The Bloody Jerk Cocktail

Developing a unique Bloody Mary recipe is no easy task. Doing it for a crowd of New Orleanian cocktail sophisticates? That’s an even taller order. Still, Nick Detrich, bartender and managing partner of Cane & Table, set the challenge for himself shortly after his establishment opened in 2013. “I was going for something that was both very familiar and very original,” he says. So first he jettisoned the vodka. Playing off the restaurant’s Caribbean flavors, he started instead with caramel-tinged dark rum, then crafted a jerk-inspired riff that manages to be savory, spicy, and sweet. A mix of fresh, local Creole and Roma tomatoes forms the drink’s base. To that, he adds allspice, onion, and garlic for the umami factor; ginger and vinegar for pucker; and chiles in place of horseradish for heat. As for the cocktail’s requisite pickled garnishes, Detrich relies on an old bartender’s trick: “Just take Tabasco pepper jelly, shove the vegetables in there, and let them sit for a few days.”