The Mischief - an eGullet Drink, at long last

[Gary Regan]

Hi Guys:

Just when you thought we were never going to come up with a new drink for you . . . Here's what happened: Mardee has this "thing" for reverse drinks. Julia Child, for instance, enjoys Reverse Martinis--mostly dry vermouth with a floater of gin. If Mardee is planning on having more than one Manhattan, she uses around three parts sweet vermouth to one part bourbon, and copious quantities of bitters. It's a Reverse Manhattan. Earlier this year, though, Mardee made it her mission to come up with a Reverse Margarita. Not an easy task when you consider that, using our proportions (3 parts tequila, 2 parts Cointreau, 1 part fresh lime juice), only 1/6 of the drink--the lime juice--has no alcohol, and both other ingredients are 40% abv.

She put on her thinking cap, though, and has been working on this drink in her head for many weeks. Yesterday she put it together. No second attempts, nothing was thrown away--she nailed it on her first try. It was heaven. Mischief is not like a Margarita at all--it's a fragrant drink that's very gulpable, and it isn't too high in alcohol. The flavors marry in complete harmony. This drink is perfect for summertime quaffing. Mardee also came up with the name, but that should be obvious.

Here, then, created specially for e-gullet, is Mardee's new drink:

Mischief

1 ounce Herradura Silver tequila

1 ounce Charbay Key Lime vodka

3 ounces fresh orange juice

1 orange wheel, for garnish

Fill a cocktail shaker two-thirds full of ice and add the tequila. Lime vodka, and orange juice. Shake for approximately 15 seconds. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass or an ice-filled old-fashioned glass. Add the garnish.

Apologies to those who can't get Charbay vodkas (www.charbay.com)--we haven't tried the drink with other lime vodkas, but we'd love to hear about it if you do.

[slkinsey]

Yay! Will be trying this soon. What are your thoughts on up/cocktail glass versus ice/old-fashioned glass for this one? For some reason, drinks with significant orange juice always incline me towards ice.

[Marlene]

Mischief is now in RecipeGullet

[Fat Guy]

Thanks, guys!

[JAZ]

Sounds good -- thanks for the recipe. I haven't tried the lime Charbay, so this will be a good excuse to run out and buy a bottle.

[Gary Regan]

I think of Mischief as more of an on-the-rocks drink, too, though it works when served straight up. It's really the combintion of the spiciness of the Herradura, and the fragrance of the Charbay Key Lime that shine through in this drink. It's far more exotic than I would have imagined. Mardee's really good at conceptualizing drinks in her head whereas I have to experiment over and over again. Guess it's a man thing!

[balmagowry]

Wow - sounds wonderful. And what a perfect name! I'd drink it just for that. (Note to self: experiment with Reverse Martini, too - sounds like just my cuppa vermouth. "Initram" has a ring to it....)

EDIT:

Apologies to those who can't get Charbay vodkas (www.charbay.com)--we haven't tried the drink with other lime vodkas, but we'd love to hear about it if you do.

There's been some discussion here of the Charbay vodkas - I think they're obtainable. Would have to be, since trying the drink with another lime vodka won't give us any standard for comparison.

Funny - there must be something in the air conducive to this tequila-OJ relationship. I, who am no mixologist at all and certainly don't pretend to play one on TV, recently invented a cocktail that reads like the primitive ancestor of this one (neolithic cocktail as compared to cocktail sapiens), also loosely inspired by the Margarita, but challenged by limited ingredients on hand. Turns out that tequila, orange juice and Angostura Bitters harmonize rather well.

Edited May 18, 2004 by balmagowry (log)

[JAZ]

I tried this last night, but I used the tequila I had on hand, which is Sauza Hornitos. It was very smooth and pretty well balanced -- for my taste, a squeeze of lime might improve it.

One thing I've started to do when making drinks that call for orange juice is to strain out the pulp. I find it makes for a much better texture.

[slkinsey]

One thing I've started to do when making drinks that call for orange juice is to strain out the pulp. I find it makes for a much better texture.

Oh, absolutely! I always strain orange juice.

Pulp mystifies me. I can't understand why anyone would enjoy drinking citrus juice with little spider legs getting caught in their teeth.

[GG Mora]

What a great name. I so look forward to "stirring up a little Mischief".

I noticed this evening that my local booze purveyor (in Manchester, VT) has the Charbay vodkas. Let me repeat my mantra: "As soon as I start getting paid again"...I will buy the requisite liquors for the official eGullet quaff. For now, it was a fifth of Schmirnoff's Silver.

Yes, and you can keep your pulp.

[Fat Guy]

So, my only issue here is that the name "Mischief" doesn't incorporate any sort of eGullet reference. Like our previous drink was the "Flaming Orange Gully," where "Gully" is our little mascot, the dancing Keith Haring meets Hopi Indian meets Fredlet meets Dave the Cook guy who appears to have swallowed a computer mouse.

Gully's Mischief?

Mischief Gullet?

[jhlurie]

Plus, the acronym for the Flaming Orange Gully--F.O.G.--was cool on it's own. Generations from now it will probably just be called The FOG, but we get our moment in the sun until then...

But I don't think we should try too hard to shoehorn ol' Gully in there again. He's a tough guy to get into a drink name and have it sound natural.

[JAZ]

An update:

I did try this with the Herradura, but I think I prefer it with Hornitas -- a little more subtle or something. Also, it's great with blood orange juice, and gorgeous as well.

I've been drinking it up, but I'd guess that on the rocks (maybe with a splash of soda), it would be a great brunch drink.

And I wouldn't worry too much about the name. I visualize it marquee style, with a subtitle:

MISCHIEF

The Other eGullet Cocktail

[Marlene]

So, my only issue here is that the name "Mischief" doesn't incorporate any sort of eGullet reference. Like our previous drink was the "Flaming Orange Gully," where "Gully" is our little mascot, the dancing Keith Haring meets Hopi Indian meets Fredlet meets Dave the Cook guy who appears to have swallowed a computer mouse.

Gully's Mischief?

Mischief Gullet?

So call it Gully's Mischief

[beans]

Nice to note about this current email newsletter from those lovely folks at Charbay, the eGullet cocktail created by Mardee and presented by Gary was featured.

PM me if anyone would like a copy of this publication. I'll be most pleased to forward same.

Very

[Marlene]

Yes please!

[KatieLoeb]

Nice to note about this current email newsletter from those lovely folks at Charbay, the eGullet cocktail created by Mardee and presented by Gary was featured.

PM me if anyone would like a copy of this publication.  I'll be most pleased to forward same. 

Very 

I got the Charbay newsletter via e-mail today too! It's a damn shame that the Charbay vodkas just didn't sell enough for me to keep them at the bar at Rouge . No more Sicilian Martinis at Rouge either. Oh well. The whims and vagaries of the buying public I guess. That and my complete lack of bar space/storage space.

But certainly I have no compuction about buying bottles of Charbay for "recreational" use.

[nightscotsman]

Mischief sounds really good! I will have to go find some lime vodka and give it a try. I don't have even the slightest hope of getting my hands on the Charbay stuff locally, though. Believe it or not, the liquor stores here in Vegas are the most pathetic I've come across. I swear it took me weeks just to find a place that sold any brand of casis - and the one I found was Hiram Walker.

[bbq chef]

Gary, nice to see that you frequent here. I still prefer my cocktail to taste like alcohol so I tend to drink Bourbon on the rocks 90% of the time. If it is real good stuff, I will drink it straight. I'm not one for mixers.