If you haven’t spent any time in Canada, you might not be familiar with the Caesar cocktail. It’s ubiquitous here and, much to my initial surprise, delicious. I was surprised as I didn’t normally like drinks made with clam juice. That was an assumption, by the way, as I hadn’t really gone out of my way to try clam juice up until that point for fairly obvious reasons.
The central ingredients of a good Caesar are vodka, Clamato, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco and a little celery salt on the glass rim. It’s usually garnished with a celery stalk, but the more adventurous add a green bean, cucumber or even bacon.
I make pretty good Caesars. Not that it’s hard or anything, but I’m generous with the Worcestershire sauce (pronounced “wuster”, North Americans! Not “Worsester-shire” as I’ve heard more than one person say) and more importantly the Tabasco. I’m a bit obsessed with high spice levels. As I write this I have jerk chicken in the oven, the marinade for which was made with eleven fresh habaneros. I seek out heat wherever I go. I haven’t found an Indian restaurant here in Canada that can make a curry hot enough for my liking, not even close really (this does not apply to Indian restaurants in England, some of which can make dishes that would render a careless diner unconscious at fifty paces).
So how to take my Caesars to the next level? I think you know the answer to that by now. More heat!