Classic Margarita
It used to be that the only choice you had to make when you ordered a margarita was “blended” or “on the rocks”. Whichever answer you gave, what you got had four ingredients: lime, tequila, triple sec and ice. It always came with salt on the rim and it often came in a kitschy glass with a stem shaped like a cactus. During our long, dark, cold winters it’s a given I start making them in January hoping they will give me the strength to carry on until summer. Their power to remind me of the sun is so strong, indeed, so necessary that tequila and triple sec are the only two things you’ll always find in our bar cabinet while other ingredients come and go.
Mexico is to America what the south of Spain is to the UK. It’s the place people dash off to when winter has become too overbearing and the only remedy is a sun lounger next to a pool in a place where clouds have never existed. At least for the five all inclusive days while you are there. If that sun lounger also includes a person in a uniform who periodically comes by to ask if they can get you another drink you’re in the spiritual heart of the margarita.
I blame the American chain restaurant Applebees for the trend of messing with the classic margarita to the point it is difficult to call it a margarita. They started to come in all flavors, many colors (including blue) and in containers that had more in common with buckets than drinking glasses. That is all well and good but best of luck finding that version anywhere south of the Rio Grande River.
The classic is fine for me, thanks. In our house it is a 2-1-1 ratio of tequila, triple sec, lime juice shaken if we’re energetic enough to wash up the cocktail shaker or just put into a glass with ice and stirred. They are great for a group because you can mix a big pitcher of them and have it waiting for when people come by, especially with some guacamole and chips. In the summer, ideally. With loungers but no uniforms because when the margaritas meet the sun they are in their natural, carefree habitat and nothing is wrong in the world.
