About this recipe:

• It's not too spicy – feel free to jack it up if you want
• It's not too sour – room to add fresh lime into the cocktail
• No garlic – We rim the glass with crushed crispy fried garlic (yum!)

Ingredients:

(6 parts) 6 Tbsp – Apple Vinegar (I use an Italian one, but just use your favorite)

(3 parts) 3 Tbsp – Worcestershire (Lee and Perrins is the gold standard)

(3 parts) 3 Tbsp – Golden Mountain or maggi Sauce

(1 part) 1 Tbsp – fish sauce (use the good stuff available in most Asian food stores – this is not for saltiness, its for the umami)

(1 part) 1 Tbsp – tabasco or similar (optional, I suppose)

(½ part) ½ Tbsp – smoked paprika (Spanish)

(½ part) ½ Tbsp – fresh ground black pepper (grind more on top of the finished drink)

(¼ part) 1 tsp – liquid smoke (there’s some room to increase this – but be careful…it can overpower things)

Combine all the above ingredients and add to 1 ½ quarts of good quality tomato juice. For organic, you can use R.W. Knudsen brand, otherwise Campbell’s works well.  As an alternative, you may want to combine all the above ingredients and refrigerate it, mixing some with the tomato juice as you need it.  In this case, use 1 ½ Tbsp of the mix to 8 ounces of tomato juice.

Rim a glass with crushed crispy fried garlic (or salt), add a few ice cubes, your mix and favorite vodka and squeeze in a little fresh lime.  Then add some more hot sauce, dash of celery seed, and fresh Zen cracked Chantaburi, Phu Quoc, or Kampot black pepper to round it all out. Garnish it with celery, olives, chilled shrimp or a few cubes of daikon kimchi on a toothpick.

Enjoy!