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Recipe: Crappy Mai Tai... |
wjake
Tiki Centralite
Joined: May 30, 2006
Posts: 15
From: Champaign, Illinois
|  Posted: 2006-05-30 4:28 pm Permalink
Hello fellow Mai-ticians...
I followed TV's recipe and my mai tai tasted like poop. I used Demarara (El Dorado) and Myers Dark, Blue Curacao, Orgeat and lime juice. Anyone know what i did wrong...?
BTW- it tastes NOTHING like the Mrs T's mix and Demarara...
[ This Message was edited by: wjake 2006-05-30 16:31 ]
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MachTiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Feb 16, 2004
Posts: 1363
From: San Diego, CA
| Posted: 2006-05-30 4:44 pm Permalink
Welcome aboard. You want to use Orange Curacao, not Blue. Also, you forgot the "Simple Syrup".
The TV recipe that I use most often is:
1 oz. Demerara Rum ("Ron Matusalem Rum Gran Reserve" is my personal favorite)
1 oz. Myers Rum
1/2 oz Orange Curacao
1/2 oz. Lime Juice
1/4 oz. Orgeat Syrup
1/4 oz. Simple Syrup
Garnish with cherry, fresh mint, blah, blah, blah...
This is an age-old discussion, Click here for more recipes.
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wjake
Tiki Centralite
Joined: May 30, 2006
Posts: 15
From: Champaign, Illinois
| Posted: 2006-05-30 4:58 pm Permalink
Yeah, I used simple syrup, but it made it real sweet (eewww). I like the taste of the mixers and figured that making the mix from scratch would taste even better. But, alas, poop. I think it's the dark rum...?
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Kono
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Oct 08, 2003
Posts: 1266
From: Orlando
| Posted: 2006-05-30 5:12 pm Permalink
I recommend taking the recipe Mach posted but sub Cockspur or Mount Gay Sugar Cane for the gold rum and Coruba for the dark. Yum.
Honestly I don't care too much for demerera in the Mai Tai, but that's me. There are many good rum combos to try.
EDIT: some of the low end El Dorados (the ones that are like $12 a bottle or less - they have no age listed on the label) are extremely harsh and could make about any drink taste like poop.
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[ This Message was edited by: Kono 2006-05-30 17:15 ]
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PiPhiRho
Grand Member (first year) 
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 977
From: Redondo Beach
| Posted: 2006-05-30 6:52 pm Permalink
If you want a Mai Tai that tastes like the Mr and Mrs T mix then don't mix a Trader Vic's recipe Mai Tai! If you want a fruity-pineapply mai tai then just use the mix with whatever cheap rum you have and be happy with that, or find a mai tai recipe that uses fruit juices and maix that from scratch.
If you want to make a real TV Mai Tai then follow the actual recipe. If you used demerarra, El Dorado and Blue Curacao then you didn't follow the recipe.
First of all, no demerarra. Get a good aged gold/amber rum, preferably and Barbados or Martinique rum. Mount Gay, St. James, or even Appleton Estate or Pussers.
Use Orange Curacao, not Blue Curacao. Blue Curacao is too sweet, not to mention too blue.
Use a fresh lime. One whole lime. Juice it and use the juice. If you want the drink more tart, then use 1/4 oz EACH of rock candy and Orgeat. If you want the drink a little sweeter, then use 1/2 oz each of rock candy and orgeat. Use 1/2 oz of the curacao. Add 1-1/2 tp 2 oz of the aged rum and top with a decent dark rum. Coruba, Myers, Gosling Black Seal. The drak rum topper should only be about 1/2 oz to no more than an oz depending on how strong you want the drink.
Don't expect it to taste like the Mr and Mrs T or Tahiti Joe mix. It won't. It will taste like a Mai Tai.
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Chip and Andy
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 13, 2004
Posts: 2078
From: Corner table, Molokai Lounge, Mai-Kai.
| Posted: 2006-05-30 7:09 pm Permalink
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On 2006-05-30 16:28, wjake wrote:
Hello fellow Mai-ticians...
I followed TV's recipe and my mai tai tasted like poop.
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Welcome! What better way to start on TC than to ask about Mai-Tais......
First, put all of the recipes aside. Then, tell us when and where was the best Mai-Tai you have ever had that you didn't mix yourself?
