Drinking proper and correct.

I’m thinking back on other happenings whilst confined to my Cone of Silence and my thoughts return to the weekend before last. You remember, the weekend where the thermometer said it was only 95 degrees outside but it felt like the surface of the sun. I believe that is the weekend some you decided it would be fun to build a shed. Oh the good times. I on the other hand was watching my grill transform pork butt into ham (as reported yesterday).

Being it was so hot outside Dawn and I decided there was only one sane and rational thing to do - make margaritas. Being it was so miserable outside no ordinary margaritas would do – so we were forced to advance the state of margaritas mixology forward. Basically we decided the excess heat demanded some sort of berry addition to the margarita. However, every berry inspired margarita either of us has ever tasted has been a froufrou sugary disaster of a drink – nothing more than Kool-Aid spiked for adults. We wanted a fruited margarita that would remain an honest tart drink despite the presence of fruit.

The important intuitive leap we made was that the fruit should supply all the sweetness in the margarita. This coupled with our predilection for simple drinks led us to the following margarita formula:

• 2 ounces tequila
• 1 ounce lime juice
• 7-9 raspberries
• 7-9 large ice cubes
• pinch course sea salt

Place raspberries into a martini shaker and mash them up (I use the large muddle stick I bought to make Gordon cups – another awesome summer drink). After raspberries are pulped add the tequila and lime juice and ice to the shaker. Shake vigorously until you feel that the ice has started to break into smaller chunks. Pour into a glass and a pinch of sea salt to the top. There you go - a margarita on the rocks, proper. It’s really just four ingredients and there is no fussing around with syrups or salting the rim of glasses. The drink will turn out bright red without being sugary sweet. If you like a saltier margarita you can use a bigger pinch of salt.

Really, this ought to be enough to satisfy you all your margaritas needs….but I sense some of you desire more. Some of you are no doubt elitist and want push the margarita further so they can have a truly original (but honest) drink. Ok, I got you covered. You want to kick it upscale this is what you do – add herbs. No kidding.

Dawn and I tried this variation and where very pleased. Follow the above recipe but add in some thyme leaves when you place the raspberries into the shaker to muddle. Then garnish with a thyme spring skewered through a raspberry. The flavors of the drink are simple enough that the herbal notes ring true. It’s pretty awesome. (Full discloser: the thyme idea was lifted from a less than awesome gin drink I saw in some magazine).

I also have high hopes for a variation where the thyme leaves are replaced with basil leaves. I think a raspberry basil margarita will be pretty great…but I haven’t tried it yet. Also I’m interested in replacing the raspberries with blackberries just to see the color difference in the final drink – I’m guessing it will turn out dark blue or blackish. So much experimentation to do, good thing summer is just starting.