Tomato Margarita

This cocktail may sound a little weird with the tomatoes, but it's actually really good. My wife was the first to try it at La Cava del Tequila in the Mexico Pavilion at Epcot years ago and was blown away by it. Between her and one of my daughters, I think they polished off four of them that day. We knew there was obviously tomatoes in it, but it also had this nice, really bright watermelon character and with lime juice it was so refreshing in Florida's heat and humidity.  

If you don't already know, Disney restaurants and bars will often share recipes if you ask. However, not all restaurants are owned by Disney and this appears to be the case with La Cava del Tequila.  In those cases they may not be willing to share some or even any recipes with park guests. This was essentially the case with the Tomato Margarita when we first asked. Each time we visited we asked for the recipe and were told they couldn't share it. We tried our best to replicate it on our own but we couldn't figure out the watermelon character (we tried puree, straight juice, etc.) and the tomato character always seemed too prominent. 

At some point they pulled the drink off the menu (maybe it'll come back in the future?) which was a bummer, but I think this was the key to us finally being let in on the secret.  One time a bartender who shall remain nameless, finally filled us in with the recipe below. The hardest part may be finding a good watermelon liqueur. You do not want to use the artificially flavored sour watermelon liqueur garbage.  If you can't find a good one, it's really easy to make your own.  I've included the recipe I used below, but definitely don't use the "pucker" stuff. For the cherry tomatoes, use your favorite. We used both heirloom cherry tomatoes and some of the extra sweet hybrids and they all worked well.

Tomato Margarita Recipe

2 oz Teremana Tequila Blanco 

2 oz Watermelon liqueur (not sour watermelon liqueur)

1oz lime juice

5 cherry tomatoes 

1 oz agave syrup (1/2oz for less sweet)

~1 cup ice

Blend until mostly smooth but don’t over blend to the point that all the ice turns to water.

Optionally, add a dash of gum powder while blending. This is available in better cooking stores and on Amazon and will help prevent separation. IME it will separate without it, but you can meditate it a bit by stirring it ... but use gum powder if you have it.

Watermelon Liqueur Recipe

Basically what you're doing is creating a sweetened watermelon tincture. This is one of those cases where a slightly overripe melon can be the best choice to get the strongest watermelon character. You really don't care about texture so it's fine if it's a little mushy. Seeded tend to have more flavor and aroma than seedless, so that's something to consider as well, but I'd probably recommend removing as many seeds as possible before pureeing.

2 cups pureed watermelon

1 cup + 1 tablespoon sugar

2 cups vodka. 

Blend watermelon and sugar until sugar dissolves then combine with vodka in an airtight container for a week, and store in a cool dark place. The alcohol should prevent any fermentation from occurring, but you could also put it in the fridge if you're worried.  After a week, strain out the solids and store it in a bottle (flip top bottles or an old liquor bottle work well). I got some ultra fine strainers off Amazon that did a great job of filtering out solids for tinctures. Most of the red from the watermelon will be filtered out so you'll be left with a straw colored liqueur. That said, you may see a little pink/red and could even get a little sediment if it lasts long enough. If you store it in a cool dark place, it should last for months before the flavor and aroma start to fade.

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Cigarettes and Coffee Cocktail

This recipe comes from an awesome restaurant in Costa Mesa, CA named ARC. One of the really cool things about ARC is that pretty much everything is cooked over wood or in their wood-fired oven. All cocktails are also made by hand (you won't find any blenders here). One of my favorite cocktails at ARC is Cigarettes and Coffee. The hardest ingredient for me to find was the Fugit Gran Classico. It seems to be more available in the western US than anywhere else, but I would suggest using it rather than a substitute. Also, the smoke character was fairly intense with my Smoke bitters; I'd start at two dashes rather than five and add more if you want it more smoky.

1 1/2 oz. George Dickel Rye

1/2 Luxardo Amaro Abano

Barspoon of Gran Classico

5 Dashes Smoke Bitters (I used Australian Company Smoke Bitters)

5 Dashes Angostura Bitters

Stir ingredients in a short glass, add hand-cut ice or a single large cube.  

Garnish with a finely grated coffee bean. A microplane works best.

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Smoked Candied Salmon

This is a great recipe I stumbled across years ago. I haven’t been able to find it again, so I’m not sure who to give credit to. This became a favorite of most of my kids, which says quite a bit for a fish recipe. Usually you’ll want to use a mild smoking wood like alder or a fruit wood. That said, I’ve even used hickory and really liked the results. Here it is as I make it:

You’ll need one 2.5 to 3# salmon filet

Marinade 
1c Brown sugar, packed
1c Water
3/4c Soy sauce
2 Garlic cloves — minced or finely chopped 
1t Ginger — fresh, chopped

Process 

1. Mix the marinade ingredients together in a non-reactive pan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
2. Cut the fillet into half pound sized pieces. Put the salmon in a non-reactive container (plastic, glass, zip-lock bag) and add the cooled marinade. Let the salmon marinate for 48 hours in the fridge.
3. When you are ready to cook, bring your smoker up to temp…if your smoker can do it, shoot for 180F, otherwise go with 220-230F.
4. Add a generous amount of fresh ground black pepper to the salmon.
5. Place the salmon – skin down – on a sheet of heavy duty aluminum foil in your smoker.
6. Cook until the salmon reaches 125F degrees in its thickest spot or until the edges are brown and the inside is opaque. I actually cook mine a little longer and render out more oil/fat. I basically cook it until the whole filet flakes easily with a fork … which I’m sure would really upset some true salmon connoisseurs, but that’s the way I like it. If your smoker can do 180F, feel free to increase the temps up to 220-230F after a bit.

