cerveza preparada.

Prepared beer.  Beer-based cocktails are popular throughout much of Latin America.  One of the most popular is the Michelada.  Travis and I experimented with this a bit tonight to pair with the Ceviche Tacos I made for dinner.

Michelada**

Lime wedges 

Coarse salt

2 oz (about 1/4 cup) fresh squeezed lime juice

1/4 teaspoon soy sauce

1/4 hot sauce (I used Tobasco, but I bet Chalula would be better.)

2 dashes of Worcestershire sauce

12 oz bottle of Mexican Lager (I used Pacifico, but Tecante, Corona, XX, etc would work)

Rub the top of a glass with a lime wedge and rim in coarse salt.

Pour lime juice, soy sauce, hot sauce, and Worcestershire into rimmed glass and stir to combine.  

Pour chilled lager over the top or serve over ice.

Garnish with a lime wedge

The verdict:  Both Travis and I decided this concoction was not for us.  I think I may have liked it more minus the Worcestershire and soy sauces and served with a darker beer--Negra Modelo, perhaps.  It was a fun experiment, but I prefer my beer unadulterated.  

**Recipe courtesy of the August issue of Martha Stewart Living (Nerd Alert).

In case you're interested:

Ceviche Tacos

1.25 pounds of sushi-grade fish (I used tilapia, but I would have preferred yellowtail had it been available)

Sea salt

Pepper

5 Tablespoons fresh-squeezed lime juice

5 Tablespoons fresh-squeezed lemon juice

2 teaspoons sugar

1 Tablespoon of the juice from a jar of pickled jalapeños

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 fresh jalapeño, minced (discard the seeds if you want to cut out some of the heat)

1/2 of a red onion, diced

1 fresh avocado, pitted, peeled and diced

Fresh cilantro, roughly chopped

12 crispy taco shells

Cut fish into 1/2 inch cubes, season with sea salt and pepper.

In a glass bowl, combine lime and lemon juices sugar.  Add fish cubes to the mixture and toss to coat.  Cover, place in the fridge for no less than 4 and no more than 6 hours (until fish no longer looks raw), mixing occasionally.

When the fish is ready, drain off the excess liquid and toss with pickled jalapeño juice and olive oil.

Spoon into taco shells and garnish with fresh jalapeño, red onion, avocado, and cilantro.

These were pretty good.  I followed a stock recipe I found, and there were a lot of things I would change.  I think garlic and some citrus segment would be a nice addition to the curing liquid, for instance.

Oh yeah, and I may post recipes on here from time to time.  I enjoy cooking and do a good deal of it.