The bar team at Memphis restaurants 117 Prime and Belle Tavern - Harold Cook, Jon Wilkes and Jake Smith – love daiquiris … both to drink and to make!
The three got together to offer their top tips on making this classic summer cocktail.
Split the rum base.
Daiquiris traditionally call for light rum, but splitting the proportion of rum in your daiquiri with other rum varieties helps add depth and gives the drink new dimensions.
Split the citrus base.
Daiquiris traditionally use only lime juice. While lime juice does help create the bright, bracing acidity that makes daiquiris so refreshing, splitting the proportion of citrus juice in your drink between lemon and lime adds a roundness and subtle fruitiness that makes your drink just a little more slurpable.
Use demerara syrup instead of simple syrup.
Demerara is a minimally processed sugar derived directly from sugar canes. Using a 1:1 ratio syrup from this sugar yields a drink that is rounder and more flavorful.
Use large ice cubes to shake.
Bartenders shake cocktails with ice to do two things: dilute and aerate. Using large cubes – preferably 1-inch or larger – yields the same amount of dilution as using smaller cubes, but the extra volume of air in the shaker helps to aerate the drink more completely.
Don’t overshake!
While shaking a cocktail makes you look cool - the more you shake your drink, the more the drink dilutes. Daiquiris are all about hitting the sweet spot between acid, sweetness, fruitiness, and booziness – if you shake too much, all you’ll have is a hard limeade.
This is Jennifer Chandler with The Weekly Dish. Cheers!
