Stop Drinking Your Tequila, And Start Cooking With It

With tequila's status as one of the best-selling spirit in the U.S., consumers are discovering more and more uses for the liquor. Sure, you can work on crafting the perfect margarita, or a range of other delicious cocktails. However, why not take it one step further, and employ tequila in the kitchen?

While wine often gets the attention as the culinary ingredient, spirits are fit for the job, too. And among them, tequila imbues foods with an especially complex flavor. Depending on the spirit type and its use, you can bring out varying measures of sweet fruitiness, earthy notes, spice, smokiness, caramel richness, and more. A little goes a long way, and a careful consideration of accompaniments accentuates certain notes.

Plus, its tasty palate pops in a surprising variety of dishes. In addition to classic spirit applications like glazes and marinades, you can mix it into raw applications, and even make a tequila-tinged dessert. With both aged and bright blanco types available, there's a large culinary range to explore. So, stow away that shot glass, and break out the kitchen utensils instead — the results will impress.

The style of tequila you employ in your dish heavily impacts the flavor. So, to decide your culinary application, you'll need to select the bottle first. With the unaged blanco expression, it's all about showcasing the vibrant vegetal, citrus, and sweet flavors of the agave.

An excellent (and more forgiving) starting point is to craft a marinade. The alcohol works to imbue proteins with added flavor, so not only will you taste juicy tequila notes, but your other marinade components will be more vibrant, too. It's an especially powerful combination with lime: marinate everything from pork ribs, to shrimp, chicken, and even salmon in such a mix.

Furthermore, if you're really a fan of blanco's bright and sharp flavor, then you can even employ it in raw applications. Enhance the sweetness with agave syrup, and soak fresh fruit like watermelon in the spirit. Or give a fresh salsa an extra hit with the punch of alcohol. And to really impress guests, sneak some tequila into your ceviche, adding a complex edge to the appetizer. There are lots of ways to go about integrating blanco's agave-forward taste — it's like a dash of a special ingredient.

To impart culinary qualities more similar to whiskey, then reach for a barrel-aged tequila variety. The reposado style offers a delicate balance of fresh agave, and light barrel character. It's excellent for a glaze — especially on beef and pork — creating a complex balance of vanilla, smoke, and sweetness. Such tasting notes also inspire combinations with chiles. Craft a batch of tequila-pepper beef fajitas, or add a splash of the reposado into a complex braise.

And finally, if you're after the most nuanced (and least punchy) tequila flavor, then use some añejo in cooking. Its smooth and nutty qualities make it especially tasty in desserts, pairing with foodstuffs like chocolate in cakes and soufflés. Or in the savory realm, add it to butter to top one of the best cuts of steak. For a true tequila fan, you can even serve a shot of the same liquor alongside to really showcase the nuance.

Regardless of which type of tequila you're using, make sure to check it's additive-free. An abundance of artificial ingredients in the bottle will lead to an off-tasting result. So, procure a bottom shelf tequila worth buying, and start cooking away.