The Gourmet's Guide to Cooking with Liquors and Spirits: Extraordinary Recipes Made with Vodka, Rum, Whiskey, and More!

241 Pages·2010·12.48 MB·English

by  Dwayne Ridgaway

THE GOURMET’S GUIDE TO
COOKING wIth
lIquOrs
aNd
spIrIts
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THE GOURMET’S GUIDE TO
COOKING wIth
lIquOrs
aNd
spIrIts
Extraordinary Recipes Made with Vodka,
Rum, Whiskey, and More!
Dwayne RiDgaway
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THE GOURMET’S GUIDE TO
COOKING wIth
lIquOrs
a Nd
spIr Its
Extraordinary Recipes Made with Vodka,
Rum, Whiskey, and More!
Dwayne RiDgaway
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Coconut Rum Key Lime Cake,
page 184
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Contents
oThe Spirited Sauces,
Kitchen 1Marinades, 2
r
Dressings,
t
n and More
i 8
22
Soups,
3 Salads,
and Starters
63
Fish
and
5 6
Shellfish
116
Vegetables,
Pastas,
7 8
and Sides
158
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Contents
Sauces, Breakfast
Marinades, 2 and Brunch
Dressings,
and More
22 46
Poultry
4
92
Fish Meat
and
6
Shellfish
116 135
Sweet Treats
and etc.
8
Desserts
Index 229
About the Author 239
181
Acknowledgments 240
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Introduction
If you’re like me, your liquor cabinet seems to grow and grow every
year. Every occasion seems to have a special drink that goes along
with it. There was the summer of Cosmopolitans, and the year of the
Apple Martini. Espresso Martinis, Mojitos—with all of these specialty
cocktails comes the overstocked bar. This leaves little room for the
well-stocked bar that everyone should have.
With this book at your side, dust off some of those bottles and
start using up your stock—in the kitchen! Added to any dish in the
right quantity at the right time, spirits can enhance the flavor of
any food.
Soon you’ll start to think of liquors and spirits as extensions of the
spices and herbs in your spice rack: simple sources of flavor for your
cooking. (So many of these beverages are distilled from botanicals
and organic material that they are nearly spices themselves.)
For more than three thousand years, people have produced
spirits for medicinal and recreational purposes. In modern times, it
is almost universally customary to have a drink before, during, or
after dinner. Many cultures produce aperitifs and digestifs, but few
traditions have married the two as I do in this book. Sure, wine and
fortified wines have been used to cook with for hundreds of years,
but seldom do you see coffee liqueur or Midori used in the kitchen.
The Gourmet’s Guide to Cooking with Liquors and Spirits is full
of fantastic dishes, from breakfast to dessert and everything in
between, using all of your favorites and some obscure choices in
celebration of liquors and spirits. For some, wine may be as far as the
liquor and culinary pairing will go. Classic French cooking teaches
us that wines and fortified wines are the traditional alcohol addition
to foods. Let’s pop the cork on that theory and agree that flavor is
flavor, whether it comes from classic wines or from a unique liqueur.
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Introduction
The Spirited Kitchen
The Nature of Liquors and Spirits
Spirits are created from the fermentation of organic products such
as fruits and grains, which are distilled into alcohol. These fruits and
grains enter a still as a liquid solution and are boiled to condense
the alcohol vapors. Boiling the liquid reduces the overall volume and
increases the percentage of alcohol in the mixture. This is where al-
cohol by volume (ABV) percentages, such as 40% ABV (or 80 proof),
are determined.
Liquor or Liqueur?
There are distinct differences between spirits, liquors, and liqueurs.
As noted above, spirits is the general term for alcoholic beverages
that are produced by the natural distillation of corn, rye, wheat, bar-
ley, beets, sugar cane, grapes, and so on. Liquors are unsweetened
spirits whose flavors are determined solely by their base ingredients
during the distillation and aging process. Whiskey, vodka, and rum
are all liquors. For our purposes, flavored vodkas (and for that matter,
flavored rums, gins, and tequilas) will be considered spirits. Liqueurs,
also known as cordials, are sweetened or spiced, spirits grouped by
their flavor profile. Additionally, some liqueurs may have a slightly
syrupy consistency compared to other spirits. Many liqueurs use
finished spirits such as whiskey, cognac, and rum as their base, add-
ing new ingredients, such as macerated fruit, to create a new profile.
Schnapps is a generic term (not a brand name) given to an array of
flavored and white spirits that originated in the northern European
regions of Germany and Scandinavia. There is a fine line between
flavored vodkas and schnapps, but that varies by country. Other
generic liqueurs include those of a particular flavor, such as crème
de menthe and curaçao, which can be made by many different
producers. Proprietaries are trademarked liqueurs that are produced
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Anise by Any Other Name
Pernod, ouzo, and sambuca are clear spirits that all have
similar flavor profiles yet with unique botanical qualities that
give them subtle differences. All three are anisettes, a generic
spirit derived from anise. Pernod is from France; ouzo is from
Greece; and sambuca, from Italty.
according to specific guidelines as dictated by their producer and
include Grand Marnier, Goldschläger, and Southern Comfort.
Liquor and Spirit Flavor Profiles
Understanding flavor profile is essential to choosing a liquor for
cooking. Consider first the ingredients being used and how they
come together in the recipe, and then break down your desired
spirit to its basic flavor profiles before incorporating it into the
recipe. Many foods are easily labeled as sweet or savory, but many
popular liquors and spirits are not sorted into such black-and-white
categories.
Clear liquors and spirits
Vodka is the result of fermenting and then distilling the simple
sugars from a mash of grain or vegetables. It is the predominant
spirit in the cultures of Eastern Europe, most notably in Russia. Rus-
sian vodka is made from wheat, whereas its counterpart in Poland
uses potatoes. France produces vodkas from grapes, and Sweden is
known for its wheat mash vodkas. Vodka is a clear spirit with little
to no true distinctive flavor, and it is used in cooking mostly for
the effect its base distillate has on the flavor. Whether grain, corn,
potato, or grape derived, a subtle flavor will be added to a dish when
cooking with vodka.
In recent years, flavored vodkas have arrived with a vengeance:
vodkas flavored with the extracts of pepper, watermelon, vanilla,
and chocolate dominate the shelf with as much marketing thrust as
flavor. Also, a niche of makers even include such nontraditional in-
gredients as cucumber and tomato during the distillation process of
their vodka. This process flavors the vodka naturally, using the actual
plant and not an extract. These unique, natural flavor profiles can
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