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Jalisco Clay-Cup Cooler (Cantarito Tapatio)
Created by Chef Lupita
Jalisco's cantarito tapatio is blanco tequila, fresh citrus, salt, and grapefruit soda poured over ice in porous clay barro that keeps the drink cold and earthy.
Jalisco, between Guadalajara, Amatitan, and Tequila, is where this drink belongs. The cantarito is not a margarita in a costume. It is a tequila-region cooler built for outdoor tables, roadside stands, and long afternoons when the citrus is cold and the clay cup sweats in your hand.
The vessel matters. Barro is porous, so you soak the clay cup first and chill it properly. That small step gives the drink its earthy coldness, the thing a glass cannot imitate. At the puestos near Amatitan, the women working the citrus do this without ceremony: lime, orange, grapefruit, salt, tequila blanco, ice, toronja soda. Fast, exact, no fuss.
Use 100 percent agave tequila blanco from Jalisco. Use fresh juice, not bottled sour mix. The salt is not decoration. It sharpens the citrus and keeps the tequila clean on the tongue. If you want chile on the rim, use chile piquin with salt, not candy-red powder that tastes like a snack aisle. Cada estado, su propia cocina.
Ingredients
small clay cantarito cups or jarritos de barro
Quantity
4
limes
Quantity
2
halved, for rubbing the cups and juicing
kosher salt
Quantity
2 tablespoons
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| small clay cantarito cups or jarritos de barro | 4 |
| limeshalved, for rubbing the cups and juicing | 2 |
| kosher salt | 2 tablespoons |
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