Kitchen Cheat Sheet: How To Cook With Leftover Booze
Finish off that extra sauce without getting sloshed.
Sure, the concept of “leftover booze” is a little bit of a laugh. If you should end up with a few fingers of your favorite sauce (and not of the barbecue variety) that just isn’t enough to bother with mixing up a cocktail, that doesn’t mean that you should throw it in the trash. Even though there isn’t enough vodka or rum left to mix into a nice, soothing drink, you can still turn it into something pretty delicious — that doesn’t involve ice or a glass.
Wine is a relatively common cooking ingredient, but most of us don’t think to look into the liquor cabinet for the perfect addition to our recipes. Cooking with liquor and liqueurs can be a little dangerous — sometimes fire is involved! — but it can provide interesting flavor and intensify those that are already there. If you have a few shots of these ten spirits left lingering in your kitchen, try adding them to some of your favorite recipes. You won’t get much of a buzz, but the tasty results just might surprise you.
Vodka
The obvious choice for using up leftover vodka is pasta alla vodka sauce, made with tomatoes, cream, and a few shots of the flavorless spirit. As the sauce simmers away on the stove, the added vodka extracts more flavor from the tomatoes and aromatics like garlic, onion, and herbs, ultimately resulting in a more delicious pasta sauce. If you’d rather make your tomato sauce without cream, add vodka to your arrabiata recipe — the bite from the booze also enhances spicy flavors.
Spiced Rum
Beyond Grandma’s rum cake, there are plenty of culinary applications where spiced rum can add tons of flavor. The next time you’re making bananas foster, set aside a little of that rum from your flambé to make a spicy and velvety rum-butter sauce. On the savory side, a splash of rum will punch up homemade barbecue sauce or add character to a spicy-sweet glaze for fish and chicken.
Tequila
Mexican cuisine is the perfect fit for those leftover splashes of tequila, whether you’re mixing it into a ceviche recipe or pouring a shot over sautéing shrimp. Tequila has an incredible ability to bring out acidic and herbaceous flavors, like cilantro and lime, especially once a little heat has been applied. Try margarita cupcakes for a twist on everyone’s favorite patio cocktail, or mix it into a boozy vinaigrette that is perfect for everything from grilled chicken to fresh summer salads.
Bourbon
If you’ve got a good bourbon, it’s probably best to enjoy the rest of that bottle poured over ice, but when you need to use up the last of something basic, this whiskey is incredibly versatile in the kitchen. Bourbon is great in both savory and sweet applications thanks to its complex flavors, which concentrate as they’re cooked. Bacon and bourbon are a particularly delicious combination, and can be used to make decadent treats like bacon-bourbon brownies, or everyone’s favorite savory-sweet spread — bacon jam.