[1] Make a BLT Bloody Mary with Bacon Vodka (photo © Bull And Bear Bar | Chicago [alas, now closed]).

[2] Make a BLT Bloody Mary with Bacon Vodka (photo © Bull And Bear Bar | Chicago [alas, now closed]).

Sure, there will be eggnog and Champagne on New Year’s Eve. But what about that sexy signature cocktail?

There’s still time for you to buy—or make—a bottle of bacon vodka and treat everyone to Bacon Bloody Marys. And we actually have two different recipes!

The first, which is a bit tricky (lettuce foam, for example), is a molecular gastronomy take on a B.L.T. Bloody Mary from the Hotel Jerome in Aspen.

The second recipe, which can be made by anyone who can cook bacon, is from Bloody Mary specialist Greg Tooke of MyBigFatBloodyMary.com.
 
 
BUYING BACON-FLAVORED VODKA

Different distillers make a bacon vodka. The one we’ve tried is Bakon Vodka, made in the U.S. from Pacific Northwest potatoes (photo #2).

As a potato vodka, it’s gluten free It has real bacon flavor, clean and crisp. You can drink it neat, because there’s no bad burn.

Either bottled or homemade, your Bacon Bloody Mary will be a blast!

Check out the history of the Bloody Mary.
 
 
BLOODY MARY RECIPES

It’s a great idea for January 1st, National Bloody Mary Day; for Sunday game time, or for cookouts: Bloody Marys may be the best cocktail with grilled foods.

Flavors include Apricot, Blackberry, Cranberry, Raspberry and Spiced. The line is certified kosher by Oregon Kosher and is available at TheNibbleGourmetMarket.com.

Two lucky winners will receive a honey crème trio gift set of three of the flavors.

Retail Value Of Prize: Approximately $18.99.

Spread this honey on just about anything.
Photo by River Soma | THE NIBBLE.

Get Up & Go! with Smucker’s Snack’n Waffles.

• THE PRIZE: One lucky winner will receive a Smucker’s Snack’n Waffles Get Up & Go! package that includes four Smucker’s Snack’n Waffles coupons, an alarm clock and an mp3 player to create a morning music playlist. Retail Value Of Prize: Approximately $100.00 for the Get Up & Go! Package and $3.00 for the product coupons.

Five additional winners will each receive a product coupon to try the delicious breakfast waffles.

• To Enter This Gourmet Giveaway: Go to the box at the bottom of our Waffle History Page and click to enter your email address for the prize drawing. This contest closes on Monday, January 3rd at noon, Eastern Time. Good luck!
• To learn more about Smucker’s, visit Smuckers.com.

There are two reasons to toast spices.

First, a bit of heat releases the flavor of the spices, giving you much more punch. This extra flavor is worth the five minutes of time to toast them.

It’s easy to toast your spices:

Before grinding, toast whole spices in a dry skillet over low heat. Stir frequently until the spices begin to release their aromas.

The aromas are a delicious kitchen sachet, which leads to the second good reason to toast spices:

If you’ve recently burned some popcorn, fried a batch of fish or have that leftover meat-browning odor in your kitchen, toasting some spices in the oven should help alleviate bad kitchen aromas.

Simply place 4 or 5 cinnamon sticks, a few tablespoons of cloves and/or some orange peel onto a baking sheet, and bake at 350°F until the aromas fill your home. The scent is much longer-lasting than aromatic sprays and more effective than kitchen candles.

Oh: And if you’re selling your home, you don’t have to go so far as to bake cookies for a homey household aroma. Just toast some spices.

Here’s one of our favorite products from Jacques Torres: chocolate-covered cornflakes, a crunchy chocolate snack.

In this week’s cooking video, Jacques Torres himself shows both how to temper chocolate and how to make his chocolate-covered cornflakes. Simple as they are to make, they’re also fancy enough to be a gift for your New Year’s Eve party host. We love them as a cupcake topping.

For more tips and how-tos, visit our Cooking Videos Section.