How do you make frozen margarita like Dallas BBQ?

[Ramius]

I´ve tried and tried many times now to make frozen margarita. If you feel the video recipe to the right is bullshit, then this thread is for you.

I have completely ditched the fresh lime, because it sucks. I first discovered this drink when I visited Dallas BBQ in Manhattan.

Their version have these intense flavour. Problem is, how? When you have a drink thats filled with blended ice, that is basically watered down. How do you preserve the intense flavour?

I´ve already tried with lime and lemon syrup, as well as some types of margarita mixes, and they do take me one step closer to achieving that taste, but not fully.

And if I use too much syrup, then the water content is too high, and the drink separates.

[Freakmills]

I think I may try everfresh lime juice

[Dapuma]

xatham gum

You need a bit of molecular gastronomy

Xanthan gum is a thickening agent produced by fermentation, it is used in molecular gastronomy to thicken sauces and dressings as well as to make fat-reduced, no-ice cream milkshakes that are just as thick
Properties

The main property of xanthan gum is its ability to significantly increase the viscosity of a liquid. This effect is noticeable at concentrations of xanthan gum as low as 1%. The viscosity of xanthan gum solutions is variable. Indeed, it decreases during mixing and returns to its original balance when the product is put back to rest: this property is called "pseudo plasticity”. Xanthan gum is mainly used for its properties as a thickener and stabilizer, although it can also act as an anti-settling agent.

It dissolves easily in all liquids, hot or cold, and is stable under a wide range of temperatures and pH levels. Once heated, xanthan gum loses texture.

Combined with other types of natural gums, xanthan gum can be used to form gels that are resistant to acidic ingredients, whereas traditional gels like pectin and gelatine are not.

The anti-settling properties of xanthan gum can be favorably used in mixology, or the art of cocktails. For example it allows ingredients to remain suspended, such as pieces of fruit in molecular cocktails. It can also be used to reverse the components of a cocktail, whereby the heaviest alcohol becomes the element that floats.

http://www.molecule-r.com/en/content/... < for the full amount of info

[Ramius]

Is Finest Call an american brand? I´ve tried out two of their syrups lately. Somehow my frozen drinks became pretty good. They didnt separate or anything. Then I discovered, they have xanthan gum in it.

And compared to other syrups, they seem to use less chemicals in their products.

[Ramius]

Bump

Just tried mixing the drink using a syrup without xanthan gum, with the same recipe. And it separated quite fast.

Is there a natural altnernative to xanthan gum? That prevents the drink from separating?

[hawkeyeui93]

Ramius: Here's what I learned about making "sweet" frozen margaritas in Texas. Take a can of frozen limeade, a blender full of ice, and fill the can with 2/3rds tequila and 1/3rds Cointreau (or your favorite triple sec). Blend, garnish glass appropriately, and enjoy.

[Ramius]

Yeah I just saw a couple of recipes on this from youtube. You get these boxes of lime juice that you can put in the freezer? We dont have that here.

I just bought Finest Call margarita mix. Gonna try that out.

[hawkeyeui93]

Do you have access to a fresh lime juice product made with sugar? It would work, but the sweetness I think you were enjoying was caused in part by using a lime juice concentrate generally sweetened in the United States by High Fructose Corn Syrup/Sugar [HFCS].

[Ramius]

I just made a good one with Finest Calls syrup. That was yummy. But I followed their recipe, which says you need three times as much syrup, as you do tequila. This would never occur to me naturally.

35 ml of tequila, then 90 ml of syrup. I wonder what it would taste like if I applied those proportions to fresh lime juice.

[tommy]

Sour. Either way you probably aren't tasting any tequila.

[Ramius]

Thats one of my concerns too. Because in Dallas BBQs margarita, you most certainly are tasting tequila.

So with all that other stuff mixed in, perhaps I should use a stronger tequila than blanco, which only contains 40%. Perhaps I should be using a slightly more aged tequila that has 60%?

[tommy]

I don't know of any 120 proof tequilas.

I'd be very, very surprised if one could taste tequila in the frozen margaritas at Dallas BBQ. It's probably preferable to not, as I'd be even more surprised to hear that they are using a 100% agave tequila, and not some crappy mixto.

Perhaps they are boosting the alcohol "flavor" with grain alcohol.

[tommy]

I would guess they do it using a high fructose corn syrup based mix.

[Ramius]

Or does the syrups perhaps work better when added after the traditional drink is finished?

[tommy]

The syrups don't work at all to my mind because they taste nothing like fresh lime juice, tequila, or cointreau.

[Ramius]

First of all, you need sugar or a sweetener in the drink, to make it good. All good bartenders knows this, and thats why the video embedded on the right sucks. Its too purist.

Contrieu is not part of the traditional recipe by the way. Triple sec is. Because Triple sec is a milder version, with 23% alcohol, which makes it sweeter, while Cointreau is 40%, making it just as strong as the Tequila Blanco. Such a drink will only be strong, and not have the sweet and sour sitrus aroma at all.

So far the best I´ve managed to do, is combine,
One shot Tequila
One shot Triple Sec
Half a shot of lemon syrup
Half a freshly squeezed lime

I can always up the lemon syrup by many times, but that will make the drink separate. How do they keep the drink together? Mine separates very quickly.

[tommy]

Good bartenders know that no sweetener is necessary, and not even called for in traditional recipes. Maybe a dash of simple to round out the drink, but nothing in the order of mixes that Dallas BBQ very likely uses.

You dismiss the recipe for being "too purist", and then go on about "tradition." Which tradition?

Cointreau is a triple sec. It's just that it's a good triple sec, rather than a horrible triple sec.

The proof of Cointreau has little bearing on how much citrus flavor is in the cocktail. That's easily adjusted by more or less lime juice.

[Veggo]

IMO, that's not nearly enough fresh lime juice. My personal ratio is 2-2-1 agave tequila, fresh lime juice, Grand Marnier. I rim the glass with agave nectar, then sea salt.

[hawkeyeui93]

Cointreau, a high quality triple sec, is in my traditional recipe ....

[Ramius]

This is the way I like it:

[breadwinner]

My trick for margaritas is using frozen limeade/lemonade juice concentrate. I try avoiding margarita mix, it's usually watered down and a ripoff.

My usual recipe for 2 drinks:

3 oz frozen limeade/lemonade concentrate
3 oz silver tequila
1 oz triple sec
splash of orange juice
1/2 tray of ice (it makes a drink that's slightly thick but still drinkable)

If you're into it, add a handful of berries, like strawberries or cherries. In the picture, I added some Bing cherries. It was delicious!

You can add more juice concentrate if you like a stronger citrus flavor.

[Ramius]

But those glasses are so small. You can´t possibly be an american.

The HUGE GLASSES are what made me fall in love with this drink. And how many limes must you squeeze to freeze enough for a drink?

Unless you have a good source for this... that can´t possibly be how they do it.

I mean, they must have some sort of ultra concentrated type of syrup.

[biondanonima]

How about starting with frozen lime juice instead of ice (or at least part juice). That way the blending medium is already flavorful. Or frozen margarita mix?