Clinton Cawood's quest to unearth the story and best iterations of favourite recipes takes him to the neo-classic Picante de la Casa.
Call it a Spicy Marg or a Picante, the chilli-infused Margarita has been an unavoidable staple of recent times, and we largely have Soho House to thank. The global group of trendy members’ clubs might not have been the fi rst to add heat to a Margarita, but they certainly entrenched it, and it’s showing no signs of going anywhere. So much so that the group’s locations around the world are said to sell over a million of these in a year, and now off er a nonalcoholic option too.
The original Picante de la Casa was developed at Soho Beach House in Miami, after which its current form – combining reposado tequila, lime juice, agave, chilli and coriander – was fi nalised at Soho House West Hollywood in 2012. It soon rolled out to Houses around the world, catching on in the UK in particular.
Recently, Soho House has been doubling down on the Picante’s success with the promotion of another in-house cocktail, the Caipirinha-inspired Casa Verde House Tonic, from its São Paulo outpost, now available globally. Keeping the kick of the chilli, this latest combines coconut rum and cachaça with passion fruit and saké, with a familiar chilli pepper-top garnish.
PICANTE DE LA CASA (SOHO BEACH HOUSE, MIAMI)
Glass: Rocks Garnish: Top end (stem) of chilli pepper
Method: Muddle small piece of chilli in a shaker and add remainder of ingredients, including hand-clapped coriander. Shake and fine-strain into an ice-filled rocks glass.
Cut off the top of the chilli pepper and place stem upwards in the drink to garnish.
• 50ml reposado tequila
• 25ml fresh lime juice
• 20ml agave nectar or honey
• Chilli pepper (about ¼in wide)
• 10 coriander leaves with stem