shake  it up baby!

By Renee Hopkins    

Margaritas: a consistent favorite at clubs.

When lounging poolside at any Associate Club country club, a margarita would seem the perfect cool refreshment to top off a sun-soaked afternoon. Wouldn’t you think? But can this sweet and sour tequila concoction find happiness and a home among the drop-dead designer duds sported by city club sympathizers?

Absolutely.

Bar manager Cary Garringer at the Tower Club in downtown Dallas reports that at one recent party, 180 guests went through a dozen gallons of margarita mix. Now, that’s hard-core devotion.

Big D, obviously, is a hotbed for margarita lovers. After all, the origins of the frozen margarita can be traced to Dallas and the drink is a consistent favorite during the city’s long, hot summers, as well as an excellent accompaniment to Mexican food any time.

Phil Farco, bar supervisor at Hackberry Creek Country Club near Dallas, confirms the margarita’s popularity in the area. In Hackberry Creek’s traditional country club setting of golf and swimming, Farco reports, a good stock of margarita supplies is always on hand, especially in the summer.

The origins of the margarita are about as fuzzy as those guests at the Tower Club must have felt after downing those 12 gallons. The most popular legends set that momentous occasion — when tequila, orange-flavored liqueur, and lime juice were first united — somewhere in Mexico, be it Acapulco, Juárez, Rosarito, or Puebla, between the years of 1936 and 1948. Hey, we said it was fuzzy.

The characters in these legends include socialite Margarita Sames, who may have first mixed three parts tequila to one part Cointreau and one part lime juice while hosting a posh party at her Acapulco hacienda. A more romantic tale credits Daniel Negrete, manager of the Hotel Garci Crespo in Puebla, who may have created the drink for his salt-loving girlfriend Margarita.

In any case, one fact among the stories can be confirmed. In the 1950s, a California liquor distributor was pleasantly surprised to find he was selling many cases of Jose Cuervo tequila to the legendary The Tail of the Cock restaurant in Los Angeles. He discovered that a tequila-based beverage called the margarita had become the drink of choice for movie stars who frequented the popular spot. America’s love affair with the margarita had begun.

 

FIRST THINGS FIRST
The secret to mixing a terrific margarita is to start with a terrific tequila. And, yes, there is more than one kind of tequila. In her book Tequila! Cooking with the Spirit of Mexico (Ten Speed Press, 1994), author Lucinda Hutson, of Austin, Texas, says tequila is made not from cactus but from the blue agave plant, which is closer to the lily or amaryllis family.

According to Mexican law, which highly regulates the indigenous alcohol, the four kinds of tequila are: Silver or platas, which is sold fresh from the still and has a taste not influenced by wood or aging; gold tequila, the same as silver, with the addition of colorings and flavorings; reposado, or rested tequila, which must be aged for two months to one year in oak; and añejo, or aged tequila, which must be aged for at least one year in government-sealed oak barrels.

The word “tequila” is derived from an Indian word meaning volcano — not to indicate that tequila packs a fiery punch (in fact, its punch is much cooler), but a reference to the fact that the blue agave plant grows best in volcanic soil. The sturdy popularity of Southwestern and Mexican restaurants has resulted in a surge in the production and sales of high-end tequilas of the four varieties, but especially the añejo tequilas. In parts of the Southwest, particularly, the single-malt Scotch trend has begun to give way to high-quality tequilas. At La Valentina restaurant in Dallas, 45 — count ’em — different tequilas are offered.

 

COLOR  ME  PREMIUM
Both Garringer and Farco use gold or reposado tequila in their margaritas. Hutson, on the other hand, maintains in her book that the best tequila for margaritas is silver, because it has a truer, clearer taste without flavorings or oak tones to interfere with the drink. Many of the premium aged, or añejo, tequilas are meant to be sipped slowly, and you would no more mix a margarita with them than you would, as Hutson puts it, “pour cognac into limeade.”

Silver and gold tequilas also are available in premium brands. For these, you should shop for tequila that is made only with 100 percent blue agave — in other words, with no sugars from any other kind of agave in the mix. Cuervo and Sauza are the largest tequila manufacturers, and each makes 100 percent blue agave tequila: Cuervo Tradicional and Sauza Hornitos, respectively. Other popular brands include El Tesoro de Don Felipe, Herradura (which Farco uses at the Hackberry Creek Country Club), and Chinaco (which Garringer uses at the Tower Club).

