Mai Tai Recipes

[JoNorvelleWalker]

If you recognize what you have done in time then you can always scale up the other ingredients to match the error. Drink is better and you have more of it.

 

That is what I would call a win, win!!!

 

Good point.  Wish I had thought of it at the time.  Unfortunately to do so would have meant slicing up another dollar's worth of lime.

[tanstaafl2]

Good point.  Wish I had thought of it at the time.  Unfortunately to do so would have meant slicing up another dollar's worth of lime.

 

In the pursuit of drink perfection it is a notable but small sacrifice!

[Kerry Beal]

Funny where we draw the line on what we are prepared to pay!

[Plantes Vertes]

When I make a drink I congratulate myself on saving money because I did not buy it in a bar. It would take a lot of limes to persuade me against this pleasant way of lying to myself.

[Anna N]

I've learned your secret:  a drink with only three ingredients to measure!

Exactly. My brain doesn't do long ingredient lists for food or drink.

[lesliec]

Exactly. My brain doesn't do long ingredient lists for food or drink.

 

But that would seem to remove the Mai Tai from contention.  Which would be a shame.

 

I have a more practical suggestion: make sure your Mai Tai is your first drink of the evening.  Then a simpler second drink will be (a) doable and (b) probably not necessary.

[Kerry Beal]

 

Sorry Jo.  Sometimes I just can't help myself!

[brinza]

If you recognize what you have done in time then you can always scale up the other ingredients to match the error. Drink is better and you have more of it.

 

That is what I would call a win, win!!!

Exactly.  To mitigate the extra 1/4 oz of Cointreau, a little more lime and and extra float of Lemon Hart over the top would take care that easily!

[JoNorvelleWalker]

IMG_1151.jpg

 

Sorry Jo.  Sometimes I just can't help myself!

 

Yes, you are cruel but that's just a bit less than what I was paying for first quality limes not that long ago.  How much are your limes that are not reduced, and from what country do they come?

 

Tonight is cold and raw.  I needed something to warm me up -- a mai tai, naturally!  Same recipe as last time except Grand Marnier rather than Cointreau:

 

1 oz Pusser's

1 oz Wray & Nephew

1 oz Smith & Cross

3/4 oz Grand Marnier

1 oz fresh lime juice (generous, since sadly it took a whole ungiving lime)

1/2 oz orgeat

 

 

Grand Marnier works at 3/4 oz, Cointreau can't be more than 1/2 oz or it gets bad.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

But that would seem to remove the Mai Tai from contention.  Which would be a shame.

 

I have a more practical suggestion: make sure your Mai Tai is your first drink of the evening.  Then a simpler second drink will be (a) doable and (b) probably not necessary.

 

The invention I would like to see is a well calibrated ounce measuring glass with my mai tai recipe on one side and the zombie recipe on the other.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Because I am scientific:

 

1 oz Pusser's

1 oz Wray & Nephew

1 oz Smith & Cross
1/2 oz Cointreau
1 1/4 oz fresh lime juice

1/2 oz orgeat

 

 

This works well.  Dinner is another bowl of peanuts, ras el hanout and Kosher salt.

[Kerry Beal]

Yes, you are cruel but that's just a bit less than what I was paying for first quality limes not that long ago.  How much are your limes that are not reduced, and from what country do they come?

 

 

Not sure where they are from - the regular ones were 3 for $2 but they were big and light - didn't look good at all.  These reduced ones must have been what was left of the last batch they had and looked better than the 'first quality'.

 

The one I used for a Mai Tai for hubby last night was lovely and juicy and yielded about 1 1/4 ounces of juice.  

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Wish I had stocked up when limes were a dollar.  Today I paid $1.25.  Soon the "hundred dollar mai tai" will be easy.

[haresfur]

Wish I had stocked up when limes were a dollar.  Today I paid $1.25.  Soon the "hundred dollar mai tai" will be easy.

 

You do make me feel better about the cost of drinking here.  But I'm sure your mai tai still costs much less than making them with our highly taxed liquor.

[Kerry Beal]

Indeed - here in Canada the price of limes is not the financial rate limiting step of a mai tai!

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Kerry, I was wondering if you source your round, green mai tai components from Cuba?

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I want to like Appleton 12 in a mai tai, I really do.  Having replenished my Pusser's tonight I concocted:

 

1 oz scant Appleton 12 (because of how sloppily I poured it)

1 oz S&C

1 oz scant Pusser's (last of the old bottle)

1/4 oz W&N (to make up the difference)

3/4 oz Grand Marnier

1/2 oz orgeat

1 oz fresh American lime juice, dearly priced

 

 

It just wasn't very good.  Poured in and stirred some more orgeat, Grand Marnier, and quite a bit of W&N.  Much better.

