Cooking with malts: a waste of good whisky?

by **Deactivated Member** » Mon Sep 29, 2003 11:07 am

by **Lawrence** » Mon Sep 29, 2003 4:32 pm

Yes, use a blend!

by **highlander** » Mon Sep 29, 2003 6:32 pm

Some malts tasted better when cooked with good food !

by **hpulley** » Mon Sep 29, 2003 7:03 pm

It is a waste of good whisky but a good use of bad whisky! Seriously, I find bad whisky and bad wine are quite fine for cooking.

by **Admiral** » Sun Oct 12, 2003 10:27 am

I would be very surprised to learn that the intricate characteristics of a particular malt are preserved or detectable in the cooking.

Certainly, the dish would reveal that whisky has been used in its preparation, but I doubt very much that whether you use an Ardbeg as opposed to a Glenfiddich in the recipe will make much difference to the final flavour.

In other words - use a blend!

by **hpulley** » Sun Oct 12, 2003 2:44 pm

A strong flavoured whisky like Ardbeg is definitely noticable in cooking compared to Glenfiddich. Peat smoke makes it through malting, distilling and aging of whisky and it makes it through cooking as well. Very nice in a BBQ sauce for some smoky flavour!

Harry

by **Jeroen Kloppenburg** » Tue Oct 14, 2003 2:31 pm

Haha Harry, you have some guts!

Few posts ago you said that using a whisky for cooking is "a good use of bad whisky", and now you say your using Ardbeg for that.

You must not be scared of that on this forum!

by **hpulley** » Tue Oct 14, 2003 2:36 pm

I said 'like Ardbeg' not that I've used Ardbeg. I haven't, honest! Bowmore Darkest is my favorite Islay BBQ sauce.

Harry

by **Admiral** » Wed Oct 15, 2003 4:38 am

What a sad waste of Bowmore Darkest!!!

by **Gate** » Wed Oct 15, 2003 9:51 am

I reckon the same rule goes as for wine and beer in cooking - if you wouldn't drink it, don't cook with it. Not that this means I wouldn't use bad whisky, since I quite like to drink a drop of real firewater from time to time :wink:

It depends on what you're cooking, as well: for something like Athol Brose (and even more so Athol Brose ice-cream, which is a storming dessert, BTW) the taste of the whisky really comes through, so you should use one you like: same with a sauce to which the whisky is added right at the end for flavouring. If you're going to flambe it, though, cheap rotgut would do.

by **hpulley** » Wed Oct 15, 2003 11:24 am

Admiral, I don't know if you've heard of the bad Bowmore bottles that some people have got. I got one, of Darkest. It was my favorite malt at one time but I got a bad bottle which I should have returned. When I didn't return it, I had to do something and BBQ sauce is what I did. I experimented first and somehow the bad perfumey nose didn't make it through the cooking, but the good flavours remained so it was better used in cooking than drank.

Now, a good bottle of Darkest I wouldn't put on a rack of ribs but this bad bottle I did, rather than pour it down the drain.

Harry

by **Deactivated Member** » Wed Oct 15, 2003 3:43 pm

I just use them all for cooking purposes, doesn't matter to me if it's an 8Y old Ardbeg or an 30Y old Macallan. It all depends how much whisky you'll put in to recognize some flavor....

Erik

by **lexkraai** » Wed Oct 15, 2003 4:46 pm

I'm with Erik on this. For me personally, using a good single malt in cooking is not a waste of whisky. The whole point is to enjoy a good whisky, right? Using a carefully selected malt whisky in a dish is an additional way to enjoy that whisky. I must admit that in the past I only considered cheap blends for cooking, but my eyes were opened by a bunch of recipes I got from someone who's in the process of writing a big book on cooking with single malts. It really does make a difference whether you use a cheap blend or a heavily peated or heavily sherried malt, picked to match a particular dish.

