World Famous Mike Boyle Margarita

My mom’s favorite drink was the margarita, but over the years she often would mention that most she tried were “just OK.” So I promised her I would come up with a recipe that would not only rock her world, but rock the entire world. The result is a recipe that won her over, and has won numerous formal competitions, as well as informal taste tests ever since. It’s simple, it’s easy, and here it is:

Take a glass and run a lime around the rim, and then dip the glass in KOSHER salt, and then fill the glass with ice cubes (not shaved or crushed). In your blender, pour one part of a good high quality tequila, and then add 3/4 to one part triple sec. The more triple sec, the less the bite of the tequila. Then add a good sweet and sour, about two and a half parts, and then blend thoroughly. When the drink is completely blended, pour the contents in the glass on the rocks, and then add a splash of soda water to the top. Then add a lime wedge to the glass and you are ready to go.

A couple of side notes: Do not blend the drink with ice. I am not a believer in frozen margaritas, virgin margaritas and I strongly object to margaritas with no salt. These are not margaritas as far as I am concerned, but rather some bastardization of the margarita. Further, when you blend, be sure to blend completely to get the ingredients thoroughly mixed, and add the soda after to soften to tartness of the sweet and sour. Probably the most important ingredient is the sweet and sour, and if you have a choice of which item to spend a little extra on, make it the sweet and sour. Finally, kosher salt is the salt of choice, not table salt.

There you go. Please further realize that I am a professional, and would not suggest you try this at home, but if you must, please remember to add a bit of that secret and precious ingredient that I put into every margarita I make: a little bit of care, and a lot of TLC.

BUENA SUERTE (Spanish for “good luck”)