Rules for cooking with alcohol

Along with quite ordinary ingredients in the bins of chefs, you can find special components that are not used in cooking everywhere. Among such non-traditional components of dishes is alcohol. As soon as the chefs noticed that drinks containing ethyl alcohol can change the taste and structure of the dish, the basic drinks of the bar card moved smoothly into the kitchen.

The contents of the kitchen cabinets of famous chefs in the assortment sometimes are not inferior to the bar window. To all this variety of bottles, chefs find a variety of uses, "raising the degree" of soups, meat and pastries. We found out why alcohol is added to dishes at all, how to choose it and how it can be used in meat dishes.

When used correctly, alcohol transforms the dish. Often, the changes that occur under the influence of an alcohol-containing liquid cannot be repeated with the help of any other ingredient. No wonder the rum grandmother, which seemed too dry to the Polish king Stanislaw Leszczynski, was dipped in wine by His Majesty. If you add alcohol to the dish, you can change its taste, aroma, and sometimes texture, but only if the alcohol accompaniment and proportions are correctly selected.

The basic rule when choosing alcohol for a dish-never add to the food that you would not want to drink yourself. Having bought not very high-quality alcohol or wanting to find a useful use for fermented home supplies, some do not think of anything better than adding them to food. In this case, the alcohol-containing drink transforms the dish only in one direction, and not at all for the better. If you decide to add alcohol to the dish, choose it almost the same way as if you bought it as an accompaniment to the dish. Award-winning wines, as well as vintage and collectible wines, are still best kept away from pans and pans: as part of the dish, they will lose all their nuances of taste.

Flemish beef, Irish stew in beer-in almost every kitchen you can find a meat dish that is prepared using alcohol. In combination with meat, it is rarely inappropriate. Another thing is that not everyone likes the distinctive taste notes of the finished "intoxicating" dish. Alcohol can be added to any meat. In order to emphasize its taste, special attention should be paid to the choice of a pair: dark alcohols, such as whiskey, cognac, calvados, are better combined with dark types of meat — pork, beef, lamb; light alcohols, such as white wine, gin, tequila, are more suitable for white meat of rabbit, turkey and chicken.

The easiest way to improve the taste of meat with alcohol is to add it to the marinade. The acidic environment softens the fibers of the tissues well, thereby making the meat softer. Meat marinated in alcohol becomes more tender and gets a rich flavor.

On the basis of the pieces left on the walls of the dishes during the roasting of the meat, you can prepare a sauce. To do this, add a little vinegar, sour cream, broth or alcohol to the pan. It is on the basis of the latter that sauces with a rich, concentrated taste are obtained. To prepare such a sauce, in the dishes where the meat was cooked, you need to pour alcohol, usually wine, scrape off the meat particles and boil the liquid in half.

If you pour alcohol on the meat and set it on fire at the final stage of cooking, it will add an interesting flavor to the dish. When the dish is almost ready, you should heat up the necessary amount of alcohol in a separate bowl, then pour it over the meat and set it on fire. The method is as effective as it is dangerous, so for a fire extravaganza, you need to roll up your sleeves, stock up on long matches and put a lid on the dishes next to you, which in case of something you can quickly extinguish the flame. If the flaming takes place without surprises, the alcohol is allowed to burn to the end. Traditionally, cognac, rum and brandy are used for flambering.