Cooking with bourbon

[jbutler]

Mike Veach and I started to go off on a tangent in the history forum, but I felt it was interesting enough to get something going here. He made mention of cooking with VOB 100, something I've yet to do, but would if the product were available to me here in California.

When cooking, I only use two bourbons; Booker's and Stagg. Which I use depends of course on the flavor profile I seek for the food. I use these high proof bourbons because I find their flavor always comes through in the finished product, particularly when the food is spicy. I haven't done a hell of alot of experimentation with various bourbon's in this regard, though I would imagine that most bourbons of 100+ proof would perform admirably.

The above being said however, I always use bourbons of 94- proof for marinades. Anything above that and I've found that the meat will tend to soak up the bourbon at a faster rate than it does the other marinade components, and I end up with something that tastes like bourbon rather than something that was flavored with bourbon.

Your thoughts/practices?

[kbuzbee]

Jim, I use almost exclusively WT101 for both. I let the marinades sit out for an hour after soaking for 3-4hours to let the alcohol taste mellow out. Delicious.

Has anyone picked up the Maker's Mark cookbook?? Was wondering if there were any good ideas in there?

Ken

[jeff]

I haven't experimented much either, but I tend to use AAA 10yo for most of my cooking. It adds lots of bourbon character to the meat and it's cheap! I do use Stagg for bourbon balls though

[bourbonv]

Ancient Ancient Age is another very good cooking bourbon. What I look for is a bourbon with a distinct enough flavor to compete with other tastes. Old Grand Dad is also good when baking something where you want to add a little spice. A friend of mine uses Old Grand Dad when making her Bourbon Banana Cake.

Mike Veach

[DCFan]

On 10/14/2005 at 1:05 PM, kbuzbee said:

Has anyone picked up the Maker's Mark cookbook?? Was wondering if there were any good ideas in there?

Ken

I was searching thru this forum for an appropriate place to post this.  I was in Costco this morning (the one in NoVA, not DC with all the cheap liquor) and was looking thru the book section and saw a Jim Beam Bourbon Cookbook.  I almost picked it up but then realized it'd be a great fathers day gift suggestion.  They had it for $11.99.

[bayouredd]

I actually cook with whatever thought pops in my head. I have the knack for picking ingredients & particular spice matches. I do the same with bourbon, rum, whiskey & wine. My success rate is pretty good. Failures have occurred & the good thing is that you always remember the failures so there is no repetition.

 

My latest was Barrel Bourbon-109 proof & wings. I think a quicker infusion works best & you may be right about the higher proofs working better for this. Also a short time in the freezer helps tremendously.

[Bourbon Air Tours]

At our Bardstown Bourbon Festival, we have a pancake breakfast as part of the kickoff. The coffee, syrup and the pancake batter all get a little Old Pogue stirred in. I took that home with me and I now make my own pancakes with 1/2 cup of VOB replacing 1/2 cup of milk. Add an egg to the batter and you can make thick waffles out of it with ease. I use 100% maple syrup diluted with 5% VOB as well.

[ebo]

I need to try this!

 

 

[Skinsfan1311]

I use EWB, pretty exclusively,  when cooking with bourbon.   

When a recipe call for a bourbon reduction,  the simmering whiskey makes the kitchen smell like like a rickhouse.

 

[Harry in WashDC]

Well, we have a 2001 edition of the Jack Daniels Old Time Barbecue Cookbook.  While various bourbons will work in the recipes, my wife likes to use actual JDB based on her years of ad hoc experimenting with bourbons when we don't have JDB because she likes the end result "better".  Recently (like last week), I had only JDBP on hand so she used AAA.  It worked just fine in an end-of-cook basting sauce so she said AAA "can be substituted in the future so keep some around."  Oooh, that's going to be tough..

 

For marinades, particularly for London broil or pork tenderloin, we use any 90+ to 100 proof bourbon (not rye) on hand but keep the marinade time to about an hour if the 100 is used.

Edited July 16, 2019 by Harry in WashDC

[evasive]

I added WT101 to the water bath while soaking some cedar planks last weekend. I plan to keep a EWB on hand for those duties in future.

I use a lot of cachaça in marinades to pick up alcohol-soluble flavors. In that application it’s fairly neutral and just adds a hint of smokiness.

[smokinjoe]

48 minutes ago, evasive said:

I added WT101 to the water bath while soaking...

The visual of this prevented me from going any further...  

