What on earth is a Bloody Mary? Caesars are Canada’s national drink, and as warm weather, long weekends and cottage season finally overtakes us, we can’t wait to sip on that cool and tangy treat.
To celebrate National Caesar Day on Thursday, we wanted to give our readers some essential recipes and epic garnish tips to help you find the custom Caesar that makes your taste buds tingle.
And if you don’t feel like making it yourself, Toronto is getting its very first Caesar festival, aka Caesar Fest, which is happening on July 22nd.
The festival will be 3 floors and 6,000 square feet of playing and drinking space, including a rooftop terrace. Festival-goers can enjoy over 10 Caesar stations to explore and taste, with performances and live music.
For now, you can get ahead of the festivities with a twist on the traditional Caesar:
The Thai Caesar
- 1.5 Grey Goose Le Citron
- 1 Thai chili, crushed 1/2 oz ponzu
- 2-3 dashes of rice vinegar
- 1/2 oz fresh cucumber juice 3 oz clamato juice
Muddle Thai chilli in your glass. Add the rest of the ingredients. Add ice and stir, and ensure everything is combined. Garnish with cucumber ribbons, then rim with sesame seeds & Togarashi spice mix
The Beet Caesar
- 1.5 Grey Goose l’Orange
- 1 blood orange
- 1 oz beetroot juice
- 1/2 oz lemon juice
- 3-4 dashes of Tabasco
- 3-4 dashes of Worcester
- 3 oz caesar mix
Method: Always rim first. Ice all the way to the top, add ingredients and stir well. Garnish: bouquet garnish of herbs with parsley Rim: dehydrated parsley root blitzed with Za’atar spice and salt
The Strawberry-Rhubarb Caesar
- 1.5 GREY GOOSE L’original
- 1/2 oz lemon juice
- 1 oz strawberry/rhubarb shrub
- 3 oz caesar mix
- 1 pinch smoked paprika
- 1 pinch black peppercorns
Method: Add Ice and shake. Pour ingredients over fresh ice into your rimmed Rocks glass. Strawberry Rhubarb Shrub: cut a pint of strawberries into half. Cut 8 oz (about two stems) of rhubarb into half inch pieces. Cover with 1 cup of sugar and let it macerate for at least 2 hours to a day in the refrigerator. Add 1 Cup of apple cider vinegar and let it sit an additional 2 days in the fridge. Strain out, bottle and refrigerate. Garnish: toasted cherry tomatoes still on the vine or dehydrated tomato slice Rim: salt, chilli, pepper, cracked black pepper
If you’d rather sip on the more traditional vodka/clamato/salt/pepper/Tabasco/Worcester sauce/Caesar rim/celery version, you can still add a twist with one of these:
Garnishes:
1. Garlic Bread Knot Skewers.
Garlic bread goes with marinara sauce, so why would a tomato-based breakfast cocktail be any different? Just make sure to have gum on hand.
2. Feta Stuffed Hot Peppers
Peppers and cheese are both separate bar snacks that are essential sidekicks to any cocktail, so why not combine the best of both worlds for a delicious treat?
3. Anything Pickled
Whole jalapeños are our personal choice, but any combination of a pickled veggie combined with the zesty lip-smacking nature of a Caesar is simply sublime.
4. Mini Grilled Cheese Triangle Skewers
Just like the garlic knot concept, grilled cheeses aren’t complete without a hearty dip in a tomato soup, so naturally, they’re the perfect follow up to
5. Skewered Devils Eggs
Hard-boiled eggs never looked appetizing to anyone, but with that decadent middle that deviled eggs have, they make the perfect buddy to go with a Caesar.
6. Bacon
Whether you want this in plain ol’ strips or candies, it’s hard to find a breakfast cocktail that bacon doesn’t go with. And if you feel like going super fancy, you can even wrap scallops in that bacon.
At the end of the day, no one’s forcing you to just choose just one option. Combine all six for a grand and impressive cocktail that basically comes with a free meal.
