Jul
10
Bloodless Mary
A modern twist on a classic cocktail, the bloody mary.
You will have to start out by quartering a lot of tomatoes.
First the tomatoes and flavors have to be boiled for about 30 minutes to an hour. This broth is flavored with fennel, onion, bay leaf, basil, salt and pepper. Not putting my hand in my pocket to be cool, my remote for the camera is in there.
The tomatoes were pureed before they were boiled, and afterwards I pressed this saucy mixture into a fine gauge sieve to get all the gunk out. I’m trying to separate the liquid from the all the solids. The spoon is in my pocket so I can press down this gunk until it yields all of the liquid from the stew. The solids in the sieve should be discarded into a separate bowl. Can you guess what I’m doing here? Yes, I’m making a tomato consomme. A very labor intensive recipe that yields mind blowing flavor. The consomme is what makes this bloody mary bloodless.
I actually made a lot more than this but I’m only showing about 1/8 of this liquid here.
Okay, now crack a lot of egg whites and whisk. Don’t throw away the yolks, you can make fresh mayonnaise.
When the mixture starts to boil, pour in the egg whites and stir. Wait until it comes to a boil again.
Once this liquid starts to boil, the egg whites will form a raft and collect all the impurities from that tomato stew I strained through the sieve. You can already see this clear broth on the bottom of the pot.
When this is done properly, you will get a crystal clear liquid. This broth is indescribably delicious and the result of a lot of hard work, basically it’s the pure essence of the tomato but you have a hard time connecting this flavor to a fresh tomato. The best things are simple, intense, clever and direct. This is served as a first course at many michelin rated restaurants, they usually only give a small cup because after all the purifying is done you only have a little bit of this broth. Again I can’t stress enough how precious this broth is, and you will appreciate the flavor more if you made it yourself.
If there are still small egg white pieces floating around the broth you’ll want to filter this out.
Here is an example of a failed consomme and the correct consomme. To the left you see particles gathering of the bottom of the bowl, at the same time this bowl is still kind of hazy. To the right you see a crystal clear liquid. This is one of those things that seem so simple but is actually difficult to make and it needs to be perfect to the end, you can’t cheat or just leave it when something goes wrong. It’s the culinary equivalent of Carolyn Bessette’s Narciso Rodriguez dress.
I think I went through at least 5 cartons of egg whites and 70-80 tomatoes and in the end all you get is this.
These tomatoes were frozen and will be used to keep this bloodless mary cool. You do NOT want to use ice cubes because it will dilute the intense flavor of the precious consomme. Don’t add anything like hot sauce, it will ruin the delicate flavor of this bloodless mary.
Also slice and freeze lemons, and prepare some herb broom sticks.
The classic way would be to serve it in a martini cup.
Gently dunk the herbs into the chilled consomme. Pull it out.
The vodka and consomme go very well together, even with a lot of vodka, the consomme will overpower it. I love this drink but I don’t have the time to make it as often as I’d like.
Metal straws available here
You are a genius! Frozen tomatoes to keep it cool!? Oh dear, I want to be like you when I grow up!
Oh my goodness, where did you get those metal straws??
This is too classy!
Bravo. Bravo.
Absolutely A M A Z I N G ! ! !
How I wish I could take a sip from that straw!
xx
I fear you will wince at this question, but would it completely ruin the delicacy of the consomme if you were to freeze it? I’m guessing the answer is yes but I thought I would ask – you put so much work into it, I would wonder if you could do a large batch at once and freeze some.
Beautiful photographs, by the way!
Ok, I am literally *DYING* over this post. Absolutely divine. I love consomme, but have never tried making it myself….I should give it a shot…!
And thank you for the injection of fashion with the mention of Carolyn Bessette Kennedy – she had the most incredible style.
This brilliant. All that hardwork for such a little consomme! I think it teaches us all something about life, yes? Effort ≠ always results. But these look fabulous and they turned out so well. Love the covered cup hole glassware!
Meghan, in my experience, tomato consomme freezes very well, though just make sure that it is well sealed so it doesn’t pick up any odors.
Wonderful idea, and beautiful classic technique, but for those inclined to cheat, you can make crystal clear consomme by adding a gelatin sheet, freezing it, and the letting the liquid thaw through a cheesecloth. Saves on eggs and trying to build a finicky egg-white raft!
beautiful photography, amazing recipe, cool kitchen tools and super beautiful tableware – pure bliss!
Hello!
This is so brilliant! Love it! But I have a question, where do you get those awesome glasses (the big ones)?
Cheers!
This is amazing! So many great ideas, thanks for sharing!
Every time I look at your pictures and see you food and all the gadgets, it just makes me think that I want to be like you! (im going to chefs school)
You’re genious and original, I love it!