[lesliec]

Jo, I have to despair at your continuing to use limes in Mai Tais!  To my taste (admittedly averse to sour) they make the drink thin, insubstantial.  Go with 1 Appleton, 1 W&N, ½ Curaçao (Grand Marnier is fine), ½ orgeat, ½ falernum (preferably not the Velvet muck).  Much meatier.  Give it a float of some other exotic rum if you like.

 

And if you really want to see Appleton 12 shine, try a Tolkien (which is also very good with S&C).

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Leslie, I took part of your suggestion.  I made my favorite mai tai but I reduced the lime a little:

 

1 oz Pusser's

1 oz Wray & Nephew

1 oz Smith & Cross
3/4 oz Grand Marnier
3/4 oz fresh lime juice

1/2 oz orgeat

 

 

I think this is pretty good.  I still lean toward a bit more lime, myself.  But three quarter ounce is nice enough since lime juice is running about $1.50 per ounce.  To put that in perspective, per ounce, lime juice is the same price as Appleton 12 and Grand Marnier...Grand Marnier in smaller bottles.

 

As always, W&N is a real bargain.

Edited April 14, 2014 by JoNorvelleWalker (log)

[Hassouni]

Finally DC gets warm and sunny weather on a weekend, so I just had to celebrate it with a mai tai, and thanks to Señor Rafa I now have the perfect rum blend - equal parts Smith & Cross and Barbancourt 8. I was thinking of that for my next attempt, but he confirmed it.

 

 

Also, 1 oz lime juice, scant 1/2 oz homemade orgeat, ditto Senior Curaçao, and 1/4 oz 2:1 simple syrup

 

I suspect Barbancourt 15 would take it far into the stratospheric "17 year old Wray & Nephew" category, but alas I haven't got a bottle of the B15.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Tonight I have been going back and forth between Grand Marnier mai tais and Cointreau mai tais with different amounts of curacao.  If this seems easy I assure you it is not...not, that is, if you want to type (or stand)...even with an almost infinite supply of mint.  I can only conclude Cointreau has no place in a mai tai.  Not in my mai tai at  least.

 

I have yet to explore other curacao besides Grand Marnier and Cointreau.  This is a future research project.

 

All experiments done with equal parts Pusser's, S&C, and W&N, my gold standard mai tai rums.  Your mileage may vary, but probably won't.

[lesliec]

Here's a project for you, Jo - make your own Curaçao to Jerry Thomas's recipe.

 

I've done it a couple of times.  The result is quite different to (eg) Grand Marnier.  It's quite a strong smelling/tasting product, but goes very well in a Mai Tai.

 

It's about cocktail time.  Might be a Mai Tai night for us too ...

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I have Pierre Ferrand Dry Curacao Ancienne Methode on order. Can't wait to see how it compares to Grand Marnier.

[Hassouni]

 

Finally DC gets warm and sunny weather on a weekend, so I just had to celebrate it with a mai tai, and thanks to Señor Rafa I now have the perfect rum blend - equal parts Smith & Cross and Barbancourt 8. I was thinking of that for my next attempt, but he confirmed it.

 

Also, 1 oz lime juice, scant 1/2 oz homemade orgeat, ditto Senior Curaçao, and 1/4 oz 2:1 simple syrup

 

I suspect Barbancourt 15 would take it far into the stratospheric "17 year old Wray & Nephew" category, but alas I haven't got a bottle of the B15.

 

 

I can now confirm that using Barbancourt 15 with Smith & Cross makes for a real hell of a Mai Tai, although the 15 is more intense than the 8 and therefor stands up to the S&C more.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Earlier this evening I tried my very first glass of Rhum JM.  The taste was somewhat funky, in a way that Barbancourt 8 (or Clement for that matter), for me, is not.  So of course I made a mai tai:

 

1 1/2 oz Rhum JM

1 1/2 oz S&C (recently restocked)

1/2 oz Grand Marnier

1/2 oz Small Hand orgeat (recently restocked)

1 oz juice of exorbitantly priced lime

 

 

'Tis sad that lime juice is by far the most expensive component of this recipe.  Anyhow...garnished with lovely mint and with what passes for a spent half lime.  Very nice.  Hard to say whether I prefer Rhum JM funk to Pusser's/W&N funk.  Much research will be required.  It would be educational to try a well aged Rhum JM.  Or for that matter a well aged Pusser's.

 

Contrary to what one may read on other eGullet threads I don't think W&N tastes much at all like Appleton, although I admit to being rather fond of both.