Margarita

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Seriously, there is a long standing tradition of serving salty snacks with drinks and/or while perusing eGullet.  But that does not mean I would want to add salt to the drink itself.  And I confess I have tried a couple of times.  There is a similar controversy with ice cream.  My gut feeling is that it would take an awful lot of salt in the drink to make a difference.

 

Possibly there are cultural influences here, if somewhere in the world people do not eat peanuts.

 

 

P.S. I just placed a hold on Kevin Liu's book from the library.

[FrogPrincesse]

Actually, just a small amount makes a difference. That's the reason why a lot of cocktail bars add salt to their simple syrup. This is also discussed in Dave Arnold's Liquid Intelligence (page 61). You cannot taste the salt in small amounts (he recommends adding saline by the drop), but it affects how you perceive the other flavors in the drink.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Actually, just a small amount makes a difference. That's the reason why a lot of cocktail bars add salt to their simple syrup. This is also discussed in Dave Arnold's Liquid Intelligence (page 61). You cannot taste the salt in small amounts (he recommends adding saline by the drop), but it affects how you perceive the other flavors in the drink.

 

Yes, I have studied Dave Arnold.  I have a copy from the library and am considering buying a copy of my own.  My opinion stands.

[FrogPrincesse]

Have you tried the side-by-side experiment that he suggests?

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I have not.  Perhaps I should.

[haresfur]

Have you tried the side-by-side experiment that he suggests?

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Have you tried the side-by-side experiment that he suggests?

 

OK, I have now tried Dave Arnold's experiment.  I prepared a saline solution of 20 grams of Diamond Kosher salt to 80 grams of water.  (Fortunately I have an almost innumerable supply of little blue bottles, once I crawl down underneath the bed.)  I made up two daiquiris (Plantation 3, 8:2:1).  To one daiquiri I added two drops of saline.  To the other none.  No peanuts nor anything else to confuse the palate.

 

Admittedly this was not a double blind experiment nor a triangle test.  Still, if anything, I think I preferred the unsalted daiquiri, though I am not sure I could really tell the difference.

 

Just for fun I put a drop of saline in my mai tai.  I can't say it makes it any better or any worse.

 

 

Who else has tried Dave Arnold's experiment?

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Now that my mai tai is finished, the emperor's new clothes comes to mind.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Five years later my thoughts have turned again to salt.  Any recent opinions on adding salt or saline?

 

[haresfur]

8 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Five years later my thoughts have turned again to salt.  Any recent opinions on adding salt or saline?

 

 

Just finished one with a tiny grind of salt on top before serving as I mentioned previously. Still works for me.

 

That is if I'm not going to get it made like in one of the sexiest film scenes of all time. In the movie More with a soundtrack by Pink Floyd, The male protagonist, a German, meets an American woman at a party and she makes him a Margarita. She licks the rim of the glass then dips it in the salt. Right then you know she is going to do him wrong.

[lindag]

I always put a pinch of kosher salt in my margaritas.  I can easily tell if I've forgotten to add it.

 

[lemniscate]

I started putting a tiny slice of preserved lemon in my margaritas and no longer salt the rims.   Since I have a prolific lemon tree I make my own preserved ones.

 

Edited February 9, 2020 by lemniscate
clarity (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I can't do double blind, and if I did a side by side comparison I'd be seeing double.*  Anyhow I mixed up a 2:1:1 with Tequila Ocho Plata Los Fresnos 2013 and Cointreau.  Two drops of saline.  On the rocks.  One of the best drinks I have had.**  The bottle is now empty.

 

 

*actually I have an eye condition that lets me see double without any outside help -- saves a lot on alcohol.

 

**how could it not be?  A margarita's all too like a mai tai.