tezontle o'clock
Sweet, Savoury and Sour: Why Tequila should be your new favourite drink
Everybody loves a good cocktail. There's something really special about a drink that looks like a childhood treat with the ability to make you shed your inhabitations and put your best Louis Spence impression out there. High kicks and flouncing aside, a lot of skill goes in to making these wonderfully complex and beautiful potions.
There’s so much more to the world of mixology than pitchers of Cheeky Vimto and that last Woo Woo you shouldn’t really be drinking. Tigerlily caught up with one of the UK’s best cocktail bartenders, Kaiko Tulloch, to talk about her latest creation, the sweet and spicy Tezontle.
As Kaiko pulls out various homemade oils, syrups and flavourings from behind the bar I ask her how she came up with this concoction.
“I created this drink for me, I put together all the things I love most in the world. I’m a big fan of savoury drinks, tequila vinegar…”
Kaiko’s love of savoury drinks has clearly driven her immense passion and skill for what she does. She officially makes the best Bloody Mary in the UK, an award that she received from Tabasco.
As Kaiko starts mixing and shaking, I remark that a lot of time and effort has gone into the homemade ingredients.
She tells me that “homemade syrups and infusions are part and parcel of cocktail creation in bars these days, so I didn't want to shy away from making any homemade ingredients when coming up with my 'future classic'.
“That being said, it's very simple to make. Raspberries and red pepper are covered in sugar and a pinch of salt and left to work their magic. The sugar extracts the juices, and after about an hour it's strained off and ready to use.”
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The Tezontle is tequila based and a new take on a classic Bloody Maria. Replace the tomato juice with raspberry and red pepper and sub the olive juice for spicy jalapeno and you’ve got a great alternative to a classic margarita. You don’t even have to pretend to like tomato juice.
The Bloody Maria, Bloody Mary and Margarita all evoke the tastes of Mexico through their spice and tequila base. Although the Tezontle is a slight departure from classic tequila drinks, Kaiko still wanted to pay homage to those flavour combinations.
“Bell peppers are native to Mexico, bell pepper muddled into a cocktail lends sweet peppery notes and a pretty orangey pink hue.”
Ingredients
The name of the cocktail is also a tribute to its Mexican flavour. Tezontle is the local name for volcanic rock used to mill harvested and cooked Agave, drawing out a juice from the fibres of the plant. This juice,and the process of extracting it, is known as the Tahona method. It's been used in the production of Tequila for over five hundred years.
As the drink begins to take shape, Kaiko explains the flavour of her Tezontle cocktail.
“I use the vinegar from a jar of red jalapenos which is why there’s not so much citrus in the drink. So it’s technically still a sour. The vinegar and sugar balance each other when combined in the right proportion.”
Not being a massively seasoned cocktail drinker, I find it hard to abstractly understand the concept of a sweet and sour cocktail. But as soon as I taste the glistening, recently shaken, dusty pink liquid I immediately understand. The flavours balance beautifully, the spice is pungent and sweet and there is a really good sour aftertaste.
Experiment with making the Tezontle instead of a Margarita. Here is what you need:
50ml Blanco Tequila (Kaiko suggests Tapatio Blanco)
20ml raspberry and red pepper syrup
10ml red jalepeno pickling vinegar
15ml lemon juice
10ml red wine
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For the raspberry and red pepper syrup
​100g raspberries
150g red pepper
2 bay leaves
250g sugar
Put all of these ingrediets into a jar, shake and leave somewhere warm for 24 hours. Strain when the mixture turns to liquid.
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