 | |
| Type | Cocktail |
|---|---|
| Ingredients |
|
| Base spirit | Tequila |
| Website | iba-world |
| Standard drinkware | Margarita glass |
| Standard garnish | Half salt rim (optional) |
| Served | Rocks, straight up, frozen |
| Preparation | Add all ingredients into a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. |
Amargarita is acocktail consisting oftequila,triple sec, andlime juice. Some margarita recipes includesimple syrup as well and are often served withsalt on the rim of the glass. Margaritas can be served either shaken with ice (on the rocks), without ice (straight up), or blended with ice (frozen margarita). Mostbars serve margaritas in a stepped-diameter variant of a cocktail glass orchampagne coupe called a margarita glass. The margarita is one of the world's most popular cocktails and the most popular tequila-based cocktail.[1]
The history of the margarita is shrouded in mystery andfolklore due to its numerous origin stories.[2][3] According to cocktail historian David Wondrich, the margarita is related to thebrandy daisy (margarita is Spanish for "daisy"), remade with tequila instead of brandy. (Daisies are a family of cocktails that include a base spirit,liqueur, and citrus. Asidecar and gin daisy are other related drinks.) There is an account from 1936 of Iowa newspaper editor James Graham finding such a cocktail in Tijuana, years before any of the other margarita "creation myths".[4]
TheCafe Royal Cocktail Book, published in the UK in 1937, contains a recipe for a Picador using the same concentrations of tequila,triple sec, and lime juice as a margarita.[5] One of the earliest stories is of the margarita being invented in 1938 by Carlos "Danny" Herrera at his restaurant Rancho La Gloria, halfway betweenTijuana andRosarito,Baja California, created for customer and formerZiegfeld dancer Marjorie King, who was allergic to many spirits, but not to tequila.[6][7][3] This story was related by Herrera and also by bartender Albert Hernandez, acknowledged for popularizing a margarita in San Diego after 1947, at the La Plaza restaurant in La Jolla.[8] The story wasdebunked in 1992 by theSan Diego Reader.[2]
According toJose Cuervo, the cocktail was invented in 1938 by a bartender in honor of Mexican showgirl Rita de la Rosa.[9]
Hussong's Cantina also claims to have been the site of the margarita's creation inEnsenada, Baja California, in 1941.[10] BartenderDon Carlos Orozco reputedly named a new drink after Mexican-German patron Margarita Henkel Cesena, a frequent customer to the cantina.[2] Cesena was a ranch operator by trade, and it is disputed whether she was the daughter of a German ambassador as the story claims.[11][12] Hussong's, however, has enjoyed widespread popularity as the home of the original margarita.[13][14]
There are also claims that the margarita was first mixed inJuárez,Chihuahua at Tommy's Place Bar on July 4, 1942, by Francisco "Pancho" Morales. Morales later left bartending in Mexico to become a US citizen, where he worked as a milkman for 25 years. Mexico's official news agency Notimex and many experts have said Morales has the strongest claim to having invented the margarita.[15]
Others say the inventor was Dallas socialite Margarita Sames when she concocted the drink for her guests at herAcapulco,Guerrero vacation home in 1948. Tommy Hilton reportedly attended, bringing the drink back to theHilton chain of hotels. However, Jose Cuervo was already running ad campaigns for the margarita three years earlier, in 1945, with the slogan, "Margarita: It's more than a girl's name."[16]
Another common origin tale begins the cocktail's history at the legendaryBalinese Room in Galveston, Texas, where, in 1948, head bartender Santos Cruz created the margarita for singerPeggy Lee. He supposedly named it after the Spanish version of her name, Margarita.[17]
The first known publication of a margarita recipe was in the December 1953 issue ofEsquire, with a recipe calling for an ounce of Sierra tequila, a dash of triple sec, and the juice of half a lime or lemon. A recipe for a tequila-based cocktail first appeared in the 1930 bookMy New Cocktail Book by G. F. Steele. Without noting a specific recipe or inventor, a drink called the Tequila Daisy was mentioned in theSyracuse Herald as early as 1936. Margarita is Spanish for Daisy, which is a nickname for Margaret.[18]
A later, certainly false, story is that the margarita was invented in October 1961, at a party inHouston, Texas, by partygoers Robert James "Rusty" Thomson, Miguel "Gonzo" Gonzalez and Oliver "rocket silver" Gonzalez while acting as bartenders. They concocted a mixture of equal parts tequila,Controy orange liqueur, lime, and crushed ice in a salt-rimmed glass.[19][20][21]
TheIBA (IBA Official list of Cocktails) standard is 10:4:3, that is, tequila:triple sec:fresh lime juice.[22]
The "Original Margarita" recipe, as given by Cointreau on their website, has slightly more of their own sweet liqueur: 1 part white tequila,1⁄2 part Cointreau, and1⁄2 part fresh squeezed lime juice.[23]
Apple-cinnamon tequila, triple sec,cranberry juice, fresh lime juice, and an apple wedge or lemon twist for garnish combine to form the Cranberry Margarita With Apple-Cinnamon Tequila, a fall seasonal drink.[24]
BesidesCointreau, other orange-flavoredliqueurs that might be used includeFlor de Azar (yielding an all-Mexican margarita),Grand Marnier (yielding the "Cadillac Margarita"), Gran Gala, other brands oftriple sec, orblue curaçao (yielding theblue margarita). When sweeter fruit juices or freshly puréed fruits are added to the margarita, the orange-flavored liqueur is often reduced or omitted. In addition to orange-flavored liqueurs, secondary liqueurs may occasionally be added to a cocktail, including melon-flavored or black raspberry-flavored. Other flavors include pineapple and watermelon.
