Yesterday we attended the 2011 Great Match Wines from Spain event held here in Houston (http://www.greatmatch.org/ ), where we learned a lot and had a great time.
One of the things the great master sommelier Doug Frost said in his presentation was that many Tempranillo (name of grape)/Ribera del Duero (name of region) wines are better to pair with food than to drink alone (unless you grew up drinking them).
What's their secret?
This got us to thinking about how people use (or don't use) alcohol to cook with. In Europe, as Frost pointed out, most people don't fuss so much as here in the U.S. about the type of wine they either eat with or cook with--and yet visitors to Europe often comment that the food just tastes so much better and well, different, there than here. Their secret? They use alcohol in cooking.
Who, me?
Yes, YOU can use alcohol to improve your cooking. There's no mystery to this as people believe. If your budget allows, use a more expensive wine or the same wine you'll serve with dinner to cook, but even less expensive wines can vastly improve your cooking as the heat breaks down the sugars in the alcohol, helping to smooth and bring together the flavors of any sauce, from a meat, chicken, or pork pan sauce to a pasta sauce to baked meat dishes to risotto to...
Not only wine
But here's the real secret: not only wine is great for cooking! The following give excellent results when added to most cooked dishes:
- Red, white, or rosé wines
- Champagne or other sparkling wine
- Alcoholic ciders (big in parts of France and Spain)
- Beer
- Dry sherry, marsala, madeira, and dry vermouth
- Liqueurs such as Gran Marnier or brandy--but if you're not an experienced cook don't try cooking with liqueurs as it's a bit trickier to get right with savory food
Keep it in stock
What could be easier than to keep wine or beer for drinking in your fridge and then when you cook something, pour a little wine or beer into the sauce as it cooks (whether by sauté pan, sauce pan, or roasting pan). This is what Europeans do and it works wonders.
Our Chef Jesús has cooked at two different times for Belgian restauranteurs, once in Madrid and once here in Houston, and from them he learned to cook with all kinds of beer.
But don't imagine that you must be a purist to do this--just pour a little of the beer you keep in the fridge to drink into something as mundane as a jar pasta sauce as you heat it, let the alcohol cook out, 2-3 minutes (you can tell by sniffing; if the steam coming from the dish no longer smells like freshly opened beer, the alcohol has cooked out), add some cheese, almost any type, and let it melt in, and you'll see what we mean about the alcohol working wonders. Or if you sauté a steak or a chicken breast in a sauté pan (we assume you've seasoned the meat or chicken some way), as you turn the meat over to cook the second side, add a little beer or wine and let the alcohol cook out, then pour the pan juices out when you serve the meat. Easy and amazing!
In fact, we often prefer beer and dry sherry to cook with over an inferior wine (which often tastes too tannic/strong), so beer is great for non-adventurous palates to try for cooking and gives great results.
Bon Appetit!
Kristina
Fandango Catering and Events
(713) 522-0077
http://www.fandango-catering.com/
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