Mango Margarita: Matt v. Ingrid

The other weekend, in addition to the items on our grocery list, Matt came home from Fiesta, the nearby Mexican and Latin American grocery store, with a mango and a coconut. They were on sale! (Apparently). What would be done with them remained to be seen. The word is still out on the coconut, but for the mango, Matt proposed making mango margaritas and put together a recipe a few days later.

Matt's cocktail recipes are usually spot-on, but I have to admit...I was underwhelmed. It was fine! But somehow not the mango margarita I'd been craving since Matt suggested making some. And so, while I'm not the advertised cocktail-maker around here, I thought I'd take a stab at my own version.

So...who made it best?

Matt's Fresh Mango Margarita

2oz tequila

1/2 oz triple sec

1/2 oz lime juice

1/4-1/2 cup fresh mango

1/2 cup crushed ice, plus more for garnish

lime wheel, for garnish

Blend ingredients with crushed ice and serve in chilled glass. Add more crushed ice and garnish with lime wheel.

Ingrid's Frozen Mango Margarita

2 cups frozen mango

4oz tequila blanco

2 oz Cointreau

juice of 4 limes

Blend. Add 6 ice cubes and blend until smooth. Add an additional 6 ice cubes and blend until smooth. At each blending, ingredients will be fully blended once a vortex forms at the top.

Some notes on ingredients and equipment: Matt really wanted to use the fresh mango in his margarita and chose to serve with crushed ice. I found the flavor to be not quite as potent as I was expecting and also the drinkability a little difficult with the fresh pulp and crushed iced, so I opted for some frozen mango, which I thought would have a stronger flavor and also blend up smoothly for a restaurant-like frozen drink. I find that when making blended drinks at home, relying only on blended ice just makes the drink watery and the texture a disappointing second to the kind of frozen drink you'd get from an industrial frozen drink machine. The trick to getting really smooth frozen drinks from a home blender is to use frozen fruit. This goes for smoothies as well as cocktails. I first tried just the frozen mango, liquors, and lime, but it was actually too potent; gradually blending in the ice kept the texture and balanced the flavor. It also helps to have a really strong blender; I love this Cuisinart one we have--it has a classic look and blends ice amazingly well. As for the liquor, margaritas are a cocktail for which the quality of the liquors really make a difference. You can use a generic triple sec, but I've found that margaritas made with Cointreau are noticeably better, so we always splurge on that element. Tequilas can get very pricey, and you're already going big with the Cointreau, so finding an affordable quality tequila brand is key; we really like Espolon, and I prefer tequila blanco, especially for margaritas and other cocktails, as it has a cleaner flavor that doesn't overwhelm the rest of your ingredients. Enjoy!