Cooking With Craft Gin

What is craft gin and what are the benefits of it

The benefits of cooking with craft gin can include a unique flavour and aroma that cannot be replicated by any other type of liquor. Craft gin can add a fresh new element of taste to your favourite dishes.

Recipes for appetizers, entrees, desserts, and more using craft gin as an ingredient

Here are some recipes to make some glorious tasting dishes using craft gin.

Appetizers:

• Thai Green Curry with Shrimp - First clean and shell your shrimp, then marinate them in the gin for ten minutes. Then add them to a Thai green curry that has been simmering away on the stovetop and stir well. Add some chopped cilantro leaves just before serving it out onto plates with jasmine rice or sticky rice alongside it.
• Lobster Bisque - Lobster bisque can taste sensational when made using a bit of craft gin. First make a roux using butter, flour and gin. Then add some onions to the mixture for flavour before adding your fish stock along with chopped lobster meat. Stir well until boiling point is reached, then let it simmer away gently on low heat for twenty minutes.

Entrees:

• Pork Chop Oreganato - This is one tasty Italian classic that you can cook using gin. First marinate some pork chops overnight to give them extra flavour before adding garlic salt, black pepper, chopped oregano leaves for taste, along with generous amounts of olive oil. Grill away over medium heat for five minutes each side or until golden brown before serving garnished with fresh lemon wedges alongside your choice of salad vegetables if desired.
• Pan Seared Scallops - Clean each scallop by removing its brown end then dry them off very thoroughly using paper towels, before placing them into a bowl of craft gin marinade that has been sitting overnight in the fridge. Leave this mix to sit at room temperature while you make your risotto as they will be ready just about when your risotto comes out of the oven. Season both sides of each scallop with salt before cooking.
• Gourmet Grilled Cheese Sandwich using craft gin is made by infusing the milk with the gin and onion, then adding this to your base before you finish off by melting cheese into it.
• Cheese & Craft Gin Fondue - Stir in some fresh lemon juice for an extra kick of citrus flavour to go along with a basket full of bread cubes, apple slices and dried apricots at the end when everything is melted together.

Desserts:

• Raspberry Lemon Cream Pie - You can use some gin to make this delicious dessert by adding it to the raspberry mixture.
• Gin & Tonic Panna Cotta - Add a few drops of gin into this panna cotta for an added zing that will have you coming back for more.
• Pecan Pie with Craft Ginger Beer Syrup - The sweet, caramel flavours in both pecan pie and ginger beer pair nicely with craft gin, so it is no surprise these ingredients are featured together here.
• Cheesecake - You can infuse your cheesecake base by adding some craft gin or even use it as part of the topping by whipping up some cream cheese frosting infused with it.

How to cook with different types of gin

There are different flavours of artisanal gin in the market, so what kind of dishes should be made with each different kind? Here are some suggestions:

• Bombay Sapphire Gin is great for cooking Asian cuisine. Use this to make a Thai-style soup or an Indian curry with some rice that features ginger, coriander, cumin seeds and green chillies.
• For European dishes try using the classic London dry style of Tanqueray Gin instead, which has notes of juniper berries combined with lemon peel.
• If you love fresh herbs than go ahead and use Hendricks' Gin’s sweet floral flavour made from rose petals in your cocktail by mixing it up with sugar syrup infused honeydew melon cubes.
• Spice flavoured gins are great for making marinades with. Try using Old Raj Gin which has distinctive flavour of black pepper and coriander to marinate chicken or lamb before cooking on the BBQ.
• For dessert, why not try something different like making a raspberry gin sorbet? Simply mix together fresh raspberries, caster sugar syrup and some pink grapefruit juice then place in the freezer.
• Fruit flavoured gins are better to make desserts with. Try using Moniack Gin which has a blend of strawberry and raspberry to add an extra dimension when cooking desserts such as pavlova or fruit salads.
• Old Bakery Gin is best used for marinating seafood.
• Archangel Gin can be used to make dishes such as venison, beef and lamb even more tasty.
• For barbecues try using Rich Tea gin which has a touch of Ceylon tea leaves added to the mix; this will add an extra dimension when cooking meats on your barbecue.

If you have little bits of gin remaining in bottles after festivities or parties, you can use these for your cooking, and you can be sure of some delectably flavoured dishes that will elevate your cooking to the next level.