It’s October, and that means it’s Halloween month! To celebrate, we’re running Halloween-inspired cocktail recipes each week. The Bloody Mary has been around since the 1920s, invented by a bartender in Paris. Because the base comes together in a single pitcher, this cocktail is really easy to make: tomato juice and vodka spiked with Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, and a good crack of black pepper. Serving it in skull-shaped glasses makes the cocktail feel a bit more Halloween, but a short tumbler works just as well.

Prep time: 15 minutes | Cooking time: 5 minutes | Servings: 2

Ingredients

For the cocktail:

• 100 ml vodka
• 300 ml tomato juice
• 10 ml Worcestershire sauce
• 5 ml fresh lemon juice
• A few dashes of hot sauce, to taste
• 2.5 ml celery salt
• Black pepper (for the best flavour, use freshly cracked black pepper rather than pre-ground)
• Ice, for serving

For the garnish skewers:

• 4 rashers streaky bacon
• 4 medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 4 pitted green olives
• 2 baby gherkins
• 2 celery stalks, with leaves
• 2 lime wedges
• 4 wooden skewers

Method

1. Fry the bacon in a pan over medium heat until crisp, then set aside on paper towel.
2. In the same pan, quickly fry the shrimp for a minute or two on each side, until pink and just cooked through.
3. Thread the bacon, shrimp, and olives onto the skewers, folding the bacon rashers as you go so they sit neatly.
4. Fill two skull glasses or tumblers with ice. In a jug, stir together the vodka, tomato juice, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, hot sauce, celery salt, and black pepper.
5. Pour the mixture evenly over the ice in each glass.
6. Add a gherkin and a celery stalk to each glass, then balance a loaded skewer across the rim.
7. Finish with a lime wedge on the side and serve straight away.