Alarmingly Delicious Margaritas!
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There are several things that I particularly love about summer, not the least of which is when it is over. But when summer is at its most absurdly ridiculous levels of heat and humidity, we here at the Circle B Kitchen know how to console ourselves and keep our cool. All at the same time.
Now, sangria works really well for this, but we’ve already talked about that here, so today we’ll explore another surefire way to get yourself through the dog days of summer and that’s with our mucho tasty and very cooling margaritas. That’s plural because I have yet to see anyone drink just one of these.
(Any Mexican restuarant that has chairs this cute most likely will have good margaritas)
The inspiration for these margaritas (as if you need one) comes from a little road trip that The Husband and I took last month. On our last night on the road we stayed in Yankton, South Dakota (no, really) and ate dinner at this totally awesome little Mexican restaurant near our hotel.
(I'm just saying...)
Of course, the first thing we did was order margaritas and they came in these groovy margarita glasses that totally enhanced our drinking enjoyment.
But even without the nifty cactus glasses, these were some totally excellent margaritas; the cute glasses were just a bonus. The chicken tostadas were also outstanding, and then we left our credit card there which we didn’t realize until a couple of days later, but the nice folks at El Tapatio mailed it out to us, no problemo. We like them.
As soon as I got home, I did a little online shopping and got us some of those cool cactus glasses, which has also enhanced our margarita enjoyment at home, and now it’s time to share our amazing margarita recipe with you. Only it’s not our recipe. Our margarita recipe comes from a very reputable source, namely Rick Bayless, who knows a thing or two about margaritas. This will become self evident at the frst sip.
Most of you are probably already experienced in the actual making of the margarita, but in spite of that, I will still run through the basics before sharing the recipe for this extraordinarily delicious beverage, beginning with the fact that I think blended margaritas might be a sacrilege, so ours will be on the rocks, which is just a fancy way of saying with ice cubes and not a slushy.
Margaritas are one of those beverages that require a little prep work on your glass before you can actually enjoy your drink. Have you noticed that I am completely avoiding calling this a cocktail? I’m not a big fan of that word or the entire cocktail concept. To me, “cocktails” sounds way too fifties/sixties. Mad Men notwithstanding, it sounds like something that my parents’ and grandparents’ generation drank (even though my parents and/or grandparents never would have), and it conjures up images of women in pearls and cocktail dresses and all manner of pretentiousness that I cannot relate to. It makes me want to drink a beer. No cocktail parties for me, but if it’s happy hour, I’m in! This is just semantics, but in life, as in drinking, semantics can be very important.
Back to our margarita glasses… firstly we’ll be wanting to moisten the rim of our glasses with a slice of lime, which will make the next step more effective.
The next step is to dip our glass into some coarse salt, which will stick because we have lime juice on the rim. Special margarita salt is a good way to pay extra for something that’s probably just like kosher salt that you already have in your cupboard.
Once you have your glass rimmed in salt, you can add some ice cubes to your glass and then carefully pour in your margarita. You will find it difficult to add salt to the rim of the glass after you pour in the margarita, so careful attention to the order of application is important here.
So grab some chips or quesadillas or something equivalently munchable. Sip, munch, repeat. Lots of times. And if you’ve got the munching thing down, but are in need of a spectacular margarita to go with, here’s the recipe…
Alarmingly Delicious Margaritas!
Click here for a printable recipe
This is the margarita that they serve at Rick Bayless' restaurants, Topolobampo, Frontera Grill and others. It's one of the best margaritas I've ever had and it's the one we make here with astonishing frequency at the Circle B Kitchen. The only change I made from the original is that it calls for 6 tablespoons of sugar, which I don't think is quite enough. I don't like my margaritas real sweet, but if you make them 6 heapingtablespoons, it comes out perfect.
Makes about 4 margaritas
3/4 cup fresh lime juice (about 3 or 4 large limes)
6 tablespoons sugar (make those heaping tablespoons)
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons blanco tequila (I use either the silver or gold and both are good!)
1/4 cup Gran Torres orange liqueur (I use triple sec, but Cointreau is also awesome)
lime wedges
coarse salt for dipping
ice cubes
Combine the lime juice, sugar and 1 cup of water in a large jar or shakeable container. Cover and refrigerate for an hour, but no longer than 24 hours.
When ready to serve, add the tequila and orange liqueur to the lime mixture and shake to fully combine. (The sugar has a tendency to settle to the bottom, so be sure to shake right before pouring).
Rub the rims of your margarita glasses with a slice of lime and then dip each glass in a dish of coarse salt. Add some ice to each of the glasses, shake the margarita mixture well and then pour into the glasses. Place a lime wedge on the rim of each glass, if desired and enjoy!