Love this! I was under the impression that putting the tomatoes through a cheese strainer with pressure on top works for clear liquid as well. Have you tried this? Very cool techniques with the egg whites.
@Mira
That won’t work, it will still yield murky liquid if you put it through cheesecloth. The only way is a lot of egg whites. From then on you can put it through a sieve just to get little egg white particles out.
wow just wow
ah bloody mary, the queen of england! i don’t think that your tomatoes would kill that many protestants ;;;))). i didn’t know that you needed so many tomatoes, what i love about this post is that it is artisanal, you didn’t use tomato juice! i have no idea how you did it or where you came up with this idea, but again, sitting here with my mouth wide wide wide open! unbelievable
This is so awesome. Looks great!
you’re a genius !
it completely reverse my idea about bloody mary
but french vodka, really???
why not polish or russian (the only little thing that i’m a little ashamed you did)
I can’t imagine how many hours you spent making the consomme, it is so clear! You would never guess that it was originally a bunch of tomatoes. One day I am going to try to make a comsomme….
Do you think a Bloodless Mary slushie would work? Freeze the consomme and vodka together?
I really enjoy your posts, it’s always a surprise and one that I look forward to.
I don’t drink but I would so love to have this!!
everytime i’m opening your blog to look at your new culinary experiences, i want to try it at home.
Well… maybe I just need to learn how to cook an egg first.
Congratulations, it looks amazing, as usual!
this is effin BRILLIANT
Genius! Beautiful photography! I would love to taste this wonderful concoction :9
Couldn’t you filter it by using the gelatin filtration method? http://www.molecularrecipes.com/techniques/gelatin-filtered-consomme-gelatin-filtration/
Looks amazing though, I’d looove to taste it!
That sounds delicious! Do you know the name of this process?
your presentation is flawless, as always
This is beautiful. Dying to try this now so I googled ‘tomato consomme’ to see what about other methods and more details. Here (http://mysocalledknife.com/2010/08/the-elusive-tomato-consomme/) the author says you need to cool the tomato puree and heat it up concurrently with egg whites and not as you had done with the pouring the egg whites in while the tomato puree is coming to a boil. I’m wondering if you might know the pros/cons…
also, how did you manage to get the clear broth out without ‘breaking the raft” (so to speak… this other blogger keeps mentioning the importance of minimizing raft breakage).
thanks!
I’ve never actually had a Bloody Mary but in Canada we have something similar called a Caesar. Apparently no one in the USA knows about it… But they’re delicious and I would love to see what sort of spin you could put on it!
It’s a combination of clamato juice (clam broth and tomato juice), vodka, worcestershire and hot sauce. They’re typically served in a celery salt-rimmed glass and with a garnish of celery. Given my way, I prefer them topped with a jumbo prawn or bacon-wrapped quail egg. Seriously, it’s perfection, even if tomato-clam juice sounds kinda gross.
Anyway, I love all of your takes on classic drinks — especially the mojito. You’re such an inspiration!
A-freaking mazing
mind = blown.
Crazyawesome. And I thought I was exacting with my homemade tonic water and liqueurs. But the consomme is too much work for even me, though I might steal the frozen tomatoes as ice cubes idea. And I’ll be sipping my cocktails with the same straws.
Those pics are wonderful ! I’m don’t like tomato juice but I could taste it just thank to those pics !
SWEET MOTHER OF GOD ARE YOU EVEN HUMAN?
Your dedication to your craft, be it cooking or sewing, is out of this world. I bow in honor every time you post a blog entry.
Oh my goodness, where did you get those cups/glasses??
I’m with lily- Would you please share where you got your glassware for the consumme? Also your gas burner please?
a magnificent & beautifully orchestrated vision for a grand recipe.
you elevate & inspire!
& yes, please share your glassware retailer.
Absolute genius. I would love to try this. How many hours would you say it took?
I’m just curious, but where did you learn to cook? Did you attend culinary school or something?
I’m speechless. This is art!!!
Very interesting recipe, sounds so elegant. I also love the glassware, especially would love to know where to find the large glass containers, they look like glass bird feeders.
This is beautifullllllllllllll!!! Love the serveware!
Most of the equipment used in this demo can be found in the JB Prince catalog. They’re pricey but it’s well worth the cost. I got half my kit from them.
might be nice served with a pinch of fresh yuzu rind.
And some shiso in that herb broomstick, the two lend themselves perfectly to the consomme without distracting from the purity of flavor
also using delicious italian heart or ukranian heart tomatoes (my personal favorite for consomme) is great, and slashing the use of fennel and onion and bayleaf. concentrating entirely on the tomato
Thanks for the article I actually learned a thing from it. Great articles or blog posts on this web site Often seeking forward to new post.