Author Notes: More of a technique than a recipe, this is adapted from the delightful, but little-known-today two-volume book called “The Gentleman’s Companion.” This tequila-strawberry delight requires three ingredients: tequila, strawberries, and lots of patience. It comes from the second volume, subtitled “Around the World with Jigger, Beaker and Flask.” The author was one Charles H. Baker Jr., a writer, bon vivant, and world traveller. “The Gentleman’s Companion” is partly a travelogue, partly a recipe book, and entirely a cracking fine read of tall tales, funny stories, and rip-roaring drinking bouts. Baker writes of encountering the Tequila Por Mi Amante in Mexico City in 1937. Start with the ripest, freshest strawberries you can get your mitts on. If they’re a little bruised, so what? You aren’t serving them to Michelle Obama; you’re soaking ’em in booze. Use a good quality, 100%-agave tequila, preferably reposado. You’ll be sipping this (in about three weeks, that is), so you want good tequila. I like Cazadores Reposado, which you can find for about $27-32. —adashofbitters
Serves: 4 – 6
Ingredients
-
1
quart strawberries, washed, hulled, and halved
-
375
milliliters reposado tequila (or approximately half of a 750ml bottle)
Directions
- Add the strawberries to a quart jar (or split them between two pints, whatever works for you). Completely cover the berries with tequila. Store in a cool, dark place, shaking the jar(s) every day or so to agitate the berries. Store for three weeks. Strain tequila into another jar or container. I find that the berries don’t have much color or flavor left at this point, having given their all to the liquor, so I simply discard them.
- Serve in a cocktail–a margarita would be nice, or maybe a Paloma. Or do as we do: serve it alone over lots of ice.