Margarita Recipe?

Care to share your best Margarita recipe?

No

There is only one great Margarita recipe.

Take a generous portion of Herradura Blanco Tequila
Find some limes and Cointreau.
Suck the limes and swill the Cointreau

Make yourself a sangrita as follows:
One Cup of freshly squeezed Orange Juice
1/2 Cup of Tomato Juice
1/2 Cup freshly squeezed lime juice - Colima limes with seeds in only
Finely chopped Habanero Chiles
Smashed garlic in abundance

Drink the tequila neat followed by shots of the sangrita.

A finer libation does not exist except, perhaps, shots of calvados on a fine winter mornng in Normandy but then that takes us into another world, does it not? Never judge the world by what you know.

ferret:

I beg to differ on a couple of aspects of your recipe:
1) "don't use good Tequila" - maybe OK if you are willing to put up with the harsh bite of a marginal Tequila but a good Blanco or even a Reposado should provide a smoother Margarita.
2) the limes should be a Mexican lime and not the variety found NOB as there is a huge taste difference.
3) while I would agree with your serve on the rocks version, for those that prefer "frape" adaptation needs to be made to account for the excess helo.
4) one particularly good adaptation that we have found at the only bar(Del Charro Saloon in Santa Fe) in New Mexico that serves a respectable Margarita (in our opinion) is that they marinate their limes for a minimum of 24 hours in Tequila. Their Margaritas are shaken in a Martini shaker with a couple of the marinated limes and are outstanding.
5) like going out to dinner, our tastes are subjective and to each their own!

Use a good blanco;
2 parts tequila
1 part controy
1 part lime juice
1/2 part simple syrup

Ferret:

Certainly agree on the small Mexican limes. We can sometimes get our hands on them at some of the Mexican markets or our Farmer's Markets. They are a very important ingredient in a good Margarita.

Your generalization about marginal Tequilas being shipped NOB is somewhat accurate but even the uneducated up here wouldn't buy the large plastic jugs. We were in New Mexico's largest liquor outlet yesterday perusing the brands and labels. While they offered 70 or 80 labels, all but 15 to 20 labels would get a second look in Mexico. Given the fact that Mexico is currently producing between 1100 and 1200 legitimate labels, the offerings up here are a drop in the bucket.

Salt is definitely optional! But there is a difference if the salt is applied to the rim with a lime coating versus simple syrup or some other liquid.

There's lots of low grade tequila available in Mexico including many brands I've never seen NOB. Remember, all the major makers export the majority of their production. In a general sense the vast majority of the "best" tequilas ARE available in the USA. However, many smaller "boutique" makers don't make enough to export, so we get access to them here. Also, the US gets many brands that are simply marketing plays. Tequilas such as the skull bottle that CG recently posted and Justin Timberlake's 901 are simply a new label and a marketing campaign. These products are made by a distilleries that puts their tequila in the bottles of many different "brands."

Speaking of "boutique Tequilas", there is a new distillery coming in the near future: Distillery: Tequilera Casa Real Gusto, S.A. de C.V. They are located just off the highway to Colima in Amacueca, Jalisco: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Amacueca,+Jalisco&ll=20.004322,-103.590088&spn=0.437455,0.823975&hnear=Amacueca,+Jalisco,+Mexico&gl=us&t=m&z=10

From information that I received, they have a domestic label: Real Gusto Tequila that is certified organic and will be introduced at the Lake in the coming weeks. Their export label is: Sello Real Tequila. This brand appears to be too new to find much more information on the Tequila Net site.

thanks all. I was using what I thought was the perfect recipe with a bit of syrup as David suggested. Last year, we were buying limes as opposed to picking them from the tree and sadly our margaritas were not good at all. We kept upgrading the tequila-with no success. After this discussion I'm convinced it's the limes. Life is hard!!

The Controy or whatever you choose to use along those lines is an important ingredient. Far too many bars & restaurants NOB use Triple Sec and in my opinion, you don't stand a chance using that. I have seen more recipes calling for agave nectar or agave syrup as a replacement for simple syrup but haven't gone there as yet.

And then the big question: shaken, stirred or blended?

I think Controy, which we can get in Mexico, is the best alternative to the expensive Cointreau. Curacao is good too but triple sec is out as far as far I'm concerned. Good quality ingredients produce a good drink. You don't need to spend a lot on the tequila, any good blanco will do. Reposados alter the flavor due to the wood aging. I don't want wood in my Margharita, but some prefer to use Reposado. Everyone's taste is different and no one is "right" on this issue. As for limes, we have a nice limon tree that yields lots of medium size seedless limes that are excellent in our Margharitas. A variant that I enjoy in the hot weather is use 50/50 lime and lemon juice.

While we have never purchased any Patrón Tequila, we are currently using a Patrón Citronge and I have to say, we like this alternative at a decent price.

I've never tried it but heard it's good. Patron is over priced and of course not routinely for sale in Mexico. Neither is Citronge. Don Julio is over priced and not particularly good IMHO.

The best alternative to Cointrau or Grand Marnier is Torres Orange liquor, unfortunately I have never seen it in Mexico, only in the US or Spain. They make ther liquor with Valencia oranges and the stuff is great for Margarita, flambé and cooking or drinking. .
Brigitte