More bartending: Margarita

[chipotle]

I’ve been making margaritas before using a mix from the El Paso Chile Company, because I haven’t actually liked the “from scratch” ones I’ve tried. But, being out of mix, I decided to keep trying, and on my third attempt, I came up with this:

1½	oz. tequila
1	oz. orange liqueur
1	oz. key lime juice
½	oz. lemon juice
1	tbsp. simple syrup

Combine all the ingredients with plenty of ice in a shaker, and shake vigorously. Strain over cracked ice into a margarita or highball glass.

“Simple Syrup” is just two parts sugar to one part water—bring the water to a boil while stirring the sugar in and then let it cool. I’ve been using Orange Curacao as the liqueur, although the classic one to use to use is Cointreau. I also used two tequilas in the margarita tonight: one ounce of “gold tequila” and a half-ounce of a good Reposado. Specifically, I used Cabo Wabo, which is the brand from—don’t laugh—Sammy Hagar’s club in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Yes, Sammy really does know his tequila. (The downside being that because it’s not cheap stuff, it’s, y’know, not cheap.)

Comments

[chipotle.livejournal.com]

The 'classic' margarita recipes I've seen are pretty much just tequila, fresh lime juice, and the orange liqueur in varying amounts, which... usually just tastes like you're sucking on a tequila-soaked lime. It was actually seeing a recipe for from-scratch sour mix that made me think 'I should add a bit of lemon juice and sugar syrup to this'. :) It's possible that if you're using fresh lime juice from really sweet limes you can get away with the original recipe; I'm using Nellie's key lime juice from concentrate. (The lemon juice was from the Italian version of the little plastic lemons, which actually *isn't* from concentrate.)

I'm not sure I've tried Cointreau straight, although perhaps I'm glad I didn't buy any...