Introducing Boozy Bites

Salutations, dear Foodies.  I am introducing what I will from here on refer to as Boozy Bites.  I absolutely love cooking with alcohol.  I'm a big fan of wine in general, but for blog purposes, I will focus on the fact that it goes very well with so many recipes.  I have not yet developed much of a taste for beer, but I do love cooking with it.  And cooking with alcohol is certainly not limited to beer and wine.  Alcohol adds a certain depth to the flavors of a recipe and somehow makes it more special.

Be on the lookout for my Boozy Bites recipes.  I will post my family beer bread recipe, my delicious pork chops simmered in beer, a very tasty sauce that doubles nicely as a burger (or other grilled meat) topper, as well as some other little gems here and there.

A few tips until then:

Buy cheap.  When cooking with wine, I tend to go on the cheaper side.  Good wine is for drinking, but for cooking, you can usually you can get away with less expensive bottles.  I will openly admit I have purchased wine for under $3 per bottle if I'm just going to cook with it.

Add wine to soups and stews.  The flavor can really be enhanced by adding wine.  Add white wine for your chicken/turkey or vegetable soups, and red wine to your beef soups or stews.

Add alcohol to your fondue.  White wine is great in a Swiss cheese fondue.  Beer is a fantastic addition to cheddar cheese fondue, great with pretzels for dipping.  What a way to entertain!

Experiment.  If you think alcohol might be good in your recipe, try it!  Add a little bit if you are unsure, and as you get more comfortable with experimenting with your recipes you may find yourself being a bit more heavy handed.  You can use a lot of different kinds of alcohol in a lot of different recipes, both savory and sweet.

Make those sauces good and saucy.  Wine (and plenty of other kinds of alcohol, for that matter) goes very well in various sauces.  Try it in a simple pan sauce next time you are cooking something on the stove.  Recipes to follow, stay tuned.

Use beer for moisture when grilling.  Beer is great on grilled food.  My mom makes a fantastic meal in a grill basket that is comprised of turkey sausage and vegetables tossed with olive oil and herbs, and as it's cooking on the grill, beer helps enhance the flavor and helps to keep the food from drying out.  I will see if I can get the recipe from her.

Alcohol acts as a meat tenderizer.  It helps to break down those connective tissues and makes for a nice tender and juicy end result.

Different kinds of beer make for different flavors.  This kind of goes without saying, but keep in mind that cooking with a darker beer will give you a different outcome than a lighter beer.  This is particularly true with beer bread.  If you like the more intense flavors, be bold and go dark!

I hope these tips are enough to get you going.  Lots of Boozy Bites recipes are coming soon.

Salute,
Jillian