AmazingRibs.com, The Zen of Barbecue & Grilling masthead

WARNING. This page is not meant for the public yet. Recipes on this page are still being tested, facts are still being checked, spelling and grammar still being edited. This page is online just so my recipe testers and editors can see it. If you subscribe to my free email newsletter Smoke Signals, you will be notified when this page is released.

Three Refreshing Spanish Summer Sangria Recipes

The first taste of sangria I ever had came from a colorfully labeled triangle shaped bottle and it was awful. So I stayed away for years. Then I went to Spain. After nine hours crossing the Atlantic, I gathered my baggage and took a cab to my hotel. It was early morning, and I was determined not to sleep my first day in Madrid away, so I tossed my bag on my bed and grabbed a cab to the Prado where I stared in awe at paintings by Velázquez, Goya, El Greco, Bosch, Titian, Rubens, Raphael, Botticelli, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, and Artemisia Gentileschi.

By lunch I was exhausted, and starving so I shuffled into the nearest cafe where the bartender was pouring tall glasses of sangria from a pitcher laden with fruit. "Uno sangria, por favor." Oh my was that ever so much better. Soooooo refreshing, so thirst quenching, not so sweet.

Over the next two weeks I tried perhaps a dozen different sangrias. Here is what I learned. Sangria comes from the word sangre, which means blood, and it is available in most corner bars and even fancy restaurants. It is usually made with good, but not great red wine, brandy, fresh fruits, especially oranges from Valencia, sugar or honey, and lemon juice, but because it is really a fruit punch (wine is, essentially, grape juice), there is no set recipe. You can even make it with white wine if you wish. It is good as soon as you've made it, but a few hours of aging allows all the juices from the fruit to mingle and marry. So here's how I make it, and you can riff on it.

Classic Simple Sangria Recipe

Yield. 6 tall glasses
Preparation time. 15 minutes
Aging time. 3-24 hours

Ingredients
1 (750 ml) bottle of good inexpensive red wine, preferably Spanish
1 lemon
1 cup good inexpensive brandy (Spanish to be authentic) or dark rum, or more after you taste the final blend
4 tablespoons sugar
1 peach, washed, pit removed, cut into wedges
1 apple, washed, quartered and core removed
1 orange, washed, ends removed, cut in 1/2" slices
12 ounces club soda, more or less to taste

Optional. You can add more or less sugar to your taste, and switch the club soda to lemon-lime drinks like Sprite or 7-Up.

Do this
1) Cut the lemon in half and squeeze all the juice from it.

2) Stir all the ingredients except the club soda together in a large pitcher and refrigerate for at least 3 hours. Overnight is even better.

3) Just before serving, add the club soda. Pour through a strainer into glasses with ice cubes. Fish out the orange slices and float one on top of each glass.

Sangria Blanca Recipe

Sangria in Spain is almost always red, but you can make it from white wine.

Yield. 6 tall glasses
Preparation time. 15 minutes
Aging time. 3-24 hours

Ingredients
1 (750 ml) bottle moscato wine
1/2 cup triple sec orange liqueur
1/2 cup peach nectar
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
4 tablespoons sugar
1 lemon, washed, ends removed, and cut in 1/4" slices
1 lime, washed, ends removed, and cut in 1/4" slices
1 orange, washed, ends removed, and cut in 1/2" slices
1 peach, pit removed, cut into wedges
12 ounces lemon-lime carbonated drink such as 7-Up
6 mint sprigs

Do this
1) Stir all the ingredients except the carbonated drink together in a large pitcher or punch bowl and refrigerate for at least 3 hours. Overnight is even better.

2) Add the carbonated beverage just before serving, pour through a strainer into glasses with ice cubes. Fish out the orange slices and float one on top of each glass and garnish each glass with a mint sprig.

Sangria on Steroids

Yield. 6 tall glasses
Preparation time. 15 minutes
Aging time. 3-24 hours

Ingredients
2 lemons, washed
1 lime, washed
2 oranges, washed
1 (750 ml) bottle of good red wine, preferably Spanish
1 cup Grand Marnier orange liqueur
1 cup good brandy (preferably Spanish) or dark rum
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
4 tablespoons sugar
1 peach, pit removed, cut into wedges
1 vanilla bean sliced in half lengthwise
6 strawberries, stems removed, and cut in half
1 kiwi cut in 1/4" slices
1/2 cup canned pineapple cubes and juice
1/2 cup blackberries, crushed
1/2 cup fresh blueberries, crushed
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 cinnamon stick
12 ounces ginger ale
1 orange, washed, ends removed, and cut in 1/4" slices for garnish

Do this

1) Cut the the lime, lemons, and one orange in half, and ream the juice from them into a large punch bowl. Add the empty hulls.

