How Steve makes Margaritas

What you will need:

  • A Cocktail Shaker - ideally one with a measure in the lid like this one from Sainsbury
  • A Juice Extractor - these Amazon offerings are superb
  • Good Tequila
  • Triple Sec - I prefer the non-alcoholic syrup variant - some people use Cointreau, which of course makes it a 6 shot drink instead of 4, but I prefer the flavour with the syrup.
  • Ice
  • Limes - usually you need one per serving and they last at least a week usually if you buy a few
  • Coarse ground salt (table salt will do in a pinch, if you don't mind a 'council-house' Margarita)
  • Margarita Glasses - like these

Step-by-step

  1. Fill the cocktail shaker about a third with ice - cubes, not crushed
  2. Cut a lime in half and extract the juice into the shaker measure - on averge this yeilds about 50ml (2 measures) - and add it to the shaker
  3. Add 50 ml of Triple Sec to the shaker
  4. Add 100 ml of Tequila to the shaker
  5. Close the lid and shake for 30 seconds - count slowly - longer is better then shorter, as you want the ice to melt a bit
  6. Add some coarse ground salt to a saucer or small plate
  7. Take one of the half limes you squeezed (fish it out of the bin if necessary...hehe) and use it to moisten the rim of a Margarita glass. To really show off, pour some Tequila into another plate and dip the glass rim in that!
  8. Place the glass, rim-down obviously, in the saucer and move it about so it picks up the salt.
  9. Pour the Margarita from the shaker - excluding the ice - these instructions are for a Classic Margarita, not one of those horrible Margarita Slush-Puppies.
  10. If you want to show off, cut a slice of lime then cut a radius line and hook it over the edge of the glass - I never bother, as it just gets in the way of the drinking!

The above should almost fill the glass, and there you have it - one Margarita

If you end up with less or more than 50ml of lime juice, modify your Triple Sec and Tequila to match - ie the same amount of Triple Sec as lime juice, and double that amount of Tequila.

The shaker in the link above is big enough to make two at once, but remember to use more ice if you do this.