I use to bartender as well, and I learned a great trick.... Regardless of your your margarita reciepe, put a splash of Orange Juice.
It makes such a huge difference. Not a lot, really just a splash... Difference maker.
Another thing that makes a big difference is to shake your drinks. Obviously not anything with soda, but all others makes a difference. Go ahead and try it, make two long islands. Shake one and don't shake the other, the shaken one will taste better.
Two biggest "secrets" I learned bartending
It makes such a huge difference. Not a lot, really just a splash... Difference maker.
Another thing that makes a big difference is to shake your drinks. Obviously not anything with soda, but all others makes a difference. Go ahead and try it, make two long islands. Shake one and don't shake the other, the shaken one will taste better.
Two biggest "secrets" I learned bartending
If you are making your own at home, the type of ice is the key. Most people already know this and I'm sure you do to as well but for those of you who just take a recipe and crush any ol' ice you normally get when you buy ice from the general store for coolers.....you will be disapointed. To do it like the restaurants you need the filtered water ice. The kind of ice that looks clear when frozen. Any ice that looks cloudy and you crush it with your margarita recipe it will come out foamy and sticky....it will be like drinking out of a sno-cone, you drink all the juice but all the ice remains. You gotta get the right ice texture for sure. Filtered water ice! Clear ICE not the Cloudy ice!
Enjoy
Enjoy
Tended bar for 20 years and have made thousands of Margarita's. Aside from the obvious stuff, much of it already mentioned, I always used a very chilled glass with the rim well lubricated with a good sized piece of fresh lime and then dipped into real bar type margarita salt (not table salt)..
View attachment 12570
Jose Cuervo Margarita Salt will work..
During my BT days I went for taste and not a lot of frills like you may see today - typical looking Margarita circa 1975...
View attachment 12571
You can keep all the frills - IMHO a good Margarita came down to it's taste and kick...
All cocktail recipes are based on classic cocktails. This is where Mixology began, this is when the Shaking started.
The Margarita is one of the classics..
From long ago memory - have not tended bar since the very late 80s..
2 Oz Tequila - usually white but nothing wrong with gold.
1 Oz Orange liqueur (always preferred cointreau, but a simple triple sec is good enough, especially if working service area for waitresses)
Juice of 1 lime or lemon (prefer limes) - pre-made and stored in quart bottles in busy establishments.
0.5 Oz of simple syrup.
Bar Ice cubes or crushed ice
Bar tools used: Bar Shaker - Strainer set.
Glass: Margarita, Martini, large Old fashioned, or Rock glass to tase of patron.
Prepare your chilled glass with salt (it should be noted saltless margaritas are not uncommon)
Step 1: Add your ice into shaker.
Step 2: Pour Tequila and Triple Sec or Cointreau into the shaker.
Step 3: Add the lime or lemon juice. Remember most bars had prepared lemon/lime mix in ready to pour bottles equipped with pourer's.
The fresh squeezed lime or lemon juice is something I saved for house parties or private mixing of drinks at dinner parties etc..
Step 4: Shake it hard - a dozen times or so.
Step 5: Strain the cocktail into your already will chilled glass or strain over ice (margarita on the rocks)
Step 6: Optional - Place a slit wedge of lime on the rim of the glass. I always skipped this needless step as the patron only had to remove it anyway before he/she could drink the cocktail (no little straws with real margaritas lest you lose the salt taste)..
Step 7: Serve on a cocktail napkin like you mean it.
I used a trick when pouring cocktails from a shaker to always pour out of the tin half (never the glass half of the shaker). The tin not only kept your cocktail cold longer it allowed you to show off if you knew how to do it correctly of running out of cocktail at the exact time the cocktail glass was filled to exactly where you wanted it to be. Even if you made a bit too much.
Just a little trick of the wrist is all it took to be right everytime with that shaker whether it was Martinis, Manhattans, Sours, Stingers, Grasshoppers and dozens of other shaker drinks..
Believe it or not showmanship behind the bar is not anything new. When the movie "Cocktail" with Tom Cruise came out I had been flipping shakers and bottles for years already...
Alas those days are long gone for me now....
Forget blenders....
wil...
View attachment 12570
Jose Cuervo Margarita Salt will work..
During my BT days I went for taste and not a lot of frills like you may see today - typical looking Margarita circa 1975...
View attachment 12571
You can keep all the frills - IMHO a good Margarita came down to it's taste and kick...
All cocktail recipes are based on classic cocktails. This is where Mixology began, this is when the Shaking started.
The Margarita is one of the classics..
From long ago memory - have not tended bar since the very late 80s..
2 Oz Tequila - usually white but nothing wrong with gold.
1 Oz Orange liqueur (always preferred cointreau, but a simple triple sec is good enough, especially if working service area for waitresses)
Juice of 1 lime or lemon (prefer limes) - pre-made and stored in quart bottles in busy establishments.
0.5 Oz of simple syrup.
Bar Ice cubes or crushed ice
Bar tools used: Bar Shaker - Strainer set.
Glass: Margarita, Martini, large Old fashioned, or Rock glass to tase of patron.
Prepare your chilled glass with salt (it should be noted saltless margaritas are not uncommon)
Step 1: Add your ice into shaker.
Step 2: Pour Tequila and Triple Sec or Cointreau into the shaker.
Step 3: Add the lime or lemon juice. Remember most bars had prepared lemon/lime mix in ready to pour bottles equipped with pourer's.
The fresh squeezed lime or lemon juice is something I saved for house parties or private mixing of drinks at dinner parties etc..
Step 4: Shake it hard - a dozen times or so.
Step 5: Strain the cocktail into your already will chilled glass or strain over ice (margarita on the rocks)
Step 6: Optional - Place a slit wedge of lime on the rim of the glass. I always skipped this needless step as the patron only had to remove it anyway before he/she could drink the cocktail (no little straws with real margaritas lest you lose the salt taste)..
Step 7: Serve on a cocktail napkin like you mean it.
I used a trick when pouring cocktails from a shaker to always pour out of the tin half (never the glass half of the shaker). The tin not only kept your cocktail cold longer it allowed you to show off if you knew how to do it correctly of running out of cocktail at the exact time the cocktail glass was filled to exactly where you wanted it to be. Even if you made a bit too much.
Just a little trick of the wrist is all it took to be right everytime with that shaker whether it was Martinis, Manhattans, Sours, Stingers, Grasshoppers and dozens of other shaker drinks..
Believe it or not showmanship behind the bar is not anything new. When the movie "Cocktail" with Tom Cruise came out I had been flipping shakers and bottles for years already...
Alas those days are long gone for me now....
Forget blenders....
wil...
