Mezcal is meant to bring joy and be used in times of celebration. Sip it, savor it, and kiss it, and make sure to take a moment to reflect on it, appreciate it, and understand it.
When this nice girl of capsicums is infused into pepper-scented reposado tequila, perfumed with orange oil, and sweetened with cactus syrup, she takes her rightful place as the saucy señorita of potent potables.
Cooking outdoors without the high-tech benefits of thermostats and heavy gauge saucepans requires greater vigilance and knowledge than anything demanded from indoor cooking, but there's an easy way to tilt the odds in your favor -- indirect grilling.
Throughout Jalisco, this refreshing drink is served in large, wide-mouthed clay bowls, called cazuelas. Citrus wedges are eaten or squeezed into the drink. Partakers pop chunks of watermelon and fresh pineapple into their mouths and sip the tequila-laced libation through a straw.
Ingredients
In the age of the 32-ounce (or larger) Big Gulps and the like, a small drink may not necessarily seem fashionable. But large quantity is not always related to good quality, as is attested by those mammoth margaritas, laced as they are with artificially flavored sweet-and-sour mix. This margarita is the real thing: purity and refreshing freshness that's strained into martini glasses after a vigorous rumble with ice cubes in a cocktail shaker. Just before your guests arrive, combine the tequila, orange liqueur, and lime juice in a pitcher, and you'll be poised for the shaking to begin.