Margarita

Margaritas are my favorite tequila drink.  I prefer frozen Margaritas because any other kind goes down too fast, but if you drink a frozen Margarita too fast, you’ll get brain freeze.  For making frozen (or blended) drinks, as opposed to shaken drinks, you need a good quality blender.  If you have to buy a new blender, check with consumer reports to make sure you’re getting a high quality brand.  I have a great KitchenAid ProLine® blender that I got a good deal on several years ago.

As I mentioned in my post on Stocking Your Bar, I usually use gold tequila (for everyday) or better (for special occasions) tequila.  I usually use Sauza® Gold and (sometimes) Jose Cuervo® Especial for Margaritas.  There are a lot of more expensive tequilas available, and I’ll sometimes buy a bottle of Reposado or Añejo when I find a good one on sale.  You can taste a difference, even in Margaritas, but any good, smooth tequila will make a fine Margarita.

The following recipe references “bar sugar”.  By bar sugar I mean sugar that is more finely ground than normal sugar, but not powdered sugar.  If you can’t find bar sugar, buy “Bakers’ Sugar” and use it.  The finer sugar dissolves faster in cocktails.  I keep some in a small container in my bar, and refill it as necessary.  That said, I prefer not to put sugar in my Margaritas, but my wife likes hers sweet.  Margaritas taste better when you use freshly squeezed lime juice, but you can use ReaLime® lime juice with (optional) sugar or Rose’s® Sweetened Lime Juice (and skip the sugar).  See my post On Limes to find out more on limes and how best to squeeze them.

This is my own finely tuned Margarita recipe.  If you drink a lot of Margaritas, you may want to alter the proportions to fit your own taste and create your own recipe.  These same proportions will work for a Margarita rocks, or one shaken and served straight up. If you use a high quality Tequila, you might want to upgrade the Triple Sec to Cointreau® or Grand Marnier®. 

Margarita

2 oz. Tequila

Juice of one freshly squeezed lime (about 1 oz.) or lime juice

½ oz. Triple Sec

1 tsp. Bar Sugar (optional!)

Blend with ice (9 cubes from my ice maker – experiment).  A frozen Margarita should be thick enough to form peaks, but liquid enough to pour into a glass rimmed with salt (see my special rimming technique) and garnished with a lime wheel.  Enjoy!