So, there aren’t really any photos of this weekend’s Test Kitchen.  Our subject was margaritas, and I’m honestly just getting over the hangover three days later. So here’s a picture of a puppy.

The Mix

Really? I tried. I couldn’t do it. I don’t know enough about mariachi music or dirty southern rock to make a DJ mix out of it, and that’s what I think of when I think margarita.  I tried going with downtempo, but that don’t really represent margaritas to me. I tried a reggae feeling to the mix, with no joy. Just didn’t work. I even tried to think of kind of a latin house playlist, but unfortunately my kung fu is not particularly strong in that genre. So, I will post the song that the mix started out with and see if anyone has any great ideas for me. That being said, I didn’t want to make you suffer for my shortcomings.

Manu Chao – Me Gustas Tu

Battle Margarita

I sent out the call for recipes, and the people responded in force. Unfortunately, we were somewhat limited in our options. We could only test recipes on the rocks due to the lack of blender (Sorry Sue, Tom, and Sandy), and some recipes were just a little out of our budget (Patron? Really?). So we tested 3. A traditional margarita from Peru by way of Philly dubbed the “Mama D,” a slightly classier version out of Florida that we called the “Vita-rita,” and an unholy abomination (or so we thought…) known as the “Beergarita.” After fortifying ourselves with chips, salsa, beers, and some fresh pico de gallo, we girded ourselves for battle.

As a disclaimer, we used Sauza for all our recipes.

The Mama D

• tequila
• triple sec
• fresh lime juice
• simple syrup

Direct quote from the message: “fresh lime juice, triple sec (a little) like you wave it over the pitcher, simple syrup, decent grade tequila…..lime on the glass brim, salt (none of that sugar crap) healthy shot of tequila, ice….traditional”

Now, we had to kind of guess on ratios, so we may not have replicated it entirely faithfully, but this was REALLY REALLY good. Elina called it “frisky,” Jory felt it was “very good,” and “a great summer beverage.” Erica called it “tangy and limey,” and my opinion could be summed up as “AWESOME.” I think this recipe got very close to the core of what I was trying to do with the concept. The only “special” ingredient was the simple syrup, which I learned how to make from the link above. We ended up going with two parts tequila and lime juice to one part simple syrup. Different drinks had different amounts of triple sec depending on how much attention I was paying. Moving right along…

Beergaritas

• 1 can frozen limeade (thawed)
• 40 oz beer
• tequila

Dump the limeade in a pitcher. Fill the empty limeade can with tequila. Dump the tequila in with the limeade. Then pour that 40 in there. We used Budweiser.

How could this be good? We approached it like we’d get a t-shirt that said “I survived the Beergarita.” But after we all took our first sips, a stunned silence spread through the room. It was GOOD.

Jory summed it up best with “That doesn’t offend me!” Erica, who (to be fair) had a head start on all of us, called it a “fizzy margarita” then giggled for about 45 seconds. Elina simply said, “I don’t like beer, but I like this!” All I could say was “SUPPLIES!” It was really much better than we expected. Certainly the furthest from the norm of the competition, full of HFCS, and without art, but somewhere in there we got REALLY REALLY drunk. (Except for Elina.)

The Vita-rita

• Rose’s Lime Juice
• tequila (Sauza was in fact, specified for this one)
• Grand Marnier
• orange juice
• lime
• orange

2 parts tequila, 1 part Rose’s lime juice, 1 part Grand Marnier. A splash of orange juice. Shake with ice, salt rim, garnish with wedge of lime and a slice of orange.

I was honestly expecting this one to win the day. It was certainly the strongest we’d tasted. However, reviews were mixed. I said, “tastes like tequila,” which wasn’t a bad thing. I enjoy drinks that don’t mask their main ingredients. Elina called it “fresh,” and Jory just thought it was “average.” Erica’s assessment was “I don’t know…” followed by more giggles. Erica was pretty out of commission by this point. To be fair, I was definitely boozed up when making this, so I may not have followed the recipe super faithfully. I may retest at a later date.

Who came out victorious in Battle Margarita? The Mama D took top honors. The Vita-rita and Beergarita tied among the judges, but the non-traditionality of the Beergarita puts the Vita-rita in second by default. I’d like to thank all the people who submitted recipes, even if they didn’t get to step up to the stage of battle in this round. Never again shall margarita mix even be considered an option.