It may sound like a odd question, but I ask for a reason. If you have had Mai-Tais at any of the Grand Tiki Bars, like the Tiki-Ti, The Mai Kai, Trader Vic's, etc... then we can suggest some specific rum combinations. If your only Mai-Tai experience includes large quantities of Grenadine or Hurricane Glasses full of Pineapple Juice, then we will all gather for an intervention and make you some real Mai-Tais.
Then, while you are sampling some of the lovely suggestions above, do a search on Mai-Tai. The variations discussed in here are vast and most of them are worth trying!
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wjake
Tiki Centralite
Joined: May 30, 2006
Posts: 15
From: Champaign, Illinois
| Posted: 2006-05-30 11:26 pm Permalink
If you used demerarra, El Dorado and Blue Curacao then you didn't follow the recipe.
Actually, all the research i did said that the two were the same (blue and orange curacao)... also, to quote Beachbum Berry's Intoxica, "Demarara rum is the secret ingredient in most truly memorable tropical drinks..." I realize i didn't follow the recipe, but where does one get the "17-year-old" rum that was that age in the 50s?
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PiPhiRho
Grand Member (first year)
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 977
From: Redondo Beach
| Posted: 2006-05-30 11:59 pm Permalink
Well, Gee, I don't know what to tell you.
I have had many a mai tai mixed the Trader Vic's way. I have had them mixed at Trader Vic's in Beverly Hills and Emeryville. I have had them mixed by other TC mixologists. I have mixed them myself. None of them were made with El Dorado demerarra and Blue Curacao, and none of them ever tasted like poop.
A Vic's Mai Tai is going to be very sensitive to the ingredients that you put in it. If you put bad stuff in it, you're going to get a bad result. Demerarra and Myers's are both dark rums. While 17 year old Wray and Nephew has not been available since the 40s, there are reasonable substitutes. If you want to use demerarra, then use it instead of the myers's and use a better aged rum. That at least should help. And in my experience, Blue Curacao and Orange Curacao are not exactly the same. If you can't find orange curacao you could try it with triple sec or cointreau. They're not the sam, either, but the result might be better. Throw in a dash of orange bitters to make it a little less sweet.
It's still not going to taste anything like the Mr and Mrs T mix, though. Never will no matter what you mix it with (except, of course, if you mix it with the Mr and Mrs T mix).
[ This Message was edited by: PiPhiRho 2006-05-31 00:11 ]
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cheekytiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 09, 2004
Posts: 1088
From: The Haole Hut, London, UK
| Posted: 2006-05-31 01:25 am Permalink
Although many People think this may have been a tall story, we were given some (15ml)17 YO by Wray & Nephew last year for the London Luau. The small bottle was auctioned off for an extremely small amount of money to one lucky person.
As Appleton are once again Sponsoring the event, Joy Spence, Appletons, Master Blender (and the only female one in the world) has decided to present Trader Vics in London with a botttle to go in a display case. It is to be Authenticated by Joy and all of the Drinks Press have beeen invited to cover the occasion, so it should be a historic occasion once again and the start of a great event.
More on the 17 YO... there are only 4 bottles in private hands in the world at the moment ( All with UK bartenders of finest Ilk) and a barrel in Jamaica, It is 74% Alc, very dark red in colour and makes one hell of a Mai Tai.
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pappythesailor
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 07, 2005
Posts: 1563
From: Mass.
| Posted: 2006-05-31 03:36 am Permalink
Quote:
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On 2006-05-30 19:09, Chip and Andy wrote:
Quote:
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On 2006-05-30 16:28, wjake wrote:
Hello fellow Mai-ticians...
I followed TV's recipe and my mai tai tasted like poop.
|
|
Welcome! What better way to start on TC than to ask about Mai-Tais......
First, put all of the recipes aside. Then, tell us when and where was the best Mai-Tai you have ever had that you didn't mix yourself?
It may sound like a odd question, but I ask for a reason. If you have had Mai-Tais at any of the Grand Tiki Bars, like the Tiki-Ti, The Mai Kai, Trader Vic's, etc... then we can suggest some specific rum combinations. If your only Mai-Tai experience includes large quantities of Grenadine or Hurricane Glasses full of Pineapple Juice, then we will all gather for an intervention and make you some real Mai-Tais.
Then, while you are sampling some of the lovely suggestions above, do a search on Mai-Tai. The variations discussed in here are vast and most of them are worth trying!
