A Really Delicious Margarita

So, aside from many years in the kitchen I also spent a few behind a bar and have, in my opinion, perfected a few libations.

In a shaker with a lot of ice add 2/3 cup of tequila, 1/3 cup of orange juice, a heaping tablespoon of sugar, and the juice of 1 very juicy lime. Shake like crazy. You’re done. Yup, that’s basically it. If you like things sweeter you can add a couple tablespoons of triple sec, or more sugar. Pour it over lots of ice. Ice is key to a good cocktail. It will be pretty strong but the ice will dilute it (especially if you shake for a couple minutes). This is about two drinks worth.

If you want to salt the rim of the glass you rub a piece of lime along the edge of the rim, only on the outside since you don’t want the salt actually inside the drink. Then just roll the edge in kosher salt. You gotta use kosher, the regular kind just comes out weird.

If you want to make a frozen margarita, or any frozen drink, the trick to a really smooth one is this-
Fill the blender almost to the top with ice and leave about 2 inches at the top. Pour in your alcohol and sugar and blend it until it’s smooth. The liquid should not go further up the ice than half way so if there's more than that hold it aside. If the mix is too solid for the blender to really spin add in a little more liquid at a time. A frozen drink will tend to need more sugar than a rocks one. One trick I've found for Margaritas is to use a coouple tablespoons of frozen concentrated orange juice instead of fresh, which you will need to add in at the same time as the alcohol and sugar. After you have your smoothly blended base, add in the rest of the ingredients and blend for another second just to mix everything in. If you are using whole fruit, like frozen stawberries, then add that in the initial blending with the ice, alcohol and sugar.

By the way, if you have heard that Margaritas are crazy high in calories they are referring to restaurant Margaritas which are usually full of this stuff called LemonX which is chock full of corn syrup and is just pretty gross. If the restaurant is using fresh juices you are much better off both flavor wise and calorie wise.