Perfectarita 26Jan14

Many iterations are often required to devise optimal solutions. I've adjusted margarita contents and assembly nearly every batch, at least in small increments. The work continued from Phoenix, to the Baja, to the Yucatan to Colorado. While my most recent prior stop stood a 5 year test of time, today I arrived on an entirely different plane. Today I built some Perfectaritas for Kala and me; these were inspired by a quest for heat in the cocktail and some chilies in the crisper. Simple but so excellent... 1 part lime juice (3 nice limes make 1/3 cup for a double batch), 1 part Cointreau, 2 parts Hornitas Plata (Patron Silver would be fine), 1 TBsp of agave syrup, and the juice of one Serrano pepper... yep. Halve and squeeze limes first into shaker then use one lime rind to rim the glasses and dip them into a salt mine, double the mix with Cointreau and then double that mix silver tequila; top it off with the sugar. Mix with a big spoon. The key is getting juice from a Serrano. Prep Serrano(s) by cutting off stem and slicing full length in half and removing all pith and seed material. Might need to cut these halves in half lengthwise for next step, depending on spoon size. Place peppers skin side up on the big spoon and then crush down on them evenly but completely (with another spoon or muddler handle or whatever) without pulverizing them... see the juice flow out (it might get sucked back into the pepper some, no worries). Once all pepper parts have been crushed into the spoon, put all the parts and the spoon itself into the mix; stir and steep and then remove the pepper chunks. Shake well and serve over ice in the salted glasses. Enjoy the stellar, lip-smackin' sweet, hot, acid.