caipirinha recipe

June 8, 2007 4:18 PM

Best caipirinha recipe?
posted by grateful to Food & Drink (13 answers total)

I have a friend who made a delicious caipirinha by substituting a simple syrup for the sugar. Basically a really thick sugar water, instead of sugar. It was great.

Another friend swore by adding a dash (and only a dash) of sprite.

Also, many like them with Vodka, rather than Cachaca.
posted by HighTechUnderpants at 4:21 PM on June 8, 2007

"Also, many like them with Vodka, rather than Cachaca."

Omg, blasphemy.

I think the recipe on Wikipedia is pretty good.
posted by mand0 at 4:25 PM on June 8, 2007

Also, many like them with Vodka, rather than Cachaca.

Not blasphemy. Its just that then it's called a caipiroshka.
posted by vacapinta at 4:31 PM on June 8, 2007

Hmm. I've always had them with way more lime chunks than the wikipedia article indicates.
posted by oneirodynia at 5:11 PM on June 8, 2007

Also best with Mexican (or Key) limes, rather than Persian, IMO. Mexican limes are a bit more acidic and a tiny bit bitter.
posted by oneirodynia at 5:16 PM on June 8, 2007

Best answer: You'll get better results if you search with the correct spelling: caipirinha.

They used to come up on MeFi quite a lot, back in the day when MiguelCardoso was still around. Exhibit A.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 5:41 PM on June 8, 2007

I have a bottle of Cachaça Ypioca that I got just to make caipirinhas. I'm rather unimpressed. There may be better grades/brands of cachaça out there.
posted by gimonca at 5:57 PM on June 8, 2007

Gimonca, many people think that cheap cachaça is best for caipirinhas - let's face it, a crapload of fresh lime and sugar is going to drown out anything subtle.

Having said that, I had some weird-arse artesanal cachaça recently (eg the batch number was hand-written on the bottle in ballpoint) and it made awesome tasty caipirinhas. It was also very drinkable straight on ice.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 6:20 PM on June 8, 2007

Best answer: I think that depends on what you mean by the "best."

If you're looking for authenticity and simplicity, it's hard to beat the MiguelCardosa recipes that i_am_joe's_spleen referenced, and they come with a side of tongue-in-cheek Carioca humor.

There really is a huge amount of variation possible in a Caipirinha. While I have not tried the sprite that HighTechUnderpants recommends (I love it in a press, though), you can achieve perfectly respectable results with the simple syrup (1 cup sugar, 3/4 cup water, heat until combined). But that initial cloudy goodness MiguelCardosa specifies in his Baiana variation is great.

However, I do have one slight (blasphemous?) modification I favor. I'll admit this idea is inspired by the flavors and presentation of one of the house specialties at Nacional 27 in Chicago. I make a little gremolata with the skin of a lime or two, thinly shaved. I mix this with a healthy portion of large-grain salt and freshly ground black pepper. I use the resulting mixture to coat half of the rim of each glass. It's very tasty with the Caipirinha, and it allows the drinker to regulate some of that sweetness that you should suspect/expect from a faithful rendition.

Cheers.
posted by rush at 7:07 PM on June 8, 2007

Uncle Miguel is no Carioca - he's Portuguese.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 2:02 AM on June 9, 2007

Yeah, this stuff is, i dunno, kind of "skunky". I think of old rednecks sitting around sipping out of a fruit jar saying "You can really taste the radiator coil".
posted by gimonca at 5:26 AM on June 9, 2007

My personal preference is the caipiroska, with vodka, but true caipirinha with the proper balance of ingredients is pretty good.

Here in Bahia, we order them with all kinds of fruits- my favorites are tangerine, strawberry, kiwi and watermelon (not all together).
posted by wallaby at 7:11 AM on June 9, 2007

Mod note: Fixed the spelling in the post text and title.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:33 AM on June 11, 2007