Change Your Margarita by Swapping Liquor and Citrus Fruits
Happy weekend and welcome back to Happy 3 Ingredient Hour , a weekly drinks column featuring very simple yet delicious libations. Today we’re going to play with a sweet and tart three-ingredient icon: margarita.
While various mid-range chain restaurants may convince you otherwise, margarita is a very simple acidic mix of tequila, sweet liqueur (usually orange liqueur), and lime juice. It’s nice and doesn’t need to be customized, but we’ll customize it anyway because it’s fun and we like to have fun. Using tequila as a base, you can substitute for both sweetener and citrus to create a border with all of your favorite flavors. I’m still obsessed with the dry almond cherry liqueur known as maraschino, so I used it, but you could use banana liqueur, limoncello (steam with lime juice for double citrus action), or even fruit brandy. For citrus fruits, lime is never bad, but lemon, Meyer’s lemon, and grapefruit (paired with the right liqueur) are all delicious. To prepare my cherry and lemon situation you will need:
- 1 1/2 ounce tequila
- 1 oz Luxardo Maraschino liqueur
- 3/4 ounce lemon juice
Add everything to a shaker filled with ice and shake until the shaker is too cold to hold. Fill a coupe or lowball glass with crushed ice if you like. If you need salt, skip the salty edge and try adding some salt directly to your drink .