimp are easy to make, and you can fiddle with the ingredients to taste, just like a bloody mary cocktail. The poaching liquid includes a little vodka and is simmered before adding the shrimp. You can omit the vodka if you want to, but it really does improve the final product. The low simmer gives the alcohol time to cook off, but you should know that vodka is a magical ingredient. The otherwise tasteless alcohol chemically unlocks flavor compounds, intensifying the subtle flavors in the dish. You  don’t have to use a super premium vodka like the Grey Goose pictured. That was what was open in my liquor cabinet. Use whatever you have.

I’ve given a recipe and a method below, but feel free to adjust it to your taste. If you’d rather use hot sauce instead of horseradish, that’s fine. If you don’t have celery seed at your house, don’t worry about it. Afraid of Spicy V-8 juice? Use the regular kind.

When I make Bloody Mary Shrimp for company, I garnish the platter with some of the things I like to include on a bloody mary bar: celery, lemon and lime wedges, dilly beans, pickled okra, olives, scallions or cocktail onions, deviled eggs, and bacon strips, etc. I like to add toast points and cheese cubes if it’s to be the whole meal, and if it’s just me I’ll pare things down to the basics.

I think serving Bloody Mary Shrimp with actual bloody marys is overkill, but they pair well with wine spritzers, lemon-lime seltzer, hard lemonade, or cold beer.

Enjoy!