The perfect margarita plus the perfect side dish

I am in the middle of testing various brands of liquors for this drink. Currently I am using Jose Cuervo gold teloila for the base. It is a common statement that quality of ingredients is so important in preparing various dishes. I find this particularly accurate in making drinks. I have tried various low cost brands and generally wind up throwing them out.

Currently I am using contreau orange licquor and I find it quite crisp and refreshing... although it is extremely high at around 27 dollars for a very small bottle. However, I am open to any suggestions that anyone cares to put forward.

Here is a very nice dish to go with this. If you have other mexican dishes in mind please post them. The only comment I can make for the following recipe is that I much prefer flour tortillas to corn tortillas. I like to buy the 5 or 7 inch round shells and then fry them up myself.

Mexican Nachos

Note: This is a Dean Fearing recipe from Mansion on Turtle Creek

Tortilla Chips:

1 dozen corn tortillas
Approximately 1 cup vegetable oil
Salt to taste

Cut fresh tortillas into quarters.

In a deep-sided pan bring oil to 375 degrees over high heat.
Deep fry tortilla quarters for 2 to 3 minutes or until crisp. Drain
on paper towel. Salt lightly if desired.

Mashed Black Beans:

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cups canned and drained black beans or 1 cup dried black beans
1 onion chopped
1 clove garlic chopped

Optional

2 to 3 slices bacon chopped
dash of chili powder
1 serrano chili seeded and chopped
1 cup chicken stock
Salt to taste
Ground black pepper to taste

Heat oil in a large saucepan and lightly saute onion, garlic, bacon
and chili.

Add beans and stock. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer
uncovered till thickened a little. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Remove from heat.

Cool slightly and place beans in a food processor or blender.
Using the steel blade, blend until beans form a chunky paste. If
beans have too much liquid place in a skillet and cook until liquid
has evaporated and beans are of a spreading consistency.

Guacamole:

3 large avocados
1 jalapeno chili blanched in hot water and seeded
1/4 cup finely diced onion
1/4 cup finely diced tomato
1 1/2 tablespoons lime juice or to taste
Salt to taste
Ground black pepper to taste

Garnish: Shredded Jack cheese

Peel seed and mash avocados with a fork. Do not make a smooth puree.
Mince jalapeno chilito to get 1 tablespoon or to taste. Combine
jalapeno with avocado and remaining ingredients. Stir to blend.
Cover and set aside for at least 30 minutes to allow flavors
to meld.

Red Salsa:

Oil for coating baking pan
2 jalapeno chilies
1 onion peeled cut in half
2 cloves garlic peeled
4 medium ripe tomatoes peeled
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro leaves
Salt to taste
Ground black pepper to taste
Juice of 1/2 lime or to taste

Preheat oven or broiler to 500 degrees.

Place jalapeno chilies onion and garlic on a baking pan and roast
in oven for about 10 to 15 minutes. Chilies should be slightly soft
and blackened. Allow to cool.

Chop tomatoes and run through fine blade of a food grinder along
with jalapeno chilies onion garlic. Fold cilantro into tomato
mixture. Season to taste with salt pepper and lime juice.
Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Salsa will keep for 2 to 3 days.

1. Guacamole may be made up to 3 hours ahead. Place an avocado seed
in prepared guacamole to prevent discoloring. Cover tightly and
refrigerate.

2. Beans may be made up to 2 days in advance and stored covered and
refrigerated.

3. Red salsa may be made 2 to 3 days in advance and stored covered
and refrigerated.

Preheat broiler.

Spread crisp tortilla chips lightly with mashed black beans.
Add a dollop of guacamole. Spread with a sprinkling of cheese.
Place under broiler for 1 minute or until cheese melts.

Place thin slice of jalapeno chili on each broiled nacho if desired.

Serve with red salsa for dipping.

Yield: 48 nachos

Tortilla Chips

Note: 350F is a little high at least for flour tortilla chips. 300F is
a little better. Be sure to salt them a little when you take them out of
the oil.

1 dozen corn or flour tortillas ( flour tortillas are excellent)
oil

Salt to taste

Cut fresh tortillas into quarters. In a deep-sided pan, bring oil to 350
degrees over high heat. Deep fry tortilla quarters for 2 to 3 minutes or
until crisp. Drain on paper towel. Salt lightly, if desired.

Tortilla Shell Pans

Note: Use small tortillas

Preheat oven to 375F

Lightly spray pans with pam or similiar item. Press tortilla into pan
making sure the tortilla follows the shape of the pan.

Bake 7 to 9 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes then remove from pan.

Fill with whatever.

Tacos

8 flour tortillas
4 oz creamy style goat cheese, room temperature
1 C Refried Beans
4 oz Monterey Jack Cheese, shredded

melted butter

2-3 Jalapenos, diced thin
Guacamole or Avocado slices
mild or medium salsa
lettuce


Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Spread the tortillas with equal portions of goat cheese. Add spoonfuls
of beans, sprinkled Jack Cheese and jalapenos. Fold the tortillas in
half and transfer them to a baking sheet.

Brush the tops of the tortillas generously with melted butter and bake
them 5-8 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the tortillas are
crisp or lightly browned.