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Best BBQ Beans

I started writing this post ages ago and just realized I’d never published it. It looks like the Purple Smoke site isn’t up any longer, but this is still a great BBQ bean recipe.

I've been making these beans for years and they're pretty tasty. My wife proudly declares that she hated BBQ beans until she tried mine. That said, I can't take credit for this recipe because it's based on the World's Best BBQ Beans recipe from the Purple Smoke competition BBQ team. I stumbled across Purple Smoke's website years ago and saved their recipe for BBQ beans and their World's Best BBQ Sauce.  I've made a few changes to the BBQ beans recipe over the years, so it's deviated a bit from the original.  The last time I tried to find the Purple Smoke website, it appeared they let their domain registration expire, so it may be difficult to find the original and it's also the reason I figured I should document my version here. 

One note, with all the bacon fat, this probably isn't the healthiest dish around, so I wouldn't recommend eating it on a daily basis but it's good for special occasions. Here's the recipe as I've been making it:

2 - 16oz cans Red Kidney Beans, drained
2 - 16oz cans Butter Beans, drained
2 - 16oz cans Pork 'n' Beans, do not drain
1# Bacon cut crosswise into 1/4" strips
2 - Large Yellow Onions, diced
2 - Jalapeños, seeds and stems removed, diced
1c Ketchup
1c Your favorite BBQ Sauce
3oz Apple cider vinegar

2t Kosher salt 

3/4c Dark brown sugar, packed

4t Dry mustard 

Optional - If you have any leftover smoked meat, chop it and add up to a pound.

Process

Use a cast iron Dutch Oven or similar pot and cook the bacon over medium heat until crispy and the fat has been rendered.
Remove bacon and set aside on a paper towel reserving the drippings. 

Add chopped onion to the pot with the drippings and cook until translucent, about 5 mins.
Reduce heat to low and add chopped jalapeño.
Add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine.
Bake at 300F in your oven, grill, smoker, it crock pot until it bubbles, about 1 hour.

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Blue Hawaiian

Blue Hawaiian 

Serves 6

This was a favorite around our house back during Covid days when we’d do a Tiki Night after work on the occasional Friday. It’s based on the Trader Vic recipe and I thought it was a pretty good candidate for the Slushi. This is a sweeter cocktail, but I don’t think it’s overly sweet. Flavor-wise it’s very similar to a Pina Colada but with a striking blue color due to the Blue Curaçao. Use a good one like Drillaud or Giffard. For the rum, I like to use Hamilton 87, Plantation Silver, or Stades White.

9oz White/Silver Rum

3oz Blue Curacao

6oz Coco Lopez

18oz Pineapple Juice

1.5oz Lemon Juice

26.5oz Water

Add all ingredients to Slushi and set to Spiked setting. Alternatively, you can pre-mix and chill in the fridge. I wouldn’t recommend doing this more than 24 hours in advance as the quality can degrade. Pre-chilling will reduce the time required to freeze the drink. Once it reaches the desired consistency, serve an enjoy.

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Derby Daiquiri

Derby Daiquiri

Serves up to 12

I usually prefer a traditional daiquiri over a blended one as the blended ones tend to be too sweet for my liking, but this one is pretty solid. It might actually be a little too tart for some folks. You can tweak the water, sugar, and/or lime juice amounts to adjust the acidity to your liking.

12oz Orange juice, preferably fresh squeezed 

6oz Lime juice, preferably fresh squeezed 

6oz Simple syrup 

18oz Light rum - I tend to gravitate towards Jamaican rum, but any silver/white rum will work

22oz Water

Add all ingredients to Slushi and set to Spiked setting. Alternatively, you can pre-mix and chill in the fridge. I wouldn’t recommend doing this more than 24 hours in advance as the quality can degrade. Pre-chilling will reduce the time required to freeze the drink. Once it reaches the desired consistency, serve an enjoy.

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Frozen Painkiller

New category on my blog, Slushi Recipes! My wife and kids surprised me with a Ninja Slushi for my birthday, so I figured I’d start cataloging recipes that we’ve enjoyed. It can take a little trial and error on some of the recipes, especially the spiked drinks as too high of alcohol can prevent the drink from freezing. I may tweak the recipes in this category from time to time as I work on dialing them in.

Frozen Painkiller

6 Servings

24oz Unsweetened pineapple juice

6oz Orange juice 

6oz Coco Lopez

13oz Dark Jamaican rum

15oz Water (fill to max line)

We love this recipe. Whenever possible, I like to use fresh juices. That said, I usually use Dole canned pineapple juice. Several folks have said this is the best painkiller they’ve ever had. For the rum, we’ve really enjoyed Pussers, Hamilton, Doctor Bird, etc. It’s kind of hard to go wrong. If you’ve never used Coco Lopez before, it can separate a little and solidify in the can. I find it helps to submerge the can in hot water for 10 or so minutes, then stir to make sure it’s well mixed.

Add all ingredients to Slushi and set to Spiked setting. Alternatively, you can pre-mix and chill in the fridge. I wouldn’t recommend doing this more than 24 hours in advance as the quality can degrade, especially if using fresh juices. Pre-chilling will reduce the time required to freeze the drink. Once it reaches the desired consistency, serve an enjoy.

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