Freshly squeezed lime juice is the key ingredient. The most common lime in the United States is the thick-skinnedPersian lime. However, margaritas in Mexico are generally made with Mexican limes (Key limes). These are small, thin-skinned limes with a more tart and often bitter flavor than Persian limes.[25][26]
The frozen margarita is a margarita served as anice slush, similar to other tropical-inspiredfrozen mixed drinks like thehurricane orpiña colada. The ingredients can be processed with ice in a kitchenblender, or for larger output, a slush or soft-serve ice cream machine is used: a cooled, horizontal cylinder has a rotating impeller that churns the mix so it will not freeze solid, and the thick half-frozen slush is dispensed from a spout. Frozen margaritas were first served inLa Jolla, when Albert Hernandez Sr. stopped using crushed ice and instead combined the ingredients in a blender in 1947.[8][27] The dedicated frozen margarita machine was introduced byMariano Martinez in Dallas in 1971.[28]
Alemonade orlimeade[29] margarita can be quickly whipped up by using frozen lemonade or limeade concentrate in place of lime juice.[30]
Fruity sodas such as fruit punch, lime, pineapple, or mandarin orangeJarritos, orsports drinks such as blue or orangeGatorade,[31][29] can substitute for triple sec.[32] A margarita made withorange soda and beer is a sunrise beer margarita; if it is made with carbonated fruit punch soda, it is a sunset margarita.[33] The variant that uses grapefruit soda is called aPaloma.
Alternate fruits and juice mixtures can also be used in a margarita. Fruits likemango,[34]peach,strawberry,[35]banana,cranberry,melon,raspberry,blueberry, oravocado[36] are suitable for creating this drink.Orange juice andpomegranate juice (poured down the inner side of the glass) can make a sunset margarita (so named because the orange is at the top and the red at the bottom).[37] Many recipes call for a splash of orange juice. These days, margaritas can be prepared in many different ways. When the word "margarita" is used by itself, it typically refers to the lime or lemon juice margarita. Still, when other juices are used, the fruits are typically added as adjectives in the name, with lime juice or lemon juice added to give it a characteristic margarita flavor (a wedge of lime is often added to the glass). Other varieties of margarita include fruit margarita,top-shelf margarita, and virgin margarita.
Coconut cream,coconut milk,[38] andcoconut water[39] can also be added to margaritas, e.g., skinny margaritas that substitute, e.g.,pineapple juice for liqueurs.[40]
Margaritas can also be made with vegetables such ascarrots,[41]beets,[42]cucumber,[43] andcelery.[44]
A beergarita (or Coronarita)[45] is abeer cocktail that has a bottle ofCorona beer or other light-flavored beer[46] poured upside down into a margarita on the rocks.[47]
A skinny margarita may be purportedlylower in calories (possibly usingartificial sweeteners), agave sweetened triple-secs likeFlor de Azar, or one that uses fresh juices rather than aprepared mix.[48]
One recipe uses fresh lime juice, orange juice, andagave nectar.[49]
Another recipe uses only tequila and some concentrated lime juice.[50]
A spicy margarita is a variation that incorporates chili peppers or other spicy ingredients. It is usually made with tequila, lime juice, and orange liqueur, with heat typically added through fresh peppers (such as jalapeño or serrano) or a chili bitters, such as Caliente Bitters.[51] The drink balances spiciness with acidity and sweetness and is often garnished with chili salt, a pepper slice, or lime. The spicy margarita became popular in the early 21st century and is commonly featured on contemporary cocktail menus.[52]
A margarita with vodka substituted for tequila is akamikaze.
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Margaritas may be served in a variety of glasses, most notably themargarita glass, a variant of the classicchampagne coupe; this is particularly associated with blended fruit margaritas, and the glass is also used for dishes such asguacamole orshrimp cocktails. Margaritas are often served in a standardcocktail glass in formal settings. In contrast, in informal settings, particularly with ice, margaritas may be served in anold fashioned glass,cocktail glass,wine glass,pint glass, and even largeschooners.
The margarita cocktail was the December 1953 "Drink of the Month" inEsquire magazine, with this recipe:[53]
It was further popularized by the 1977 song "Margaritaville" byJimmy Buffett. In 2004 it was described as "the most popular mixed drink in America".[54] It was used in the title of the 1983 single "Margarita Time" by the English rock bandStatus Quo and was the inspiration for the cover artwork.[55][56]
The margarita may be popular because it includes salt, sweet, and sour flavors.[57]