2) Stir all the other ingredients except the carbonated drink together in the bowl and refrigerate for at least 3 hours. Overnight is better.

3) Add the carbonated beverage just before serving, pour through a strainer into glasses with ice cubes. Slice the remaining orange into 1/4" disks. Float an orange slice on top of each glass.

This page was revised 10/19/2009


Tell Meathead what you think or ask him a question

Agree? Disagree? Suggestions? Questions? Or discuss among yourselves. I read all these posts. Please remember to respect the opinions of others and please don't post promotional info.

This new feature was installed on 2/24/2010.


Barbecue Accessories


Important Info About This Website

AmazingRibs.com is all about the Zen of barbecue, grilling, and outdoor cooking, with great BBQ recipes and techniques: Barbecue baby back ribs, spare ribs, pulled pork, beef brisket, chicken, smoked turkey, steak, lamb, barbecue sauces, rubs, and side dishes, with the net's best buying guide to barbecue smokers and grills. It is written, photographed, illustrated, and coded solely by Craig "Meathead" Goldwyn.

Barbecue Hot Stuff AwardsAbout Product Reviews and Meathead's Hot Stuff Awards. Meathead's Hot Stuff Awards are highly recommended products that I have tested personally or that have been tested by reliable sources. Awards are based on features, quality, and value. Rest assured that when I recommend a product, it is really because I like it, not because someone has paid me to say so or because the company is an advertiser or sponsor. I purchase most products I review although occasionally suppliers send me samples.

About links on this site. Other than clearly marked ads, links and recommendations on this site are all products, services, and websites I truly admire, and are never paid endorsements. Your suggestions are always welcome. If you would like me to link to your website, click here to read my links policy first.

Meathead's Personal Privacy Promise. I promise to never sell or distribute any info about you individually without your express permission, and I promise not to, ahem, pepper you with email or make you eat spam. Click here for more details of my privacy promise.

Copyright © 2010 by Craig "Meathead" Goldwyn. Unless otherwise noted, all text, recipes, photos, and code are owned by Meathead and fully protected by US copyright law. This means you need my written permission to publish or distribute anything on this website. But I'm easy. To get reprint rights, click here. Note: Some photos of commercial products such as grills were provided by the manufacturers and under their copyright.





Meathead the Barbecue Lover Cartoon
Get news, tips, & recipes in Smoke Signals, Meathead's free eletter. No spam. Guaranteed.

Keep this site free!

barbecue hatHelp Meathead pay for this web site. With a $25 donation you'll get a 100% cotton, brushed twill, adjustable, low profile cap with the patch sewn on. Click here for more info and pictures of the hat. I'll even toss in a small bag of BBQ'rs Delight wood smoke pellets.


Meathead's Faves

These recommendations are not ads. They are unsolicited endorsements.

GrillGrates Take Your Grill Into the Infrared Zone

Hot Stuff Barbecue AwardGrillGrates are the best new product I have tested in years and the best thing to happen to beef since salt and pepper.

They sit on top of your current grill's grates. The hard anodized aircraft grade aluminum rail tops are flat and wide and make perfect dark crunchy grill marks. The base superheats yet eliminates hot spots and blocks flareups. This is the same concept behind the expensive new infrared grills.

Juices drip in the valleys between the rails and are vaporized and penetrate the meat enhancing flavor. I throw wood between the rails and they impart a delicate smoke flavor. I have made my best steaks and burgers ever with Grill Grates. This is a really great new product! Click here to read more and for ordering info.

grill grates

The Smokenator

If you have a Weber Kettle, you need the amazing Smokenator and Hovergrill. The Smokenator turns your grill into a first class smoker, and the Hovergrill can add capacity or be used to get steakhouse steaks. Click here to read more and for ordering info.

Weber Barbecue Smokenator

The Weber Smokey Mountain

Weber Smokey Mountaain Barbecue Grill

I am a big fan of the Weber Smokey Mountain Smokers. Click here to read my review.

Click here to order the 18.5" WSMbarbecue or the 22.5" WSMbarbecue from Amazon.


Save this link to
support this site

http://tinyurl.com/yazmwlq

This link takes you to Amazon.com and tags anything you buy with my affiliate code so I get a small referral fee. It works on anything from grills to diapers and it has zero impact on the price you pay. Low prices, fast delivery (often free), good refund policies, and often there is no sales tax, are the best reasons to buy from Amazon.com, but clicking on that link before you shop helps me devote more time and money to you. Thanks!




Free Shipping on all Items
Get free standard shipping when you order $150 or more from Kansas City Steak Company.
La Cense Beef