Cinco de Mayo week: The Margarita

Margaritas on the Rocks

With Cinco de Mayo right around the corner, now is the perfect time to start planning your fiesta.  This week will be focused on different recipe ideas as well as highlights on local mexican cuisine in preparation for the celebration. 

Today's featured Cinco de Mayo must have is the margarita.  What better compliment to the aromatic food from appetizers to the main course than this sweet and tart drink!  And with many different flavored margaritas, you can match up your bar menu to compliment your food menu with ease. 

The margarita is the most popular drink in the U.S. today with an average of 185,000 margaritas consumed daily.  Most people may not even be aware of it, but the margarita was created by an American, Dallas socialite Margaret "Margarita" Sames in 1948 while on vacation in Mexico.  And some more trivia you may not have known, the U.S. is the number one tequila market, even larger than Mexico.  Of course, it should be said that the U.S. is three times the size of Mexico.

Fresh is best

Making delicious margaritas is much easier than most think.  So skip the pre-mix you just add your alcohol to and try these easy recipes for tasty margaritas.

One important thing to remember when making your margaritas is to use fresh ingredients whenever possible.  For margaritas, that means fresh squeezed limes and strawberries.  Also be sure to splurge and use the good tequila as well as Cointreau instead of triple sec.  You'll thank yourself for making these small adjustments and so will your friends!

Classic Margarita on the Rocks

• 3 ounces Patron Silver tequila
• 1/2 ounce Cointreau
• 2 ounces fresh squeezed lime juice
• 1 ounce sugar water syrup
• 1 Tbsp salt for rim 

 Using this easy recipe eliminates the need for store bought sour mixes and will be an instant hit.  The sugar water syrup is easy enough to make too.  Simply use 1/4 cup of water to 1/4 cup of sugar and heat the mixture on low heat until all the sugar is dissolved.  You can also make a larger batch and store in a sealed container in the fridge for about one month.

Roll the limes on the counter before cutting 

Frozen Strawberry Margarita

• 3 c strawberries, pureed (frozen will give a deeper color than fresh)
• 3/4 c Patron Silver tequila
• 1/4 c Cointreau
• 1/3 c fresh squeezed lime juice
•  2 Tbsp honey
• 3 c ice

Add all ingredients to blender, serve in sugar or salt rimmed glasses.  It's noted in the recipe that frozen strawberries can be used versus fresh.  They will give the drink a deeper color of red than using fresh strawberries.  When using fresh, try to use the reddest ones you can get your hands on that aren't overripe and they'll give you the deeper color rather than the pink color you would normally get.