Bloody Mary Chili

Warning - This recipe is "experimental"... I had an idea for a wild chili variant made it up. It ended up tasting okay, but is not great compared to my normal chili. And it is a little "out there"...

I got into Bloody Marys a few months ago. They fascinate me because there are so many different variations, and many people and restaurants have "the best." Chili is similar, with the variations, restaurant specialties, etc.

Before the long cook... looks kinda cool at this point.

So I decided to combine the two.

First I conducted a bit of Bloody Mary research. I had to get a feel for what the traditional Bloody Mary was all about, what typical/common variants exist, and what ingredients to use. It was horrible. I had to make different Bloody Mary recipes, drink them, and repeat.

From the research, I came up with this list of ingredients/flavors that my chili had to have:

• Vodka
• Tomato juice (or similar)
• Lemon juice
• Pepper
• Celery / celery seed/salt
• Pepper sauce like Tabasco or Sriracha
• Worcestershire
• Pickle
• Beef stick

For ratios of spices, I based it a little on a couple of Bloody Mary recipes I found and liked (soon to be posted). I also tried to swap out ingredients with my normal chili recipe... celery instead of black beans, beef stick instead of ground beef, etc.

Spices

• 1 Tbsp cumin
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 2½ tsp celery seed (ground)
• 2 tsp black pepper

Sauté

• 5 jalapeño peppers
• 2-3 sweet onions (two large or three small)
• 1 Tbsp Mexican oregano
• 5 cloves garlic

Browned

• 1½ lbs ground turkey

Simmered

• 4 cups celery, sliced (about 6 stalks)
• 4 Tbsp Sriracha
• 16 oz chopped sausage stick 
• (I used two 8 oz packages of Old Wisconsin Snack Bites... one beef, one original sausage)
• 5 Tbsp prepared horseradish
• 3 Tbsp tamari (soy sauce)
• 6 oz vodka
• 30 oz kidney beans
• 45 oz diced tomatoes
• 2 anchovy filets, chopped
• 18 oz tomato paste

At the End

• 10 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• ½ cup lemon juice (preferably not from concentrate... Lakewood brand is ok)
• 1 cup pickle juice

Process

I made this chili how I make my normal chili: saute the peppers, onions, garlic, and oregano. Brown the meat. Mix all that and everything else and simmer for 90 minutes. The only change is I added a few things at the end. I didn't want the acids from the Worcestershire, lemon juice, and pickle juice to cook off.

How It Turned Out

Overall it tasted okay. At first I was not a fan and wasn't sure if I could work through the 10 servings I made. But it grew on me. More detail:

• It was a little bitter / sour, I think from the pickle juice. 
• It was also a little salty.
• The vodka didn't do a lot. According to Serious Eats, alcohol does more for aroma. 

If I did it again, I may add more celery seed, more tomato, and less pickle juice.

Until next time...