Norteño Margarita Recipes

THE PERFECT MARGARITA

Steps:

• Moisten the rim of a glass with a lime wedge. Sprinkle salt onto a plate. Lightly dip the moistened rim into the salt. Place a large ice cube in the glass and freeze the prepared glass until ready to serve.
• Fill a cocktail shaker with fresh ice. Add tequila, triple sec, and lime juice. Cover and shake vigorously until outside of the shaker has frosted. Strain into the prepared glass and garnish with a slice of lime.

CLASSIC MEXICAN MARGARITA

Steps:

• On a dish or cutting board, pour and flatten a pile of coarse salt like sea salt or Kosher salt. Don't use table salt, as it will clump up and make your drink very salty.
• Cut a lime in half. Reserve one half for the margarita and cut the remaining half into two wedges. Run a lime wedge along the entire rim of the glass. Be sure it's wet enough so the salt can stick.
• Invert your glass and press into the salt so it sticks to the rim.
• Place the salted glass upright into the refrigerator to chill as you mix up your margarita.
• Pour the sugar into a deep sauce pan.
• Pour the water over the sugar.
• Place sugar mixture on the stove and set the heat to medium-high.
• Use a wooden spoon to stir the mixture constantly so the sugar dissolves faster.
• Once the sugar completely dissolves, remove from the heat.
• Pour the syrup into a container. You should end up with about one cup of natural syrup. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the syrup for the margarita. Cover and store the rest for another use. The syrup will keep for up to three days.
• Add ice cubes to a cocktail shaker. If you have big pieces, you can bang them on a hard surface to break them up a bit, but you do want to keep the pieces on the larger side. Ice that's too small will quickly melt and water down your drink.
• Squeeze the juice from 1 1/2 limes into a small cup or bowl and remove any seeds. Pour the fresh lime juice into the shaker.
• Next add the sweetener, tequila and triple sec.
• Place the top back on your shaker and shake vigorously for about 20 seconds to combine.
• Remove the chilled cocktail glass from the refrigerator.
• Carefully pour the contents of the shaker into the glass, including the ice.
• Garnish with a slice of lime.

REAL MARGARITAS

Steps:

• If you like margaritas served in a glass with salt, rub the outside rims of 6glasses with a cut lime and dip each glass lightly into a plate of kosher salt.
• Combine the lime juice, lemon juice, Triple Sec, tequila, and ice in a blender and puree. Place extra ice in a cocktail shaker. Fill with margarita mix, shake well, and strain into glasses.

CLEMENTINE MARGARITA

Steps:

• In a small saucepan, combine the clementine zest with 1/2 cup of water and 1/2 cup of sugar. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved, then turn off the heat and let cool.
• Combine the juice from the clementines, the juice of 1 lime and the cooled simple syrup in a large pitcher. Stir to combine. Add tequila, if desired.
• In a resealable bag combine the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar with the food coloring. Shake and massage the bag to combine the food coloring with the sugar.
• On a flat plate, combine the colored sugar and salt and spread evenly across the plate. Dip the rims of 4 margarita glasses in water and then in the sugar mixture. Fill the glasses with ice and evenly distribute the margaritas among the glasses. Garnish with slices of lime and serve.

MARGARITA

Steps:

• Combine sugar and water and allow to dissolve. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Serve cold or over ice.