Margarita — Most margaritas you've had are wrong — they're sour

Most margaritas you’ve had are wrong — they’re sour bombs drowning in triple sec.

Ingredients

• 2 oz silver tequila
• 1 oz fresh lime juice, squeezed from actual limes
• 1 oz orange liqueur
• 1 lime wheel
• Garnish: coarse kosher salt
• Garnish: a lime wheel

Method

Start with the salt rim — this is the make-or-break moment. Cut a notch in your lime wheel and run it around half the rim of your rocks glass. Not the whole rim — you want the option to sip without salt. Pour coarse salt onto a plate and roll just the wetted part of the glass through it. Tap off the excess. Now grab your shaker and fill it with ice. Add the tequila first, then the lime juice, then the orange liqueur. Shake hard for twelve seconds — you want this ice-cold and properly diluted. The shaking also creates tiny air bubbles that give the drink its creamy texture. When you stop shaking, the shaker should be so cold it hurts to hold.

Serve

Serve this over fresh ice in your salt-rimmed rocks glass. Double strain if you want it completely smooth, but a few ice chips never hurt anyone. Drop that lime wheel right on top.

Pro Tip

Here’s the pro tip that changes everything: squeeze your lime juice fresh, but let it sit for ten minutes before you use it. Fresh-squeezed lime juice is almost too bright — those ten minutes let the flavors settle and become more rounded. Also, when you’re salting the rim, use kosher salt, not table salt. Table salt is too fine and too harsh. Kosher salt has the perfect crystal size and clean flavor.