How to make the tequila-chile cocktail

In order to understand the chi chi rodriguez cocktail And what is to drink one, it is useful to distinguish which Chi Chi Rodriguez it is named, because there are two: the one you probably know is the Puerto Rican Golfer Swashbuckling by making a little dance where he claimed that his putter was a sword. While the other Chi Chi is a fictitious drag queen (played by John Leguizamo) of the 1995 film In Wong Foo, thank you for everything! Julie Newmar. And if it was not easy to look at him, this spicy little, peppery and flowery drink bears the name of the latter.

The Chi Chi Rodriguez was invented by Cassandra Feather, in the part of the lion in San Diego. The pulse for the drink was the torrid love story between vanilla and passion fruits – passion fruits are a stage thief in the front palate with electric acidity, which is completed by the resonant sweetness of low and persistent vanilla (a combination cartographed in a clear way by the Martini de Laté). Then the pen started to tinker, using tequila Instead of vodka and the addition of lime, and if it had stopped there, it would be a delicious but forgettable cocktail. But she did two other things to improve it – first, she dosed it with a few Habanero dye dashes, and also, in an improbable way, she epissed half a spirit of Poblano Chile called Ancho Reyes Verde.

Poblano! Part of your brain might think that vanilla and green vegetable pepper from Poblano Pibos could go together, even if I would say that it is far from being obvious, and even less for passion fruits to be held there too … but it is the magic of the magic of tequila. High quality tequila has frequently a note of green pepper as an integral part of the flavor profile, and the Chi Chi Rodriguez recruits which brilliantly affinates, a lesson in the power of the tequila to absorb the vegetable flavors without breaking.

In relation: The 50 largest tequilas of the 21st century (so far)

The resulting cocktail is viscerally refreshing, juicy and brilliant, but also deeply flavored and complex. This is the kind of drink that people tend to love, seated in this happy part of the Venn diagram which joins “interesting” and “delicious” – it is there for you in a cocktail bar if you want to think of each sip, but it is also there for you in Happy Hour Monday if you just want to shoot a few spicy shots Margaritas Because it's Cinco de Mayo. I have done this literally hundreds of times for hundreds of different guests and he always lands, and I even put it on a advice menu, where he has remained the best seller for a year. It's a good drink. It is, as mentioned, spicy, peppery and flowery – Feather has also shunned the edge of the glass with a house raspberry Tajin, giving it even more color and flair, this is how the name Chi chi rodriguez floated in its head.

In a fun way, she did not even know the existence of a real life Chi Chi Rodriguez until she put the cocktail on the menu, and the guests began to ask her why her cocktail was named after an 80 -year -old Puerto Rican Golfer, an error she likes to correct. The cocktail is flamboyant, colorful and spicy. “It's garish and fun,” she says, “like Chi Chi.” The other.

Chi chi rodriguez

Add all the ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice and shake hard for six to eight seconds. Pass in a glass of rocks or get into a class of cocktails which is bordered by Tajin (also optional).

Notes on the ingredients

White tequila: As with the standard Margaritas, I would recommend the budget side of the respectable tequila here. You need it to be 100% agave and you would like it to be without additives, but the deep and earthy complexity of superior quality white is lost in the middle of so many flavors. My perennial recommendations on this front are Cimarron, Real de Valle, Olmeca Altos or Lunazul. There are many brands that would be great here, but these are the ones with whom I have the most experience.

Vanilla: The cheapest way here is to make a vanilla syrup, which is quite easy: take a cup of sugar and a cup of water and a clove of vanilla divided in the middle and simmer everything together in a pot for about five minutes (stirring at the beginning until the sugar is dissolved). Vanilla syrup is delicious in coffee and strawberry silts and it is worth having them if you like to tinker with flavors.

Another option is to use the vanilla extract, in which case, it is a cup of sugar and water and about half a tablespoon (or up to a full tablespoon) of vanilla extract. No need to simmer in this case, just stir it long enough for the sugar to dissolve.

And a final option here is to use a vanilla liquor, like Giffard Vanille or Licor 43. It is expensive and will spoil the sweetness (it is less sweet than syrup, and is also delivered with evidence of alcohol, you will therefore have to use more or add syrup to adapt), but it works technically. Basically, you just want vanilla anyway that you can get it.

Passion fruit: Passion as a flavor is slightly boring to get (your local supermarket probably does not have it), but the resulting rarity is one of the things that are convincing and exciting for passion fruit cocktails, and I insist that it is worth it.

There are many quality producers: Perfect Puree, Boiron and Funkin, in the order in which I prefer them. Easily order online or in specialized grocery stores. Just note that they vary a touch of acidity, so the resulting cocktail may need modifications (the above recipe has been made with perfect mash in mind).

Green Kings: Widely available and delicious. Note that there are some different ancho reyes products – here you want the verde, the poblano liqueur, not the Ancho Chili standard. It is slightly sweet and slightly spicy, but also 80 proofs and is more versatile than it seems.

Habanero Bitters: This drink likes a little additional spices. It doesn't need it but loves it. The simplest and most expensive way is to buy scrappy fireworks dyeing, but there are half a dozen ways to get heat in a glass, like punching a pepper in the box or infusing the mind. Also – there is nothing magical in Habaneros, against the Jalapeños or the Serranos or anything else (the green peppers will accentuate the note of green pepper in the Ancho Reyes). Recruit the quantity of heat you would like, keeping in mind that the Ancho Reyes will already come with a touch of spices, so if you are careful, maybe try first without additional heat before starting to add.