The Spirit World

Last week I tried making several Mexican beer cocktails to see what I would be getting into this month. I experimented with several cerveza preparada such as the Cubana, the Mexican Iced Tea, and the Michelada. I wasn’t really happy with any of them. But Anita from Married with dinner commented that she’s got a Michelada recipe that she likes, so I thought I would try that.

It turns out there are several different ways to mix a Michelada. If you consult the Michelada entry in Wikipedia you find two: the international version and the one they actually drink in central Mexico.

My original recipe was this: “…beer poured over ice with juice of one lemon, add a dash of soy sauce, Tobasco, and Worcestershire, add a pinch of salt and pepper (Tequila optional). Another variation includes mixing equal parts beer and tomato juice or Clamato.” That one I got from that’s the spirit.com. Unless you like spicy hot stuff and lemon juice that Michelada isn’t for you. To improve this recipe I would use less lemon and make sure the pepper and Tobasco is mixed in better.

The recipe that Anita drew my attention to (attributed to Doña Tomás) is closer to the central Mexican Michelada listed on Wikipedia. Missing is the soy sauce and the lemon is replaced with lime. Another improvement is the use of Negra Modelo instead of Corona (the Corona just gets lost).

So I mixed up a new Michelada this way: First, I salted the rim of my glass, then added ice. I fresh squeezed a lime over the ice, added the hot sauce (habanero Tobasco), a dash of Worcestershire sauce, and sprinkled a pinch of coarse Kosher salt on top. Then I poured in the Negra Modelo, stirred, and garnished with a lime slice.

The beer foamed up quite a bit when I poured it in. According to Wikipedia the foaming is due to the salt.

This version of the Michelada is drinkable. If you like Negra Modelo, and you like shandies, this will work for you. It’s basically just a shandy with some salt and spice added. The worcestershire sauce didn’t mix well and the bottom of the glass started tasting more and more like sauce and less like Negra Modelo.

So this shandified version of the Michelada might be easier to drink than the one with lemon and pepper, but it’s less interesting. What I’ve learned from comparing the two is that the preparation method is important. Hot sauce mixes better when it goes in before the beer. If you put it on top, the hot sauce will float and you’ll get the burned lips effect.

Next week, I’m going to revisit the Michelada. There are some recipes that call for tomato additions and blending with clamato juice (a blend of tomato juice with clam juice).