Margaritas Deconstructed
Margarita Part 4:
The Perfect Margarita Recipe
Well, after that dissertation on everything that is margarita, you probably want the recipe don’t you? I don’t blame you, I would as well. Let me caveat this with a couple of things:
- Citrus are agricultural, meaning they change from year to year and even from what I buy today vs. what I bought last month. You may need to fine tune. I know the first thing most of you are going to do is to go to your refrigerator door and pull out the bottled lime and lemon juices, and this will get you a good margarita but not even close to what you get with fresh citrus. Again I use bottled sometimes as well…
- I am using Pepe Lopez Blanco tequila. If this is too low brow for you, you will need to change the proportions.
- I am using Bols Triple Sec. There is one place in my area that carries Bols; everyone else considers this too low
price ($5/liter, not a whole lot of profit margin on this bottle). Truthfully though, it is the best for five times the price. There is some bad Triple Sec out there, avoid it.
½ cup Blanco Tequila
3 Tbsp Triple Sec
3 Tbsp Fresh Lime
1 Tbsp Fresh Lemon
Simple Syrup to taste, I use ~1/4 cup, but I find those of you that like salty rims like sweeter margaritas as well.
Shaken in with ice in your cocktail mixer, and poured over the rocks.
I know many of you are looking for shortcuts, and I have a couple that work.
- If you make this with Jose Cuervo Gold (there
are legions of fans out there, although I am uncertain why), you will want to reduce the lime to maybe 2-2½ Tbsp. Blanco tequila wants a little more sourness. - You can get by with bottled lemon and 50% bottled lime.
- If you don’t have the time to make and cool simple syrup (you need to plan ahead here), I have found that Sprite soda works pretty well. I have tried other citrus sodas, but none work quite as well.
- While I shy away from most things canned, I am a sucker for canned mandarin oranges. I don’t know what it is about those little wedges? However these are usually packed in a light syrup, and this light syrup makes a fine substitute for simple syrup.
Now this is a fine everyday margarita, what about a top shelf margarita? The above is a pretty balanced margarita, and this is somewhat easy to achieve with top shelf ingredients as well. However I have found that for top-shelf tequila, I really want to feature the tequila and let the other ingredients play more supporting roles; I want to enhance the characteristics of the tequila instead of balancing the tequila. These are much more sipping drinks, and this is why I am still struggling with the perfect top-shelf margarita.
As to tequila, my current favorite is El Mayor although I also have Herradura, Sauza Hornitos, and Patron in my cabinet as well. Please use Blanco only, as that $120 bottle of Ultra-Aged Anejo needs nothing. Besides the smoothness that comes from barrel aging is wasted when you add that load of citrus. That said, I tend to reduce the Cointreau, the lemon, the lime, and the simple syrup. However I keep the citrus ratio fixed (2 parts lime to 1 part lemon) for a starting point. Every tequila is different; don’t think that you can substitute one for another.
Margarita Image .gif by mystuffspace.com