Alcohol in cooking
In cooking and confectionery, alcohol in extremely small doses - from a few drops to 1 tbsp. spoons - plays a very significant role and, often, has a decisive influence on the creation of consistency and the final taste of individual dishes or food and confectionery products. Meanwhile, it is, as a rule, neglected both at the level of compiling cookbooks (in order to facilitate, simplify the recipe and tasks of the hostess), and at the level of culinary practice itself (neither in public catering, nor in individual housewives in home cooking, as a rule, use of such a technique as the introduction of alcohol to stimulate the enzymatic processes in food, at least in everyday meals).
In the old days, the high cost of alcoholic beverages in Russia had a deterrent effect on their use as an obligatory component in the kitchen, especially since the centuries-old habit of people associates alcohol only with intoxicating drinking and does not consider it as an element of the cooking process, especially hot.
Despite the fact that now the situation with prices has changed, this misconception has a significant impact on the fact that our everyday food in its usual, standard version, on the one hand, is tasteless, monotonous and therefore quickly becomes boring, and on the other hand, it forces us to use alcohol in the process of a feast, spontaneously and roughly, replenishing with a raw, mechanical (and not biochemical!) introduction of this component into food that need of an adult and a stressed person's body for additional metabolic stimulators, which is completely satisfied by the systematic introduction of microscopic doses of alcohol in the process of preparing hot meat , egg, vegetable and dough dishes.
Only fish, rich in trace elements, proteins and phosphorus, does not need alcoholic flavoring, although many fish dishes in French, Spanish, Mediterranean and Oriental cuisine are traditionally prepared with dry grape wine and thereby significantly increase their nutritional value. In Russian cuisine, the addition of a glass of vodka is traditionally used when cooking fish soup.
You do not need to have special prescriptions or recipes to systematically introduce a spoon or even half a teaspoon of alcohol, vodka (or a tablespoon of grape wine) into any meat dish or poultry dish that is prepared from unmilled, whole meat, stewed or fried. For example, it is enough to grease entrecotes or chicken with vodka and let it sit for at least a few minutes, or preferably half an hour, before frying, so that the alcohol can be absorbed. And when cooking meat, it is useful to add alcohol at the very beginning to the still cold water. After heat treatment, there will be no alcohol left in the product. You should be very careful when adding cognac so as not to interrupt the taste of the product itself. Therefore, often instead of pure cognac, a mixture of vodka or dry wine with a small amount of cognac should be used. In general, when adding cognac, one should rely on the taste, and add the missing alcohol in the form of vodka or wine.
This improves the consistency of the meat, makes it much softer, more tender, speeds up the cooking process (from 10-15 minutes to half an hour), gives a guarantee of complete disinfection of the product and its release from any side odors, guaranteeing the absolute suppression of all kinds of parasites, fungi and harmful microflora - from putrefactive bacteria to staphylococci. And as a result of this "cleansing work" - significant improvement and enhancement of the purity of taste, its brightness in the finished food product.
It is recommended to add grape wine to vegetable dishes (including soups at the beginning of cooking) in doses from 1 teaspoon to 1-2 tablespoons. For raw ground meat (minced meat) - just a few drops of alcohol, vodka or brandy (5-8 drops per kilogram of meat).
Alcohol is widely used in confectionery and ice cream. It is absolutely necessary for the preparation of such a product as brushwood (verguns), where they usually consume 1-2 teaspoons of vodka per 1 kg of dough.
Any cookies, gingerbread, muffins will become better if you introduce some type of alcohol into the dough for them - alcohol, vodka, wine, cognac, rum. Doses here are arbitrary, but not less than 1 teaspoon and not more than 1 tbsp. spoons per 1 kg of dough in terms of alcohol. With any composition and recipe of cookies, this will contribute to the evenness, beautiful appearance, baking and lightness, porosity of the confection, especially if this product is prepared not on natural lifting agents (yeast), which themselves produce alcohol in the course of their life, but on artificial chemical (soda, ammonium carbonate, baking powder). Along with vodka or cognac (which can be added up to a quarter of the total liquid), dry sour grape wine must also be added to the unleavened puff pastry pastry dough - 1-2 tbsp. spoons for 1 kg of dough.
Alcohol is also used when processing poultry - even if it is already ready for cooking, it is best to burn it on an alcohol lamp or, sprinkle it with alcohol, set it on fire. This gives a clean, pleasant taste to the subsequent product.
At the very final, final stage of cooking dishes from poultry, game, sometimes fish, as well as a number of confectionery dishes: cakes, fruit "slides", cuts, maceduans, etc., the flambing technique is used - the dish already served on the table is poured with cognac or flavored alcohol and immediately set on fire. Cognac is preheated in a small, not very tightly closed bottle in hot water. The alcohol does not need to be heated.
Thus, alcohol is one of the necessary elements for enriching food, so be boldly introducing it in small doses into many dishes you prepare, including many soups (except dairy ones!) At the very beginning of their cooking. In the kitchen of a good home cook, there should always be, like salt or pepper, a small bottle of 100 ml of alcohol, a bottle of 100 ml of vodka and a bottle of 200 ml of dry white wine.
It is good to have a syrup based on cognac or rum..
To prepare cognac syrup, you need to take a small bottle, fill it halfway with good cognac or rum and add granulated sugar (or fructose) until the bottle is full, close tightly and, shaking occasionally (once an hour), let the sugar dissolve without heating.
It is very good to pour this syrup on ice cream served on the table (including for children), peeled and chopped fruits, peeled nuts, many confectionery products in an amount from a few drops to a whole teaspoon per serving (but an excessive addition will already make the taste of the dish coarse, i.e. because the excess of cognac will not emphasize, but will interrupt the natural taste of any served dish). This syrup can be added one teaspoon at a time to tea (especially lemon) or coffee.
Try to make syrup from good fortified, including dessert, wine in the same way. It is convenient to have on hand a number of such syrups from different wines - they will make it easy to improve and diversify the taste of many ready-made desserts.
