Cooking with Booze...

[Eimi]

Things have been quiet (and I know I haven't been around for a couple months myself so I'm the last who should say anything  :tongue3: ), so I thought I would try to get a deep and meaningful discussion going...

For those who have been in the club a while, you may remember in the past I have mentioned my troubles with alcohol.  Namely, I have a lot of it that just sits around for years and never is touched.  I have a bottle of Japanese AWAMORI (a distilled rice alcohol about 60 proof) that was 2 years old when it was given to me... 5 years ago...  Never even been opened.  It's almost all alcohol that was given to me, sometimes something I bought and never got around to since really only drink beer, sake or wine.  So I have currently a bottle of absinthe, a bottle of chartreuse, a bottle of Frangelico, one of Cassis, some Apple Pucker, some shochu (like Japanese vodka), pear brandy, Southern Comfort, and two year old Scotch whiskey which has been hanging around for at least a year.  

Since I know I'm probably never going to actually get around to DRINKING this stuff, I figured I would ask - do any of you know any good cooking recipes that these can be used in?  Or any other liquor or alcoholic drink you could share?  My friends used to use tequila as a chicken marinade, and I know I've marinated pork in beer and then cooked it up in tomato sauce and put it over rice... Any other ideas you can share?

[Miriah]

Soak bananas in the Southern Comfort and lay them in a non stick frying pan with about an 1/2 inch of more southern comfort. Get a REALLY long match. Sprinkle almonds over bananas. Light southern comfort and let alcohol burn off. You get yummy flambe'ed bananas that aren't alcoholic but still have that sweetish taste of the SC on them

[Suzee]

TOMATOES CHARTREUSE
2 lbs tomatoes, 2 lbs peeled onions, butter; salt and pepper;
1 tbl heavy cream;
2 tbl Green Chartreuse.

Roughly chop tomatoes and onions and cook until soft in melted butter.
Add salt and pepper and Green Chartreuse, and cook for a further 3 minutes.
Stir in heavy cream and serve immediately.
Very good with baked potatoes, or as a steak accompaniment.

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PRAWNS CHARTREUSE
1 lb Peeled Tiger Prawns,
2 tsp unsalted butter,
1 oz (2.95cl) orange juice,
salt and white pepper,
scallion tops finely chopped,
1oz (2.95 cl) Green Chartreuse.

Pat the cleaned prawns dry with kitchen towel.
Melt the butter in a large frying pan on a medium to high heat.
When the butter is melted and bubbling, add the prawns and sauté for 4-5 minutes until cooked.
Spoon over the orange juice, season with salt and white pepper and reduce heat to low, cooking an additional 1 minute.
Add the green scallions and pour over the Chartreuse which has been slightly warmed.
Flambé until the flame goes out.
Transfer to scallop shells or small dishes, garnish with more scallions and serve.

By the way Chartreuse is one of the few Liquors that actually gets better with age even in the bottle. So don't worry about using it up.

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I've also made this wonderful recipie for a Frangelico Tira Misu and I'd put that stuff in my coffee given the chance.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/nige ... index.html

[emma]

Vodka type things work really well in tomato based pasta sauces.  Just add a slug in while cooking and it adds a bit of a kick to it.

Southern Comfort - if you bake try a fruit cake that you uise the melting method for, one where you simmer the fruit with water first. I have one that uses 150ml water, and I use 100ml water and 50ml alcohol (sherry/whiskey/brandy). The alcohol will boil off, but the cake will taste good.