If you’ve ever been to a Mexican food restaurant, then you should be familiar with the margarita.  Anyone who has lived in Texas for any period of time should be familiar with this simple masterpiece.  Falling into both camps myself, I am very familiar with the margarita. Very.

Here’s the good news: margaritas are simple and customizable.  I truly don’t believe there is one specific way to rock the rita (but there are some wrong ways).  We all have different tastes, and indulging our individual tastes is part of why home mixology is so fun.

Sadly, I am disappointed in most restaurant margaritas.  They normally contain artificial sour mix, which honestly grosses me out (high fructose corn syrup plus citric acid just isn’t lime juice).  But whatever, if that’s your thing, or the place you go makes them with real ingredients, then more power to you.

The frozen branch of the margarita family doesn’t happen to be most appealing to me, though I’ll allow they play an important role in warmer climes.  I think frozen ones are best when they’re from one of those big stirring machines, which is not commonly done at home.  You can rent one (which I’ve done), or you can buy one from Sur La Table, but you risk causing the nation’s economic collapse.

Furthering the need to make margaritas at home: regrettably, not all parts of the world offer convenient Mexican restaurant options.  We faced this situation living in London, and I hear from a trusted source that Israel has the same issue.  But most parts of the world do provide access to the ingredients you need to make your own.

One way not to customize a margarita is by adding aloe vera juice to the mix.

blechhh

I read about all these possible health benefits of drinking aloe juice, and thought I’d give it a try.  My adventurousness was ill-considered.  The liquid smells like Bactine, and I can’t tell you what it tastes like, because it was far too nasty to keep in my mouth long enough for my mind to work out a description.  I got a bit down, but I don’t feel any better for having done so.  EE actually spit it out. 

I had thought aloe might play well with a margarita by being a relative of the agave plant (they’re both in the order Asparagales).  I was wrong.  Nothing could play well with aloe.

Agave (l) and Aloe (r) seemed similar enough to be good together.

Luckily, a classic margarita was able to right my wrong.  Margaritas have always been common around here, but I’ve recently been making a lot of Ginger Margaritas.  They have a little more zip, but don’t lose the beautiful balance inherent in a margarita.

How can you share in this bounty? Like so:

Ingredients

1 tequila (pick it yourself; everyone has a different taste)

3/4 Domaine de Canton’s ginger liqueur

1 lime’s juice

Combine in a glass and stir with a few pieces of ice.  Fill glass with ice.  Garnish with wedge of lime.

The classic margarita simply replaces the ginger liqueur with orange liqueur (Cointreau is probably most classic, but I’ll allow that Grand Marnier is common as well).  I’ve made one here:

As stated above, ritas are customizable.  If you want it up, serve it up.  If you want it on the rocks, serve it on the rocks.  If you want salt, add salt.  If you want it frozen, serve it frozen.  If you want it sweeter, add more Cointreau.  If you’re into tequila, use more tequila.  If you don’t care about tequila, use cheap tequila.  If you’re making for others, give it the way they like it.

Margaritas rock.

* P.S.: Mad props to Sur La Table for embracing the South Park episode and linking to it from the Margaritaville machine page