Blood Orange Margarita

 This is hardly original, but it is the best damn margarita I've ever had. And the proportions are not hard to get right, but easy to mess up.

• 4 oz tequila
• 2 oz lime juice
• 2 oz blood orange
• tsp or so of agave syrup (preferably amber)
  
• pinch salt

The 1:1 ratio of juice to tequila can be altered to 1.5:1 or even 2:1 depending on taste. Blood oranges are only mildly sweet, but definitely not acidic enough without the lime juice.

Agave syrup is to taste. Honestly, I just squeeze in a little, shake the margarita, and then taste. It is easy to adjust the sugar upwards, a little more work to juice some more limes.

Countdown to 40: beyond the margarita

Notwithstanding the classic beauty of the margarita, it is time to invent a new cocktail with tequila. Tanteo's jalapeño infused tequila presents an intriguing opportunity. Smooth and spicy. A favorite of ours is this riff on an old fashioned:

1 1/2 oz. Tanteo jalapeño infused tequila
squirt of agave syrup. I would guess 1/2 tsp.
two stopper-fulls of chocolate bitters

shake with ice. Then splash some pineapple syrup in and shake again. Pour over a single big ice cube and serve.

The next stage is to substitute fresh pineapple for the canned juice, and to treat the drink essentially like an old fashioned. muddle the sugar and pineapple and chocolate bitters, add the tequila, shake, serve up or on a single cube. I would also consider muddling the pineapple without agave syrup, depending on relative sweetness of using fresh juice along with pieces.

watermelon margarita and the existential crisis

We bought a watermelon the other day. This is a very southern thing, and being a westerner, I view it with no small amount of suspicion. In the desert, no fruit would be allowed to hold this much fluid. Not without attracting all manner of beast and foul that would, eventually, spell its doom. Growing up, watermelon was something we found prepackaged in cellophane. I couldn't really figure out what it looked like until I was old enough to piece it all together.

In any case, the point here is that we bought a watermelon, and it turns out they are utter beasts. Not even eating watermelon every day put a dent in this monster. And so I lugged the half we still had up to the kitchen, pulped it, pulverized it in the blender, strained it, and then made watermelon margaritas. The formula went roughly this way:

6 oz. tequila
4 oz. watermelon essence
4 oz. lime juice
1 oz. triple sec
squeeze of agave syrup
turn of the sea salt wheel

Made adjustments with each batch, but this was bout as much as I could get into the shaker at any given time. It was heaven.

Which brings me to the existential crisis. I know this is a simple watermelon margarita, but it was the first one I had and it did not follow the crappy recipes I found online. So I'm claiming it. But I don't have a name for it. Our guests suggested a few names, all of which had my name in it. But I don't want to go there. Instead, I want something that either plays on southern or western themes. But doesn't mix them. Here's what I've come up with:

The Sound and the Fury (Faulkner)
Darl's Potable (also Faulkner)
Evening Redness (McCarthy)
Watermelon Margarita (from the interweb)

Simplifying the Margarita

As I see it, there are two decent recipes for a margarita, at least before one begins experimenting with various fruits, bitters, or specialty liqueurs. One involves triple sec, and one does not. I've made both in the past week, and find them roughly similar. Here is the recipe range:

"Naked"
3 oz. tequila; 1 oz. agave syrup; 1.75 (circa) oz. lime juice (one big lime); dash sea salt

"Dressed"
4 oz. tequila; 1.75 oz. triple sec; 1 oz. agave syrup; 1.75 oz. lime juice (one big lime); dash sea salt

I've tried them on either end of this scale, with splendid results. The key, as always, is fresh lime juice. The latter represents something of a more traditional recipe, but it is a little sweet, which makes it less appealing as an appetite stimulant. Of course, one can omit the agave syrup for an option I might call "nuclear", or (to keep it within the metaphoric aesthetic established here) "Dressed to Kill." Perhaps this is not quite right. After all, omitting the agave syrup is a bit like heading out on the town without any undergarments: the difference may be imperceptible at first, but it eventually gets you into trouble.

Margaritas are all made of stars

In either version of the margarita one can adjust proportions to suit the sweet tooth, the acid lover, and the alcoholic. I have found that the "Naked" recipe above more or less balances the three perfectly, while the "Dressed" tends towards the sweet. Obviously, agave nectar can be adjusted to correct. Or omitted for the young and the restless.

A traditional "Cadillac" margarita substitutes Grand Mariner for triple sec. Grand Mariner is cognac based, and the margarita one creates from this will be heavier than the "Naked" variety. To carry the metaphor still, making this margarita with Grand Mariner might be "Oscar Dress" or "Prom Night." But by now this metaphor is losing its vitality. The point is that you can dress the margarita up or down and make small adjustments based on the relative acidity/sweetness of your limes and the taste of the liqueur. Dress her how you like. Just be careful of letting her undress you.

The tequila I used for all of these was El Jimador, a solid blanco tequila. I'm sure there are better tequilas for making margaritas, but I'm not sure I'd be willing to pay for them. Any suggestions would be welcome, should anyone feel the desire to write them in.