Cook With Scotch

Scotch makes good cocktails, but can also be used in cooking.

When most people think of Scotch whisky, they think of cocktails or scotch served straight in a highball glass over lots of ice. But while scotch is fine for drinking, it can also be used to create a variety of savory and sweet dishes in your home kitchen. The flavor of scotch is intense, so in most cases you will need only a tablespoon or so, unless you are making a marinade. If you are interested in cooking with scotch, there are a number of techniques you can experiment with.

Instructions

1. Pick the best all-purpose scotch. A blended scotch is inexpensive with a mild flavor, making it a good choice for cooks on a budget. Single malt is too expensive and complex to use for cooking, as the flavor is going to be altered by the heat of the cooking process. In particular, you will likely want to avoid Islay single malt scotches, which have a very smoky taste because of the peat-smoke used in the distilling process. This can make it difficult to pair with certain foods when cooking.

2. Deglaze the pan with a couple of ounces of scotch to create a sauce after sauteeing meat. Known as "fond" by chefs, the tasty browned bits of meat left on the bottom of a pan after sauteeing pieces of meat may be small, but are intensely flavorful. The scotch will loosen up any browned bits of steak, chicken, or pork from the skillet that you can reduce down into a pan sauce with scotch and a little bit of stock and some butter. This sauce can be poured over the cooked protein or over a side dish of mashed potatoes.

3. Temper sweet desserts with a little scotch. Butterscotch pudding is an obvious example of this, but a few teaspoons of scotch can also be folded into icing, whipped cream, cake batter or cookie dough to add depth of flavor to any dessert. Creamy or chocolaty desserts are best for this technique; fruity desserts with scotch are not as palatable.

4. Create a marinade for chicken, beef, or pork using scotch, vinegar and your choice of herbs and spices. One marinade recipe calls for 1/3 cup each of brown sugar, scotch and soy sauce whisked together with 2 tbsp. of Dijon mustard, 1 tbsp. of chopped onions and 1 tsp. of Worchestershire sauce. Use this to marinade steaks overnight.

Tags: after sauteeing, also used, browned bits, desserts with, with scotch