In Search Of...

the origin of the Mexican Martini.

I've tried ordering it outside of Texas and get strange looks. I now know why: it's a Texas creation, and more specifically, it looks like it is an Austin invention.

After doing a little online research, I found that both the Cedar Door and Trudy's claim to be the home of the original Mexican Martini.

Cedar Door actually sells Mexican Martini mix and says that their recipe is as follows:

2 oz. Tequila
2 oz. Triple Sec
2.5 oz. Mexican Martini Mix
1 Fresh Squeezed Lime
3 Green Olives

The Austin Chronicle had this version of the Door's recipe in 2005:

In a 16-oz. shaker full of ice, combine:
1.5 oz. Sauza Gold Tequila
1.5 oz. Hiram Walker Triple Sec
Finish with freshly squeezed lime juice, a splash of orange juice, and sweet and sour.
Shake well and serve in a champagne glass with a salted rim, garnished with three olives on a sword pick and a lime wedge.

Trudy's doesn't list their recipe on their site, but I found one claiming to be their's on Recipezaar.

The local Tex-Mex place here in Leander, Jardin del Rey, makes a wonderful one and I know they do not use Sprite® in their's like some recipes I found call for. The recipe I found that is closest to Jardin's is the following:

Fill the shaker half full of ice
2 parts tequila
1 part triple sec or Grand Marnier
a splash of olive juice (from the jar you get the garnish olives from)
a splash of lime juice
roughly 1 part of sweet and sour mix (lemon based), usually less than 1 part, whatever fills up the cocktail shaker
Shake well and serve in a martini glass garnished with a few olives and the martini glass can be rimmed in salt.

So, it appears this uses sweet and sour mix in place of Cedar Door's Martini Mix. I read elsewhere that Cedar Door's mix is primarily pure cane sugar, water, and citrus oils.

I've also seen a few recipes call for a few dashes of olive juice, but I think the olives in the bottom of the glass will be more than enough saltiness to cut through the sweetness of this drink.