Outside the dugout: What's cooking?

2016 Rhys Horseshoe Vineyard Pinot with tonight's dinner. I thought about a L'Adventure wine from Paso Robles (they make Rhone style wines and less of a Burgundy style wine), but this should be a bit tamer and more to the taste of the people I am cooking for. I would prefer the L'Adventure wines with this dish but I think it will work just fine.

 

The grouper was great. Also made rice with datil peppers and asparagus.

 

Smoking two chickens (same work as one and the leftovers are great in chicken salad and enchiladas), corn on the cob, and a salad.

Lots of rain today.

 

And they were Nathan's hot dogs. Yuck.

You may be thinking that it is just because I am from Chicago and think that Vienna Beef dogs are the best, and I do, Hebrew National dogs are almost as good.

 

Goose Gossage might have been good at this.

 

Chickens are cooking a bit faster than I expected, but nothing wrong with wrapping them until everyone is ready to eat. Funny thin is that with all the rain hitting the KJ today I thought they would be really slow.

 

But they are great at being jerks. LOL.

 

I have never been there, but we have a friend that grew up in the area and has told us all about it. He now lives in Hutsville, so very far away.

There is a fish market on the far Southside of Chicago on Western Avenue called DiCola's that has awesome seafood, but pricey because of the shipping costs. But you can get fresh gulf seafood there. When I was a kid growing up there we got a lot of seafood from them. And when I visit my relatives I sometimes go shopping there for making dinner.

 

Chicken enchiladas with leftover smoked chicken. We have a lot since I smoked two yesterday.

My margaritas as the dinner libation made to my recipe.

Juice enough limes. In normal seasons one will make two drinks. This year the limes we are getting are not very juicy so more limes are required.

This is where the art comes in. Add enough simple syrup to balance the tartness. This year I am adding more because these limes are not that juicy, but very tart. Also how the simple syrup is prepared impacts the drink. I usually make my own and use a completely mechanical process to make it by adding water and sugar together in an old tequila bottle and shaking until all the sugar is dissolved. It does take some time. Other folks use hot water to dissolve the sugar, but that changes the flavor a little bit due to caramelization. I prefer a cleaner taste.

Now add as much Cointreau as you have lime and simple syrup liquid. Now add a decent 100% agave tequila to double the volume of lime juice, simple syrup and Cointreau. Shake with ice and serve over rocks.

I like Espolon blanco as my "go to" margarita tequila. Don Julio blanco makes a great margarita, but I would rather use that for sipping and is way too good for shots. It is about as far as I would ever go up the ladder of tequila for making margaritas.

There are some very great and expensive tequilas out there.

For margaritas on the cheap(er) you can get by with triple sec instead of Cointreau, fresh lime juice, some water and sugar instead of simple syrup, and a cheaper 100% agave tequila. The most important ingredients are fresh lime juice and decent tequila. Don't skimp on the tequila and use one cut with corn or other distillable things.

It makes an acceptable libation and probably better than the margaritas you normally get out in Gainesville. I will make an exception for Chuy's because you can get a decent margarita there if you order one of the really good ones on the menu and the bartender knows what he/she is doing

Salt is optional, but normally I don't use it

Added in edit:

I once had a restaurant margarita better than what I make. Instead of Cointreau it used this:

Grand Marnier Cuvee du Centenaire

At $20 for the drink and really good tequila I don't see how they made money on it and when I looked up their current cocktail menu it was no longer there.

Damn, that was an exquisite drink.