 

[BMartin42]

Currently I have 3 bottles of JBW lined up in the pantry for cooking. Seems I have a lot of friends that know I love bourbon and gift me these. I can mix them with coke on a really hot day but otherwise not much use for JBW. Works well in chili and I like a splash on my burgers before I cook them too.

[HoustonNit]

Does anyone add bourbon to there chili or when making bbq sauce?

For reference.


https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/01/the-best-chili-recipe.html

[fishnbowljoe]

8 hours ago, HoustonNit said:

Does anyone add bourbon to there chili or when making bbq sauce?

On occasion, I’ve been known to add a little bourbon to my chili. 

 

Biba! Joe

[HoustonNit]

On occasion, I’ve been known to add a little bourbon to my chili. [emoji14]  

Biba! Joe

 

 

On purpose [emoji3]???

 

 

A little in the pot towards the end and a little in the chef throughout works wonders.

 

[MTNBourbon]

On 11/22/2019 at 11:54 PM, HoustonNit said:

Does anyone add bourbon to there chili or when making bbq sauce?

For reference.


https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/01/the-best-chili-recipe.html
 

I've done it, seems to make the chili a little bit to watery. I like my chili on the thicker side. Tasted great though. I might try it again, not as much this time.

Edited November 24, 2019 by MTNBourbon

[Kane]

On 11/23/2019 at 1:54 AM, HoustonNit said:

Does anyone add bourbon to there chili or when making bbq sauce?

For reference.


https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/01/the-best-chili-recipe.html
 

Here's my secret to a damn tasty chili: bourbon + dark beer (the thicker & sweeter the better) + high-cocoa chocolate.

[KSJon]

On 11/23/2019 at 12:54 AM, HoustonNit said:

Does anyone add bourbon to there chili or when making bbq sauce?

For reference.


https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/01/the-best-chili-recipe.html
 

Now that’s a timely question.  Yesterday I was making a bbq sauce for some pulled chicken sandwiches.  I usually don’t add any whiskey to mine but as I was adding various spices I thought about the open bourbons I had on hand and which one I thought I could spare some of for cooking.  I had an open bottle of Dant. So I thought that would be an easy economical choice. But, as I made my way over to the shelf I saw the open bottle of Wildfire and could not  resist adding some of the hickory smoked whiskey to sauce.  So I guess my answer is no, I have not added bourbon to my bbq sauce.  Not yet at least.  Next time for sure.  But the smoke and sweet from the Wildfire worked really well with the sauce.  Just thought it was funny the question came up the day I was making sauce.

Edited November 24, 2019 by KSJon

[HoustonNit]

Now that’s a timely question.  Yesterday I was making a bbq sauce for some pulled chicken sandwiches.  I usually don’t add any whiskey to mine but as I was adding various spices I thought about the open bourbons I had on hand and which one I thought I could spare some of for cooking.  I had an open bottle of Dant. So I thought that would be an easy economical choice. But, as I made my way over to the shelf I saw the open bottle of Wildfire and could not  resist adding some of the hickory smoked whiskey to sauce.  So I guess my answer is no, I have not added bourbon to my bbq sauce.  Not yet at least.  Next time for sure.  But the smoke and sweet from the Wildfire worked really well with the sauce.  Just thought it was funny the question came up the day I was making sauce.

Yeah it seems to work well and ha live also used Dant.

[HoustonNit]

Here's my secret to a damn tasty chili: bourbon + dark beer (the thicker & sweeter the better) + high-cocoa chocolate.

I may have just found a source for some bourbon barrel aged stout I don’t care for, thanks!

[Richnimrod]

7 hours ago, MTNBourbon said:

I've done it, seems to make the chili a little bit to watery. I like my chili on the thicker side. Tasted great though. I might try it again, not as much this time.

One tip: I'm not certain an entire 750 is the right amount of Bourbon to add... or that it should be added at the table just before dishing it out.  

[MTNBourbon]

5 minutes ago, Richnimrod said:

One tip: I'm not certain an entire 750 is the right amount of Bourbon to add... or that it should be added at the table just before dishing it out.  

Never added that much.

[HoustonNit]

Was making a gravy for biscuits and gravy. Had some extra mushrooms from yesterday and of course turkey I threw in there. Also needed to throw in some OGD BIB.

[flahute]

Every year my wife makes a bourbon pecan pie at Thanksgiving. Every year I hand her either WTRB or WT101. It was 101 this year.