Tequila Vs Mezcal

               Agave plants are prepared for their painstaking cooking process in earthen ovens.

On a recent trip to Northern California friends took me to a hip Oaxacan restaurant in downtown Oakland, the new foodie’s mecca of the San Francisco Bay Area.  Having lived in Oakland for 40 years prior to relocating to San Diego, I was ready to celebrate the city’s culinary renaissance with a serious margarita at this new Mexican restaurant.  I discussed the tequila options in detail with the waiter, and settled on a middle of the road quality from their list of >200 tequilas.  The drink I received blew my mind.

While I am a wine expert, my knowledge of tequila is somewhat limited.  Having grown up on Mexican food and visited Mexico close to 100 times, I’ve had my fair share of margaritas, however, I’ve never seriously analyzed tequila.  While I’ve developed a killer margarita recipe (one of my most requested), I’ve concentrated more on the ratios involved, and complexity using a mélange of different citrus.  The margarita I was served at this restaurant changed forever changed my future margaritas.

I knew the tequila in my drink was something completely different from what I have ever experienced.  What I tasted was a complex layering of something smoky.  Could I have mistakenly ordered a very old tequila that had been aged in wood which had a high toast on the barrel?  (Do tequila makers even use toasted barrels?)  

I called over the waitress to confirm my order and she affirmed that the margarita she had brought me was indeed the one I had ordered.  With further questioning she added that drink’s tequila was a young one and there was no wood influence.  I next asked her to bring the bottle.  Expecting a deep- colored tequila (from wood aging), the alcohol was perfectly clear.  Still perplexed, I asked if I could smell it.  Removing the cap, I found a neutral smelling liquid that was not even remotely related to what I smelled in my margarita.  I knew there had been a mistake with the tequila. The waitress suggested sending over the restaurant’s tequila expert.  Perfecto!

I struck, gold with the tequila guru.  He began explaining the tequila that was used in the drink and he, too, confirmed that it had never seen wood.  I handed my drink for him to smell.  The very first whiff he turned to me and said “You received a margarita made with the wrong alcohol.  Your drink is made with mezcal.”  He then proceeded to explain the difference between the two liquors, both made from the agave plant.

Mezcal is different from tequila in 3 ways:

1.  The biggest difference is the manner in which the two are made.  Premium producers of Mezcal roast the agave in underground pits over wood.  These earthen “ovens” cook, smoke, and carmelize the agave imparting a complex layering of these flavors.  This is exactly what I had tasted in my margarita.

2.  Another difference is that tequilia and mezcal are made from different types of agave.  By law tequila can only be made only from Blue Agave, however, mezcal can be made not only from the blue plant, but from more than 30 varieties of Agave.

3.  The last difference has to deal with laws dictating geographical constraints.  Tequila can only be produced in 5 specific regions, whereas mezcal has 9 distinct regions in which it can be made.

The knowledgeable staff person immediately brought me the correct margarita, however, after tasting the mezcal concoction the tequila margarita tasted dull and insipid.  Next, the staff expert brought a margarita made with half tequila and half mezscal (one of the favorites on the restaurant’s drink list.)  This was perfection!  A subtle hint of smokiness was present, but did not over-power as it had done in the original margarita I had been served.  This last one was the best of both worlds, laced with complexity but with only a whisper of a smoky profile.

Cinco de Mayo is around the corner.  Go buy a bottle of high-end mezscal and a good quality tequila.  Experiment.  Enjoy.  (And, if you should ever be in the Bay Area, don’t miss Calavera restaurant in Oakland).

Viva Mexico!

Caesar is NOT Italian

I am still south of the border working on my Mexican tan, eating plenty of local giant shrimp and taking long walks on the beach daily.  Last night at dinner in an upscale restaurant over-looking the sea I heard the next table of diners lamenting that Caesar salad was on the menu, “The restaurant reviews indicated that this was the best quality and most authentic cooking in town.  Can you imagine that they have put a Caesar salad on the menu?”  I didn’t feel it was my place to correct them but the Caesar salad actually originated in Mexico.

The Caesar salad was created in Tijuana, Mexico in 1924.  Caesar Cardini, an Italian immigrant operated a restaurant just across the border from San Diego.  It was the era of Prohibition and many Californians flocked to Tijuana for the 4^th of July to enjoy a weekend with liquor.  Caesar’s restaurant ran out of most foods due to the overwhelming crowds…but people kept coming.  Apparently not much was left in the kitchen but some lettuce, eggs and bread.  Caesar made the smart decision to make the most of what he had by adding Italian olive oil, lime juice, Worcestershire, garlic and mustard.  To make up for the lack of ingredients, he decided to make the salad table-side…a bit of culinary theater.  The dramatic flair worked and the salad became a staple on Caesar’s menu from that moment on.

Julia Child said she ate a salad at Cardini’s restaurant when she was a child.  The first, however, documentation of the salad was at Lawry’s House of Prime Rib in Beverly Hills shortly after World War II.

Here’s my often-requested recipe, a mélange of several:

 3 cloves garlic

1 teaspoon salt

3 anchovies

½ teaspoon eachTabasco & Worchestershire

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 ½  tablespoon  red wine vinegar

*1 coddled egg (yolk only)

1 teaspoon coarsely freshly ground pepper

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

Place all the above ingredients, with the exception of the oil, in a cuisine-art and mix thoroughly.   Then,  with the cuisine art running at full speed, VERY slowly drizzle the olive oil (this should take at least 1-2 minutes, otherwise the oil will not incorporate well and the mixture will separate.)

Last, add ½ cup *freshly grated* Parmiggiano-Reggiano (don’t substitute!) and stir well.

Serve with homemade croutons and 3 heads of romaine.  Top salads with grated parmigiano-reggiano.   (Serves 4 persons a generous portion.) 

* Coddling is necessary to prevent salmonella.  Boil egg for 1 minute to raise interior temperature & kill any salmonella. 

Hail Caesar!  Viva Mexico!