The Original Margarita
4.2 120 ratings
Ingredients
How to make
Serve in a old-fashioned glass
Method
- 1 Select and pre-chill an OLD-FASHIONED GLASS.
- 2 Prepare garnish of rim glass with lime juice and sea salt before making cocktail. Add a lime wheel slice to finished drink..
- 3 SHAKE all ingredients with ice.
- 4 STRAIN into ice-filled glass.
Flavour profile
23.5% alc./vol. · 1.8 standard drinks · 181 calories
History
There is disagreement regarding the creator and timing of the original Margarita recipe, with Margarita Sames, a socialite from Dallas, most frequently credited. Nevertheless, there is widespread agreement that the original recipe consisted of only three ingredients: tequila, Cointreau triple sec, and lime juice. The classic proportions, dating back to 1937, are 2oz (60ml) tequila, 1oz (30ml) Cointreau, and 1oz (30ml) lime juice. The currently adopted recipe slightly reduces the quantities of tequila and sour lime juice relative to the rich liqueur to achieve a better-balanced cocktail. Depending on personal preference, a teaspoon of agave syrup may still be added in addition to the three "original" ingredients.
The first written reference to this cocktail appears in the July 19th edition of the Albuquerque Journal as a "Tequila Daisy," but the proportions are not stated. The recipe of 2 parts tequila, 1 part Cointreau, 1 part lime juice, which is recognized as today's Margarita, first appears in W. J. Tarling's 1937 "Cafe Royal Cocktail Book" under the name "Picador." Tarling's 1937 recipe does not specify a brand or style of tequila, and his recipe calls for lime or lemon juice, but he does name Cointreau as his liqueur of choice. Who added the salt rim and renamed the Picador a Margarita is debated by cocktail historians. A full story of the Margarita cocktail may be read while sipping one.