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The one drink that is responsible for elevating tequila to such great heights is the Margarita - said to have been named by a sentimental bartender in honour of this young girl who was felled by a stray bullet and expired in his arms. The drink was a runaway success. The classic Margarita is made by shaking tequila, triple sec or cointreau (clear orange liqueur) and lime juice in varying proportions with a lot of ice and strained into a salt rimmed goblet. Alternately, it can be blended with crushed ice and served `frozen'. It is sometimes shaken and then served `on the rocks'. Make a strawberry or peach margarita with the addition of fresh fruit to the original, frozen recipe.
Here's a sample of the many different ways of mixing a Margarita; a) 60ml tequila + 15ml triple sec + juice of 1/2 lime b) 30ml tequila + 15ml triple sec + juice of 1/2 lime c) 45ml tequila + 30ml triple sec + 15ml lime juice d) 60ml tequila + 30ml triple sec + 120ml lime juice + 2tsp sugar The last recipe is recommended for a frozen Margarita. Try them all and then stick to the one you like best.
Maybe you might even arrive at your own special formula. Americans went nuts over the Margarita and our `phoren-returned' yuppies brought the craze back home. But the way tequila is drunk in its natural habitat is thus - a lick of salt, a neat shot of tequila and a suck of lemon. Awesome what?! I tried that in a restaurant once and they looked at me like I'd come from Mars. So I did the next best thing. I salt-rimmed my glass, filled it with ice, squeezed in a couple of wedges of lemon and sloshed the tequila in. It tasted great and I wasn't green anymore.
There are crazy variations to this basic swig combo, innovatively marketed by tequila companies internationally. Pepe Lopez introduced the `Jalapeno Juice' promo which used jalapeno (a hot Mexican chilli) salt as the lick. Briefly, lick the fiery salt, shoot the tequila and generally pass out. Pecos Heat Chili Pepper tequila and TQ Hot from Hiram Walker are the other mindblowing specialities. Then there's the other great classic - the Tequila Sunrise. It's a simple variation of the Screwdriver (orange juice and vodka over ice). Switch the vodka for tequila and add some `grenadine' (pomegranate syrup). The syrup settles at the bottom, creating the sunrise effect. If you can't find pomegranate syrup, use strawberry crush. And try and use fresh orange juice. Makes a helluva difference.
There are other interesting, if not very popular, tequila cocktails. Brave Bull uses 60ml each of tequila and Kahlua (coffee liqueur) poured over lots of ice, stirred and strained into a cocktail glass. Iguana is similar but adds 30ml vodka to the BB recipe. Dirty Mother is BB on the rocks topped with cold milk or cream. Tequila can also be substituted for regular spirit in a great many cocktails. Bloody Maria is a Bloody Mary with tequila, Tequini is a tequila martini.
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