The Mojito – Food & Drinks

Why you are pouring this tonight

The Mojito is the drink you make when it is 32 degrees, the barbecue is on, and somebody is cutting lime cheeks for the prawns. It is not a fussy drink. It was never meant to be. Somewhere along the line we started ordering it at hotel bars for $24 and deciding it was too much work to make at home, which is a tragedy because this is one of the easiest, most food-friendly cocktails going.

It cuts through smoke, char, chilli and oil like nothing else. Grilled snapper, prawn skewers, pork carnitas, a green papaya salad, even a Thai green curry. The mint and lime reset your palate, the rum keeps it interesting, the soda water keeps it drinkable across a whole long lunch.

One rule above all others: do not pulverise the mint. You are releasing oil, not making pesto. Bruised leaves give you fragrance. Shredded leaves give you a drink that tastes like lawn clippings.

What you need

60 ml white rum. Bacardi Carta Blanca is the supermarket default and it is fine. Havana Club 3 Year from Dan Murphy’s at around $45 is noticeably better, more character, a bit of grassy sugarcane sweetness. Skip the dark rum here, save that for a daiquiri variation.
30 ml fresh lime juice. Always fresh, always today. Bottled lime juice is the single biggest mistake people make with this drink. One and a half limes usually gets you there.
2 teaspoons white sugar, or 15 ml sugar syrup. Sugar syrup is smoother because it dissolves instantly. To make it, stir equal parts sugar and hot water until clear, keep in the fridge for a month.
8 to 10 fresh mint leaves. A proper handful, tops. Spearmint or common garden mint from Coles or your back step. Not peppermint.
Soda water to top. About 60 ml. Cold, fizzy, unflavoured. A fresh bottle beats a flat leftover every time.
Crushed ice. Ideally crushed, not cubed. Wrap cubes in a tea towel and belt them with a rolling pin if you do not have a crusher.

How to make it

Gently press the mint and sugar. Put the mint leaves and sugar in the bottom of a tall highball glass. Press down a few times with the end of a wooden spoon. You want the leaves bruised and fragrant, not shredded. Five seconds of pressing, not fifty.
Add lime and rum. Pour in the lime juice and rum. Give it a quick stir to dissolve the sugar. If you used syrup, it is already done.
Pack with crushed ice. Fill the glass three quarters of the way with crushed ice. Crushed ice chills the drink fast and holds the mint in suspension where it belongs.
Top with soda. Pour cold soda water to fill the glass. Stir once from the bottom up to lift the mint and sugar through the drink.
Top up and garnish. Add a small mound of extra crushed ice on top, slap a fresh mint sprig between your palms to release the oils, and plant it on top along with a lime wheel. Serve with a straw if you are feeling civilised.

Five dinners that make this drink sing

Pork carnitas tacos with pickled onions. The mint and lime in the Mojito mirror the coriander and lime on the tacos, the rum softens the chilli and the fatty pork. Add a second round before dessert.
Grilled snapper with charred corn salsa. Classic Australian summer plate. The Mojito is basically a salsa verde in a glass, and it makes the charred corn taste sweeter.
Prawn skewers off the barbecue with garlic and chilli. Smoky, sweet, a bit of heat. The ice-cold mint and soda reset your palate after every bite. Non-negotiable pairing.
Thai green curry with jasmine rice. Surprise pairing. The mint plays into the Thai basil, the lime hits the kaffir, and the cold dilution cools the chilli.
A bowl of green papaya salad with crushed peanuts. Som tam needs a cold, clean, slightly sweet drink beside it. The Mojito is textbook.

Three small variations worth knowing

The Raspberry or Strawberry Mojito

Add four fresh raspberries or two hulled strawberries to the glass with the mint before pressing. Bruise everything together. Brilliant with late-summer stonefruit pavlova or an Eton mess, and it turns a pink sunset colour that looks extraordinary on the deck.

The Dark and Stormy Mojito

Swap half the white rum for a dark rum like Plantation Original Dark, and use a tablespoon of brown sugar instead of white. Deeper, molassesy, with a rounder finish. Excellent pairing for slow-cooked pork ribs or Jamaican jerk chicken.

The Cuban Breakfast Mojito

Add 15 ml of freshly squeezed orange juice to the base. Lower the soda water to 45 ml. Softer, sweeter, friendlier at lunchtime. Drink it with a Sunday long lunch of grilled fish and summer salads.

Bottles worth buying for this

For a working Mojito kit you need one bottle of rum, one bag of limes and a pot of mint on the windowsill. Spend the $45 on Havana Club 3 Year. It is three times the drink Bacardi is and you can use it for Daiquiris, Cuba Libres, and hot rum punch come autumn.

Soda water matters too. Capi soda water at around $4 a bottle from the bottle-o is noticeably crisper than the home-brand fizz. Or get a SodaStream. The payback on a SodaStream is about three months of serious summer cocktail making, and then it is basically free drinks forever.

Havana Club 3 Year

The Mojito rum. Grassy, lightly vanilla, long mineral finish, and the grassy note matches the mint. At around $45 a 700 ml bottle covers a dozen drinks and also makes Daiquiris, Cuba Libres, and hot rum punch come autumn.