The perfect Mojito...

[Dookus]

I have tried repeatedly to make a Mojito at home to no avail.

Tonight, I went to a bar with a friend of mine, and Anastasia, the beautiful Russian barmaid, showed us how to make one. So we bought the ingredients and tried it at home and lordy, lord, I can now make a great Mojito.

You need two metal shakers, or at least any two large non-glass containers that fit nearly inside one another. Put some ice in the larger one. Add the leaves of 3 or so sprigs of mint. Add a little more ice. Put in the juice of one fresh lime. Put the smaller container inside and smoosh the ice and mint around as hard as you can, for about a minute.

Add ice to fill the container. Fill it 3/4 with light Rum, then add a decent pour of ginger ale, and a splash of 7-Up. Add a splash of simple syrup (made by heating up equal parts sugar and water over low heat until the solution is clear.)

Shake the whole mess up and pour it into a tall glass, adding any ice if necessary. Decorate with a sprig of mint and a wedge of lime.

[Kellanved]

1. interesting

I'll try that variation.

The style I know is:
half a lime, quartered in the shaker, add brown sugar and a few mint leafs.
Crush the limes and the mint in the shaker . Add crushed ice and Rum (Havana Club, if available). Shake well ;-) .

Put it in a class, top it with soda water and garnish with a Mint Sprig coated in powdered sugar. Use champagne instead of Soda Water for a Mojito Royal.

[GingerSnaps]

2. Does it taste like a mint julep?

:puke:

[Dookus]

3. No...

not nearly as sweet.

The secret is to muddle the mint and ice together.

[russian33]

4. 2 things...

1. where can I find the beautiful Russian barmaid?

2. was in South Beach last week, went to Mango's (talk about beautiful barmaids!), and they had many different mojitos, so I went with Orange mojito, they use Bacardi-O for rum...all I can say is yummy! Try it with Bacardi-O ones...

[Dookus]

5. well I only know of one right now

and she's in beautiful Santa Cruz, CA.

[Donkeyboy75]

6. Best. Mixed drink. Ever.

Although I use some soda water in mine as I don't like the drink too sweet.

[Mandate My Ass]

7. My son makes killer mojitos too (Puerto Rican version)

He muddles the mint with some lime slices and bitters,
then adds the sugar, rum and lime juice, shakes it, then
finally tops it with club soda. :9

THey made them for us after we toured the baccardi factory
and we pretty much follow their recipe.

[Taverner]

8. You cannot make a true mojito with non-Cuban rum

You ABSOLUTELY need Havana Club Silver. The 3-year aged Havana Club is the best, but Havana Club Silver will suffice. Something about the deep sugarcane flavor that just isn't in Bacardi or any of the other crap not embargoed...

You can find Canadian companies which will mail you Cuban rum.

[Shakespeare]

9. OR...try Pernod-Ricard's Mojito Club mixer. Something curious about it...

It's bottled in Mexico, but no mention of where the rum in the mixer comes from. It tastes suspiciously and amazingly like Havana Club, and I'm almost addicted to the stuff now. Pernod-Ricard is also the distributor for Havana Club. And you'll notice the Mojito Club logo is an almost identical copy of the Havana Club logo.

Do a Google search, and you'll find that a few Cuban groups in Florida are boycotting Mojito Club because of its "dubious" origins. Heh heh heh.

Mix it with some club soda and a spritz of lime juice.....

edit to add: Mojito Club is readily available in the states. Methinks something lovely has gotten in under the embargo's radar.

[Taverner]

10. I'll have to try that

BTW...the absolute BEST Cuba Libre (Rum, Coke and Mint) is made with Ron Matusalem Anejo, also an embargoed Cuban rum.

Trust me, it is of the Gods....

[underpants]

11. MOooooooJIIIIIIIIITOOOOOOOO!

My wife fell in love with those when we were in Key West. Bookmarking.