Ahh ha - a, alcohol
A little liquor lends itself beautifully to cooking, as long as you aren’t driving after eating.
When a tot of alcohol is added to food, whether sweet or savoury, the flavours of the ingredient seems to shine. Whether it is sake in Asian cuisine port, sherry in European, the Italian Tiramisu or a Belgian Carbonnade a la Flamande, cooking wouldn’t be cooking without a good dose.
Drink Hard
The question is , what is that good dose? Is it 30 ml? 60? One tbsp? a cup? It depends on the alcohol in question. A batter or stew may be able to take a cup, but in a dessert, maybe 30 to 45 ml. A grave mistake is to think that since its being cooked, the quality of what you are using doesn’t matter. The superiority of any dish depends entirely on the ingredients used, even if it that ne pinch of something you are adding. One bite of brownie can reveal whether the chocolate used was Morde, Selbourne or Lindt. – or that chocolate was not used at all.
Type Matters
Any alcohol can be used in food, but it helps to know its characteristics and what it does to your dish. For instance, beer gives a malt flavour and its tenderizing properties are great for tough meat. A dark beer has super strength, but also a bitterness that can be countered by a sweet ingredient, like cooked onions or brown sugar.
Sake, a Japanese rice wine has properties similar to beer. Its great added to stir-fries.
Bourbon has a beautiful smoky flavour of caramel and vanilla. It adds great oomph to desserts like a chocolate walnut pie, or a barbeque sauce or marinade.
There’s good Jamaican dark rum as well which is our own. Rum is great for flambé, with chocolate. It’s a classic combo, but its great with anything tropical. I like to caramelise bananas and add some rum to the. Pineapples, peaches, apricots and coconuts taste great with rum.
Vodka is nice to marinate fruit in, especially strawberries or plums , and is also very good when added to a creamy tomato sauce for pasta or gnocchi.
Say Cheers
In European cooking, they use the term ‘deglaze’. You put in the onions, then the other veggies or meat and sauté a bit, until which point it is similar to Indian style cooking. We would add water or coconut milk now, while they add their alcohol. Whether it is wine, sherry or port, you add a bit, about half a cup, and cook for a minute or two. This takes in all those wonderful flavours that get stuck to the pan, the flavours of the wine too, and also cooks out the high alcohol content. You can also do this after shallow frying meat. Let all the excess oil go, so you’re left with the tasty brown bits and again deglaze. What you are left with can be used for your sauce or just poured over your cooked meat. It is amazing, the difference that this one makes.
Happy Boozing
Liqueurs are great for desserts. A shot of Kahlua, Bailey’s Irish Cream, Amaretto, Grand Marnier Cointreau and whoa – your bite just got bigger. My favourite flavour is Anise . It’s delicate and yet so strong. It gives but also takes. I love cooking with Ouzo – the Greek anise liqueur. It gives so much to a poached pear or even boring vanilla ice cream.
Follow your instinct. There’ll always be bottles in your house that have been there for years. Take them out. Open each one and take in all the scents and smells. You’ll know exactly what you want to do with it. If it works out, great, if it doesn’t, have a party.
Source: External
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