Garringer says a standard margarita contains a sweet and sour flavoring, an orange-flavored liqueur, and tequila. A top-shelf margarita features premium tequila, sweet and sour mix, simple syrup, Rose’s lime juice, and fresh orange juice. When making a margarita with well brands, Garringer uses Triple Sec to offer a little more flavor. Farco follows a similar recipe, but leaves out simple syrup. Then, once the base is established, there’s still the issue of personal preference: Salt or no salt; frozen or on the rocks. Says Garringer, only a small percentage of Tower Club guests order their margaritas without salt. And he’s never had anyone ask for a margarita “straight up”; most order theirs on the rocks, and only about 15 percent prefer frozen margaritas.

 

SECRETS OF THE PROS
Some people like to add flavors to their margaritas, though most like their margaritas to taste like, well, margaritas. No one’s ever asked Garringer for a fruit margarita at the Tower Club, but for those with a flair for the exotic, he says he would add peach or mango nectar to the basic margarita mixture, and leave out simple syrup. Lack of interest in flavors notwithstanding, Garringer often features an Ice Blue Margarita with Blue Curacao (see recipe). But, truth be told, there are about as many options for your margarita as there are flavors. “My sister puts a lot of beer in her margaritas,” Garringer admits.

The secret to Garringer’s technique for making margaritas is all in the shake. “The more you shake a margarita, the more the ice gets infused,” he says, “so it’s like a frozen drink with a thick yet smooth texture.”

At Hackberry Creek, Farco serves up top-shelf and regular margaritas, as well as strawberry margaritas and Midori melon liqueur margaritas. His mixing technique is to swirl the drink a la Tom Cruise in the movie Cocktail.

The Associate Club bartenders we consulted use sweet and sour mix, which remains the subject of controversy. According to several margarita purists, including author Hutson, margarita mixes should be avoided because they tend to mask rather than enhance the taste of the tequila. She recommends using the juice of small, yellowish-green Mexican limes called limones or Key limes, if they can be found.

 

FROZEN IN HISTORY
Less confusion surrounds the origin of the frozen margarita. The only person to claim the title of frozen margarita inventor is restaurateur Mariano Martinez of Dallas (do you see a trend?). In his office, Mariano proudly displays a proclamation from the state of Texas attesting to the fact that he invented the frozen margarita in the summer of 1971. He had gotten the idea from the Slurpee machines at the local 7-Eleven convenience store. He then modified a soft-serve ice cream machine to concoct his tasty innovation.

Says Farco, the first rule of bartending is “the blender’s always broken” just because of the mess and the inconsistency of the drinks. To remedy this problem his club has added a new frozen drink machine, far removed in technology from Mariano’s “Slurpee machine.” Indeed, the thick slushy texture of a frozen margarita from a club bartender can be difficult to reproduce with a home blender. Hutson recommends purchasing fruit juices and nectars and freezing them in ice cube trays, then substituting them for ice in the drink. Another tip is to divide the frozen margarita recipe into two batches, freezing one as you swirl the other in the blender with ice.

Remember it’s the tequila that makes your margarita special. Keep tequila in the freezer for icier, less diluted drinks (and also for making nonfrozen margaritas), and use fruit-infused tequila for more flavor. Also, try freezing ripe, fresh seasonal fruits and adding them to your frozen margaritas to produce an icy drink without diluting the flavor. A few possibilities might be peeled and sliced fresh mangoes, peaches, pineapples, melon balls, whole strawberries and kiwis, and bananas.

The proper etiquette for serving margaritas demands a long-stemmed glass rimmed in salt. The purpose of the long-stemmed glass is to keep the contents as cold as possible. The salt, of course, adds flavor.

Chill long-stemmed glasses by rinsing them and placing them stem side up in the freezer for about 15 minutes (never do this with fine crystal). Pour coarse salt on a napkin or in a saucer. Hold the glass upside down, and run a quartered lime around the rim. Lightly twirl the glass in the salt and shake off excess salt so only a delicate crust remains. All of the featured recipes should be served in these lime and salt rimmed glasses. When recipes call for you to “shake,” cover the glass with a stainless steel shaker half-filled with ice, then shake. And remember, the more you shake, the more you infuse the ice with the drink.

