Brandy or whiskey: use distillates for cooking

Adding brandy, whiskey or cognac to cooking ingredients might seem like a useless waste. Nevertheless one of the cooking techniques most used by chefs from all over the world is the flambé, a particular way of cooking that leaves no one indifferent. Let’s see why distillates are added to certain dishes and how they are cooked.

Cooking flambé

Many chefs add brandy, whiskey, or cognac at the end of cooking to cook a flambé dish. They bring the still hot pot directly to the table, pour the alcohol over it and set it on fire with a live flame. Obviously the diners are always very impressed. But flambé cooking doesn’t just have one scenographic effect: it is used to evaporate the alcohol and burn the sugars present in the liqueur, giving a particular flavor to the dishes in preparation.

Brandy and whiskey for cooking tasty dishes

Brandy and whiskey are used in cooking not only for cooking flambéed dishes. Indeed there are other ways to cook using distillates and other alcoholic substances. In fact, even the vinoespecially the white one, comes used in many recipes to flavor the ingredients. Also there beer it is used in the kitchen to give a particular taste to food, just think of fried in batter based on cold beer, which have a very special fragrance and taste. Similarly, also i distillates are often used in the kitchen to give dishes a particular aroma.

Tricks for cooking with distillates

There are no specific rules in the field. If you want to use spirits like brandy and whiskey for cooking, the only rules are try, to experiment e dare. For example, also regarding the dosage there are no precise indications. If we’re not used to cooking with distillates, but maybe occasionally we shade the risotto with a little wine, let’s avoid making a typical mistake.

If we put a glass of wine with X alcohol content in the risotto, using a distillate with a much higher alcohol content we will be led to think we need to reduce the dose. It doesn’t actually work quite like that. In contact with heat, the alcohol evaporates quickly. What certainly varies is the flavor. THE younger distillates they have a more delicate flavourwhile those long ageing or get old in barrel I am stronger.

What to cook with brandy and whiskey?

We can use distillates in the kitchen to prepare both first That second courses. Excellent is the whiskey flavored risottobut also in pasta dishes the flavor is enhanced by the addition of liqueurs. A carbonara, whether it’s meat-based or vegan, prepared with a little brandy or whiskey, it takes on a richer flavor. The same goes for the verdure: whether it’s sautéed vegetables, stewed vegetables or minestrone or soup, adding brandy or whiskey can only add flavor to the dish.

As for the second marinate the meatbut also of the I argue o tempeh vegan, with whiskey before cooking, it makes the taste really great. The distillates are then also used to prepare some sauces and creams details. Cognac, for example, is one of the ingredients of vegan foie gras. Finally, liqueur preparations are excellent allies in pastry shop. Whisky, cognac and rum go well with the fruit it’s us sweets. A classic is the babà and the diplomatic cake, but a drop of liqueur is also good in tiramisu and other spoon desserts.

Other liqueurs in cooking recipes

Whiskey, brandy and cognac are not the only liqueurs that can be used in cooking as an addition to traditional dishes. The gin, for example, it is perfect for marinades combined with lemon or grapefruit but it is also excellent on pasta. There vodka it goes very well with meat or fish-based preparations, but shall we talk about sorbet? My mouth is watering just thinking about it! Finally the tequilaideal for enhancing the intense taste of peppers or cabbage, it is also excellent with tomatoes or in combination with hot spices.