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Dear Chip & Andy,
As long as you're offering--can you please tell me the combination that will taste most like the Mai Kai Mai Tai? Mahalo!
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MrBaliHai
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 01, 2002
Posts: 775 | Posted: 2006-05-31 04:24 am Permalink
The only thing I would add to the above suggestions is to make sure that you're not adding too much orgeat and syrup. You need 1/4 oz of each, no more, no less. Use the teaspoon measurements given in the Grog Log. Do *not* use bartender shot glasses marked off in 1/2-oz. increments that you bought at the supermarket (I speak from experience here... )
If you use the right amounts of orgeat and syrup, along with the juice of a whole lime, it should be plenty tart enough for you.
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Weblog: Eye of the Goof
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Chip and Andy
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 13, 2004
Posts: 2078
From: Corner table, Molokai Lounge, Mai-Kai.
| Posted: 2006-05-31 04:57 am Permalink
[ This Message was edited by: Chip and Andy 2009-06-05 18:02 ]
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GatorRob
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 20, 2004
Posts: 1766
From: 3 hrs 33 mins to paradise
| Posted: 2006-05-31 12:20 pm Permalink
Quote:
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On 2006-05-31 04:57, Chip and Andy wrote:
Version 2, the one I mix for myself:
Orgeat, Syrup, Senior Curacao Orange Curacao, Saint James Extra Old, Apple Estate Extra Old, garnish
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Ah, yes. I wholeheartedly concur. That's identical to what I fix for myself, but I've never tried Senior Curacao brand. Only gone with Bol's myself. But that's a whole other message thread.
Quote:
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And, per your request...... This one is the most like the Mai-Tai's you would get in the Molokai Bar inside the Mai-Kai (after extensive research and totally in my opinion ):
Orgeat, syrup, lime, triple sec, Flor-de-Cana (sp?) 5 year, "Old Gold" gold rum, garnish with pineapple spear and cherry and a sprig of fresh mint and a short straw
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Don't forget the orchid and the sprinkling of powdered sugar!
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Chip and Andy
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 13, 2004
Posts: 2078
From: Corner table, Molokai Lounge, Mai-Kai.
| Posted: 2006-05-31 2:51 pm Permalink
Quote:
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On 2006-05-31 12:20, GatorRob wrote:
Don't forget the orchid and the sprinkling of powdered sugar!
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Orchids are hard to get for some people. Most of us in Florida can grow a pretty Dendrobium with little or no effort. Most of the Southern States can with varying degrees of effort. However, for some parts of our 48 putting an orchid in a drink is outside the possibility for your average Wednesday evening.
And, speaking of Wednesday evenings...... To the Bar!
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Humuhumu
Grand Member (5 years) 
Joined: Aug 22, 2002
Posts: 3536
From: San Francisco
| Posted: 2006-05-31 3:20 pm Permalink
Ackshully, even in the cold north (Seattle, at least), those same purple/magenta dendrobiums can be had for dirt cheap from a florist supply. Restaurants up there use 'em all the time in drinks. Well, not *all* the time, but commonly enough that it's not a shock when it happens.
Back on topic: the crappy Mai Tai -- like most tropical drinks, some balance is required, and you're not likely to get it right straight out of the gate. Plan on making it a few times, tweaking it each time, until you get it where you want it.
Not all limes are created equal, the amount of juice they give can vary quite a bit, so I suggest measuring it (start with 3/4 of an ounce of lime juice).
As others have touched on here, there's a lot of variety in rums out there, so substitutions can't be made willy-nilly. It's kinda like sausage -- you can make a lasagne using breakfast sausage or keilbasa instead of italian sausage, but it'll turn out different. You may like it better, so it's fun to experiment, but just know that it's a big change to make.
Others have said it, but it bears repeating in case there's any chance this point got missed: Blue curacao ain't orange curacao.
And, as PiPhiRho said, if you like the flavor of those mixes, you're not going to be happy with a real, original Mai Tai, because those mixes have drifted so far away from reality over the years that they no longer bear much resemblance to any recognizeable tropical drink. If you look at the mix ingredient list, you'll probably see a bunch of stuff like corn syrup and vague chemicals and flavorings -- what you're trying to do is akin to trying to re-create Banana Laffy Taffy using real bananas.
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