I decided to go for it and made my proposal to the collections committee stating why it should come here. I made sure that he would really give us the machine that built his restaurant empire. Then I contacted the "world's first" developer and took down his story. I looked at the patent history for frozen drink makers, checked in on the repeal of Texas liquor laws for the sale of hard liquor, and ran down press mentions of this new drink. Intrigued, I embarked on the usual investigative process we go through when we are considering a new acquisition.įirst and foremost, I had to determine whether, indeed, this was the "world's first frozen margarita machine." I had to look at a trail of references to the history of margaritas, which, by the way, has as many claimants to their invention as there are to hamburgers. Robb told me that I had to go and get that machine for the museum. In that book, he told the story of a Dallas restauranteur who invented the frozen margarita machine. Robb had just written a wonderful book, The Tex-Mex Cookbook, a history of the phenomenon he calls an American regional cuisine. In the summer of 2003, in the course of developing a public program on Tex-Mex food, I got to know a Houston food writer named Robb Walsh. I am a curator who specializes in American foodways (among other things), and a member of the team that brought Julia Child's kitchen to the National Museum of American History. importer, Anthony Dias Blue, is credited with writing the advertising slogan, “Margarita: it’s more than a girl’s name,” back in the mid-1940s…several years before the Sames vacation party.īut the frozen margarita recipe would not come into its fully glory until 1971 (six short years before the release of “Margaritaville” – coincidence?), when the world’s first frozen margarita machine was invented by Mariano Martinez, a Dallas restaurateur.Why is this homely little brown box, with its sign that identifies it as the "World's First Frozen Margarita Machine," living at the Smithsonian? Here's a story about how some things come to the museum moreover, how this particular thing is connected, well, to blenders and battles, entrepreneurs and enchiladas, and to impresarios and good old American ingenuity. Ever heard of (or drank) Jose Cuervo tequila? Of course you have – if you’ve ordered a margarita at most bars in America (and eastern Mexico). While her claim is considerably later than Herrera’s, it is nonetheless accepted by many – possibly because one of her guests, hotelier Tommy Hilton, stared offering the drink at his chain of hotels, which undoubtedly added to its popularity. Sames was said to have mixed her namesake cocktail for some friends, while vacationing in Acapulco, in the late 1940s. Others believe that the margarita was created by a Dallas, Texas, socialite named Margarita Sames. It wouldn’t be long before it was all thrown into a blender and the first glorious, slushy, frozen margarita recipe was adapted.īut Herrera doesn’t get bragging rights so quickly. ![]() ![]() ![]() Since tequila has long been enjoyed with lime and salt, all it took was a complimentary sweet ingredient, and the margarita was born. As is often the case with new cocktails, the original intent was to mask the harsh taste and burn of the liquor involved, in this case, tequila. One very popular tale is that the original margarita was invented back in the late 1930s in Tijuana, at the restaurant of Carlos “Danny” Herrera known as Rancho La Gloria. So what are the actual origins of the now beloved frozen margarita recipe? Something as popular and near perfect as that frozen concoction that helps us hang on is bound to attract lots of people claiming credit for its birth. all served up in a glass whose rim is coated with salt (“salt, salt, salt”). While there are many variations of regular and frozen margarita recipe, the classic is still most margarita lovers’ favorite: tequila, fresh lime juice (preferably from Key limes), triple sec (or the higher-priced Cointreau), and ice…. The margarita is undoubtedly one of Mexico’s most appreciated exports! No other drink conjures up such vivid images of sunny tropical beaches, playful marimba and mariachi music, tiki hut bars and that welcoming brain freeze! The drink has even been immortalized in Jimmy Buffett’s most famous song, “Margaritaville,” and will forever be associated with the phrase “that frozen concoction” and the repeated chant, “salt, salt, salt!”
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