Adapted from Pichet Ong's P*ONG restaurant in New York. Aleppo pepper is a Syrian red pepper with a bit of smokiness and just a faint touch of heat.
Ingredients
1 drink
Combine the tequila, pineapple juice, and ginger liqueur in a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake vigorously and strain into a martini glass. Sprinkle the salt and pepper on top. With a hand grater, grate lime zest over the top of the drink. Tap the grater lightly to release the zest and oil into the drink.
Aleppo pepper adds more savoriness than outright heat. For a spicier cocktail, substitute cayenne, ancho, or chipotle powder for Aleppo pepper.
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Reviews (3)
Back to TopI love cocktail recipes like this, that are *ideas* for cocktails, but obviously not finished recipes. I also am a chef who loves Thai food, so I saw the idea behind this, and I thought maybe this was worth a try to see what the idea was, and where we could go from here. Well, in short, no. The idea is garbage, and the resulting cocktail is a disaster. It's sweet, and... that's about it. The pineapple juice overwhelms, the ginger tries to break through but doesn't, and the resposado tequila might as well be vodka for all it adds to this mess. I thought I'd give this a try, and then work with it to come up with a final tweaked version that would be something special. But no, even working with this framework I feel would be a further waste of good tequila. I'm going to figure something else out, and leave this monstrosity on the dung heap of history. I mean, I should have had my doubts, right? A specific brand of salt as a garnish (specific salt!) usually means the recipe in question is just an advertisement, and anyone who would try to pass of Aleppo pepper in a Thai recipe is obviously, well, an idiot... But I still thought I saw what they were going for, and I had hope. That'll learn me. A good cocktail has elements of sweet, sour, and bitter, while allowing the base spirit to still assert itself in the final product. I'm not trying to teach you, the reader, but rather I'm trying to reach out to the creator of this recipe so s/he can learn from this. Don't throw a bunch of crap together, and assume because it's sweet that people will like it and you can call it a day. Try harder. Do better. And stop publishing crap like this. You are dragging mixology back into the dark ages by publishing this kind of nonsense. Hang your head in shame and own your mistake. Then come back and be better.
fintzu
Washington, DC
5/5/2021
I made this exactly as written. It's a pretty cocktail and I liked it, but is more of a specialty martini than a margarita because the lime juice is not added to the cocktail... just a bit of grated zest. There is no sweet-and-sour taste, just sweet. I tried adding a little lime juice to see if that made it more margarita-like, and it is better without. If you are looking for a "specialty margarita," you may be disappointed.
lizaveta
Rancho Santa Fe
7/17/2019
This drink was pretty good. I made exactly as suggested, however I had to substitute chipotle pepper for aleppo because it wasn't available at the grocery store where I bought the rest of the ingredients. I liked it, but I wouldn't have more than one in a sitting.
kateneff2101
Washington, DC
11/18/2010