Now, you’re ready for the margarita. The setting — poolside, city club business meeting, or even your own front porch — is strictly up to you.

Renee Hopkins, a former food editor of The Dallas Morning News, writes for a variety of publications.

 

TOWER CLUB MARGARITA

  • 3⁄4 ounce Triple Sec or Cointreau

  • 11⁄2 ounces Cuervo Gold tequila

  • 4 ounces sweet and sour mix (see note)

  • Dash (1 count) simple syrup (see recipe)

  • Dash Rose’s lime juice

  • Splash (2 counts) of orange juice (the juice of half a fresh orange)

Combine tequila, sweet and sour mix, simple syrup, Rose’s. Squeeze the juice from half an orange into drink. Shake. Pour drink through strainer into glass, add ice, and garnish with lime.

To make your own simple syrup, dissolve 2 cups of sugar in 1 cup of water for 5 minutes in a small, heavy saucepan. Bring mixture to a slow boil; reduce heat and simmer for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring gently. Store in a glass bottle in the refrigerator.

Note: If you prefer to try the margarita without sweet and sour mix, add lime juice to a regular or top-shelf margarita in the same quantity as sweet and sour mix.
(From bar manager Cary Garringer, Tower Club, Dallas, Texas)


TOWER CLUB ICE BLUE MARGARITA

  • 3⁄4 ounce Triple Sec or Cointreau

  • 1 1⁄2 ounces Cuervo Gold tequila

  • 4 ounces sweet and sour mix (see above note)

  • Dash simple syrup (see above recipe)

  • Dash Rose’s lime juice

  • Dash Grand Marnier

  • 1⁄2 ounce Blue Curacao

  • Splash of orange juice (the juice of half a fresh orange)

Combine tequila, sweet and sour mix, simple syrup , Rose’s, Grand Marnier, and Blue Curacao. Squeeze the juice from half an orange into drink. Shake. Pour drink through strainer into glass, add ice and garnish with lime.
(From bar manager Cary Garringer, Tower Club, Dallas, Texas)


REGULAR MARGARITA

  • 1 1⁄2 to 1 3⁄4 ounces tequila

  • Dash Triple Sec

  • Dash Rose’s lime juice

  • 2 to 2 1⁄2 ounces sweet and sour mix

  • 1⁄2 ounce orange juice

Combine tequila, Triple Sec, Rose’s, sweet and sour mix, and orange juice. Shake. Pour drink through strainer into glass, then add ice and garnish with lime.
(From bar supervisor Phil Farco, Hackberry Creek Country Club, Dallas, Texas)


MIDORI MARGARITA

  • 1 1⁄2 to 1 3⁄4 ounces tequila

  • Dash Triple Sec

  • Dash Rose’s lime juice

  • 2 to 2 1⁄2 ounces sweet and sour mix

  • 1⁄2 ounce Midori melon liqueur

Combine tequila, Triple Sec, Rose’s, sweet and sour mix, and Midori. Shake. Pour drink through strainer into glass, then add ice and garnish with lime.
(From bar supervisor Phil Farco, Hackberry Creek Country Club, Dallas, Texas)


TOP-SHELF MARGARITA

  • 2 ounces Herradura tequila

  • 1⁄2 ounce Cointreau

  • 2 to 2 1⁄2 ounces sweet and sour mix

  • 1⁄2 ounce Grand Marnier

Combine tequila, Cointreau, and sweet and sour mix. Shake. Pour drink through strainer into glass, then add ice. Pour Grand Marnier around the top of the drink and garnish with lime.
(From bar supervisor Phil Farco, Hackberry Creek Country Club, Dallas, Texas)


FROZEN MARGARITA

  • 1 1⁄4 ounces tequila

  • 4 ounces frozen sweet and sour mix

Combine tequila and sweet and sour mix in blender. Blend until mixed. Pour into chilled, salt-rimmed glass and garnish with a slice of lime.
(From bar supervisor Phil Farco, Hackberry Creek Country Club, Dallas, Texas)