Tuesday, June 24, 2008

THE Mexican Mojito



THE STORY: Below the recipe
THE MORAL OF THE STORY IN CASE YOU DON'T WANT TO READ THE STORY: Must Try
THE RECIPE: Right Here Baby

The following makes a single drink:

5-6 mint leaves, torn up (Use 6 if you like mint)
2 lime wedges or half of one key lime (cut into 2 wedges)
3/4 oz 1800 Silver Tequila
3/4 oz Cointreau
1 oz Sweet & Sour Mix (we use Mr. & Mrs. T)
1/2 oz Agave Nectar Syrup (I find this in my organic section at Publix)
2 oz club soda

In the glass you will be sipping from, place your torn mint leaves. Squeeze the juice from your limes into the glass and then drop limes in. Take a muddler or back of spoon and gently smash the mint and limes together. This will release the oils from the mint as well as the lime rind. Fill glass halfway with crushed ice.

In a cocktail shaker with ice (just to make the alcohol cold) add your tequila, cointreau, sour mix and agave. Shake well, strain ice and pour into glass. Top off with the club soda. Stir and enjoy.

If you're making more than one drink at a time, just do it the same way but double up accordingly in the cocktail shaker and then pour into each glass. I just highly recommend muddling the lime and mint into the glass you will be sipping from. I also recommend topping that glass off with the club soda rather than mixing it with the other ingredients in the shaker.

I urge you to try this, especially since Terry & I worked so hard to bring it to you. If you try it, write me and let me know how it turns out and I will send you something Mojito-ish.


Muddler for the Gentle Smashing of Lime and Mint


This one pictured would have 3/4 oz on one side and 1 1/2 oz on the other. The one we bought was a multi jigger so just one side had all the ounces

THE STORY: I don't pass on a recipe unless it's tried & true and this one has been TRIED!!! We met the Mexican Mojito on our drive home from vacation. It was June 11, a day I will never forget....ok, ok....so it was at a chain Mexican restaurant, On the Border, in Gainesville. I don't usually do chain Mexican since we are 1-2x a week regulars at a genuine one a couple of miles from the house but this one was outstanding. I ordered a mojito because I was thirsty. Well, it was delicious and even Terry loved it.

So, we ask for the recipe, they gave it up, we tried it. Couldn't duplicate. Tried it again. Failure. A little too sour, a little too sweet. We knew the ingredients were probably just not balanced precisely enough. After all, they called for 3/4 oz of this and 3/4 oz of that and eyeballing was just not good enough. A week later after many attempts, Terry stopped by the restaurant and got the skinny, and a mojito. They confirmed not only the measurements but that we indeed needed to be precise with this drink & the best way to do that was with a jigger, pictured above. It measures liquids on the 1/2 and 1/4 ounces. Even the best of bartenders use jiggers, they said.

We also needed to make sure we were releasing all the mint & lime oil by using a muddler. That I knew. So naturally, we bought a jigger & a muddler. This weekend, waiting for jigger, but with muddler in hand, we had a brilliant idea to quadruple the recipe thereby turning 3/4oz into 3oz. Lo and behold, we were reunited with the Mexican Mojito. Pure perfection. Funny thing - as Terry & I were sipping on this refreshing & minty concoction, the jigger shows up in the mail. It will and has been used but quadrupling seems so much more intoxicatingsensible. We are also pretty convinced that the way in which you do this matters.
all like Yeah and high fiving eachother
fabricated a reason to drive the 1 1/2 hrs all the way back to the restaurant, something about having to visit one of his hospitals and make a sale
in the mood and needed some alcohol to escape my depression because vacation is over

6 comments:

The Rockin' Wife said...

We love mojitos, (and I love tequila, imagine that) so I will try this for sure. Gotta love the muddler. The Husband got a Tommy Bahama gift certificate once, and instead of buying a shirt we used it for a muddler. Best purchase. Ever.
Thanks for the tip for the header. I will look at all that when kids have gone to bed.

I missed your blog. I figured you were in some kind of "vacation euphoria" I am glad you had a super vacation.

Welcome back....

Beachy Mimi said...

Thanks for the recipe and the advice about the muddler. Be trying that, soon

Jules from "The Roost" said...

That looks VERY refreshing! I am glad to know about the muddler:) Thanks for stopping by my site too.

Anonymous said...

Hi, I'm a college friend of Jessica's (The Bressington Crew) and I just got done hosting a "Sex in the City/Mojito" party, with your recipe. It was a big hit! Loved it, even went and purchased a muddler for the event. Thanks so much! Brandi

Anonymous said...

Hi, I'm a college friend of Jessica's (The Bressington Crew) and I just got done hosting a "Sex in the City/Mojito" party, with your recipe. It was a big hit! Loved it, even went and purchased a muddler for the event. Thanks so much! Brandi

Olivia said...

I fell in love with the Mexican Mojito last Christmas when my husband and I stopped for dinner at On The Border in NC. After enjoying one again last night at our local On The Border I searched online for the recipe and low and behold I found your blog!
I sent my husband out for the ingredients and instead of agave nectar syrup he came home with apricot nectar and picked up tonic water instead of club soda... I tried substituting with the stuff we had and it was not very good... The tonic water ruined it!
We don't have Publix here and we're having a hard time finding agave nectar. But we'll keep searching 'cause these are just too darn yummy to give up!