Let them cool for a couple of minutes and then stuff some of the
lettuce mixed with salsa and other ingredients inside each taco.


Tim

On the margaritas, it would be worth finding a decent, relatively inexpensive blanco or maybe a reposado. I find these make for better drinks than Cuervo, with more of that genuine, slightly salty tequila flavor. I haven't tried it, but El Tesoro blanco has a good reputation and it runs in the low $20's. For the orange liqueur, I think you are using the best available with the Cointreau. If you want to ratchet the price down a bit, though, you might look for triple secs made by Marie Brizard or Luxardo. Both make good drinks and cost less, but are more difficult to find. Also, are you going with fresh lime juice or with Rose's? I find fresh a little more difficult to work with as it seems that limes vary in sourness. I think they're worth the trouble, though, as long as the limes are in good shape and you squeeze them shortly before use.

Of course, if you make any changes based on the above, you'll need to do extensive re-calibration of your recipe which in turn means extensive tasting!

As Mike already said, don't use Cuervo Gold...it's a joven abocado and gold only by courtesy of caramel coloring, and by definition only 51% agave. Use the real thing, a 100% agave tequila. Probably your best choice is el Jimador Tequila, either blanco or reposado, depending on how full-bodied you want your 'rita to be. Tesoro is good. So is Camarena (softer styled though).

Cointreau is the best; that's why it's expensive. If you're looking for alternatives, there's Combier Triple Sec for a crisp, dry orange taste...but if you already have Cointreau, you're fine. You use small amounts anyway (too much masks the agave nature of the tequila.)

Fresh limes is the only way to go. If for some reason your limes are too tart, use just a touch of agave nectar, which is easy to find in grocery stores these days. Better than sugar, and has that agave taste to reinforce the nature of the drink.

Here's the important part: use lots of ice, mix it all in a shaker, and shake vigorously before pouring into a glass. It makes a big difference.

Salt rim on the glass is up to you.

If you're looking for authenticity, another drink that would fit, and you would more likely find in Mexico, is the La Paloma: tall glass, ice, silver tequila, lime juice, grapefruit juice, and fill the glass with Squirt Grapefruit Soda. That, more than the margarita, is really the standard drink in Mexico. (And if you want to make it a little exotic, top with a small bit of Luxardo Maraschino Cherry Liqueur...sort of a highball takeoff on a Hemingway Daiquiri with tequila instead.)

I made a list of the suggested alternatives. I suspect some of these will really be difficult to find but testing with them should be interesting. I do use fresh limes but I toss in a little of Jose Cuervo mix to balance them out.

I have been using just a touch of bar syrup but have now switched to fine bar sugar. I will try the agave nectar if I can find it.

Tim

Sorry, Tim, you lost me at the Cuervo Mix. Nothing but sweet and sour chemicals with an awful lot of sugar.

Sorry, Tim, you lost me at the Cuervo Mix. Nothing but sweet and sour chemicals with an awful lot of sugar.

I agree... I lost myself on this. I think I got started when either the limes were particularly bad or dry or I just got a bit lazy. As of today this is no longer a practice I will follow... about time I think.

Tim

Seriously, try the agave nectar, Tim. It's widely available, has become fairly cheap, goes a long way and is all around great for sweetening.

It's the first dripping of the cooking of the agave root bulb and it's a different form of sugar (that's why they have to cook the agave thoroughly, to change the sugar from unfermentable inulin to to glucose/sucrose.) The inulin nectar is significantly sweeter than sugar (thus goes a long way) and is very good for diabetics---a natural form of non-sugar sweetener, as it were.

It's great for margaritas because it maintains the agave character. But it's also great for other sweetening uses as well. Lots of bartenders now use it instead of simple syrup.

Tim - If you have a Trader Joe's nearby, they stock agave nectar at a very reasonable price.

IMO, keys to a great margarita:

o 100% agave tequila (I use Hornitos reposado)
o Cointreau or Grand Marnier liqueur
o fresh lime juice

-Paul W.

Yes, Trader Joes had the agave... actually two types. Their employees generally have a very good knowledge of their products but didn't seem to be that familiar with these... especially the darker type. I bought the lighter type for the drinks and today I bought the darker to try on pancakes or something. I still do not know whether you have to keep this in the frig after opening.

I found the El Jimador reposado at my supermarket. After the initial shock of making a drink with this instead of the cuervo... a hugh difference in taste... I found I very quickly got attached to the El Jimador. A very nice drink and I am enjoying it tremendously. Tomorrow I am going to pickup the blanco El Jimador and try that. That is about the range available at my supermarket.

Here is the link to where I buy my wine and spirits. They have a range of tequilas but none that was recommended unless I just plain missed it. I did find the Combler triple sec on their website.

http://www.binnys.com/

I have learned a lot from this post. Here are some things that I think I now know. The plant that this drink is derived from is one heck of a plant... twelve years in the growth cycle. Also I think that the blanco is the same as a silver brand and perhaps a bit stronger in taste. Also I need to be careful and not buy something that is like a 100 or greater proof. One sip of that and I would be under the table. The website did label one of their tequilas with the word... danger. I also like the taste of the blue agave nector... much better than using simple syrup.

Tim