Hello everyone! My wife is a huge fan of Margaritas, and I really can't stand them. I was curious if anyone had some suggestions/recipes for making an outstanding margarita. I know the margaritas she normally gets are a yellow color, but other than that, I don't know the first thing about them. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
<---Former bartender here.
Your basic American bar margarita is made up of tequila, sour mix and triple sec with a dash of sweetened lime juice (or just a few slices of lime squeezed). The sour mix makes it the yellow color you describe. There are dozens of variations and we could probably argue for hours which combination of liquors makes one margarita better than others. Anybody who is a true magarita fan considers it sacrilege to drink them frozen. Frozen margaritas are for "beginners".
All pretense aside though.....on a scorching hot summer day a pitcher of frozen margaritas is a-okay with me!
For your basic margarita (experiment with the proportions until it tastes right to her), do this:
Get a "Tall" bar glass (about 5" tall so probably something between a juice glass and a standard beverage glass in your cabinet).
Fill glass with ice. Pour 2oz of tequila over the ice. (Don't buy the stuff that's $5/bottle, at a bare minimum go with Jose Cuervo Gold, then work your way up)
Fill the remainder of the glass with sour mix up until about 1/2" from the top. Give a "short pour" of triple sec (approx 1oz) and a splash of the lime juice (or squeezed limes).
You'll want to pour it out of the glass and shake it then. If you don't have a cocktail shaker then at least grab another larger glass and pour between the two until the ingredients are mixed really well (usually 4-5 turns between the two glasses).
Before pouring back into the Tall glass to serve, salt the rim with rock salt if desired. I wouldn't drink a margarita without salt, but that's me.
To salt the rim:
Pour some of the sweet lime juice (or sour mix if you don't have any of that) onto a small plate. Pour rock salt onto another plate. Set the glass upside down on the plate with the juice, then dip several times in the rock salt until the rim of the glass is well coated.
Pictures!
You don't have to have 2oz exactly (I usually pour heavy), but if want to get close you'll need to use either a jigger or a shot glass.
Fill with sour mix up to 1/2" below the edge of the glass.
Add triple sec.
Shake!
Salt the rim of the glass.
Garnish with limes. I have a hard time buying limes here, so instead I use Calamansi which are these teeny little round fruits that grow on a bush in my back yard, they look like baby oranges but they are tart like a lemon and used as such. Most people like to put a wedge of lime on the edge of the glass for garnish. If I'm serving it to someone else I'll probably do that but when making it for myself I just squeeze it on in there. I love my margaritas with lots of limes.
I like my margaritas with a Grand Marnier "floater" so that's why you see that bottle in the background. Experiment with this basic recipe for a bit and when you're comfortable with this I'll share some of the more complex (and tastier) versions I've made in the past.
Damn....now I'm hungry for fajitas!