Cheers, Lex

by **Y2B** » Tue Jan 20, 2004 9:48 am

It is completly against my religion...

Not to be done it is a complete waste of perfectly good single malt.

by **ojingoh** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 12:52 pm

laphroaig 10 makes a great beef barley stew! i mean absolutely fantastic!

by **hpulley** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 2:27 pm

Got the rest of that 'phroaig beef barley soup recipe anywhere?

Harry

by **ojingoh** » Wed Jul 07, 2004 7:23 am

beef barley soup with laphroaig
(with all apologies to my metricized freinds)
this soup is pretty great for cold days and evenings. what it sacrifices in terms of aromatic complexity -- the usual carrots and celery mirepoix -- it makes up for in beefy whisky flavor. you could cut the cooking time down by half by using some broth out of a can, but it won't be the same -- better to use a mirepoix to make it interesting again. besides this is a main course meal, not a starter. you could have this for dinner on its own.
my girlfriend doesn't eat meat but she loves the aroma of this pot in the fall under falling leaves and caledonian sunsets. enjoy.

12 cups cold water
1 pound pearl barley,washed and soaked for 1 hour
1 medium onion
3 pounds beef chuck or shoulder roast -- the tougher the better. go all out and ask the butcher for a very tough cut with a lot of connective tissue, such as shank or shin, the extra glycerin will add a great richness to the broth. by the end it will be more tender and more flavorful than prime rib.

3 sprigs fresh thyme -
1 small bay leaf, fresh or 2 dried leaves
2 sprigs fresh majoram
light cooking oil
4 tablespoons of salt
fresh black pepper
3 oz laphroag 10 yo db
__________________

chop beef into 1 inch cubes, rub with fresh crushed thyme and majoram, set aside until the meat reaches room temperature (don't worry, you won't get sick.) rub with oil, make sure it's covered. do not add salt.
heat heavy pot at medium heat. add 2 tbsp. oil and finely cut onion. sweat onions until translucent. remove from pot.
brown meat thoroughly. do not add all at once, it will turn gray and have no flavor! don't remove from pot. re-add onions, bay leaf and water. make sure to scrape the bottom of the pot to reintegrate the fond. cover and slowly bring to boil (really slowly, like 90 minutes -- this brings the flavor out of the beef.) scrape off the scum, it's bitter. make sure to stir occasionally.
add the salt and pepper. your broth should be pretty rich by this point.
rinse barley under cold water a few times, until the standing water in the container is not cloudy -- this will cloud your excellent homemade broth. add barley to pot, bring to slow rolling boil then back off heat to simmer for 45 minutes. stir intermittenly with a large spoon, but don't grind the barley apart. it's all about texture until the finish. add salt to taste.
10 minutes before serving remove lid and add laphroiag, keep heating to burn off the alcohol

. the barley should still be intact if you've gotten this far, and the meat should be soft and succulent. serve with warm shephards bread with buttter. enjoy.

by **hpulley** » Wed Jul 07, 2004 12:27 pm

Thanks! Seems simple but I'll have to try it.

Harry

by **susywong** » Thu Jul 22, 2004 2:27 pm

Ardbeg 10 is fantastic when used in a cream and mustard sauce as an accompniant to steak. Yum. The smoky flavours are still evident, yet subtle and it brings out the flavours of the beef superbly!

by **Admiral** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 4:12 am

Would you be kind enough to expand on the Ardbeg, cream, and mustard sauce?

(i.e....what's the recipe?)

Admiral

by **Amir** » Sat Nov 06, 2004 10:17 pm

its a waste if you payed good money for a very good scotch like 18 year old highland park

but its perfectly fine for a black label

by **Drrich1965** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 11:04 pm

Tonight, my wife has made a wonderful dish, which she calls Muscles Ardbeg. She made a wonderful sauce with Garlic, onions, Oregano, Basil, Rosmary and of course Ardbeg 10. This wonderful concoction was served over Ziti...A wonderful dish, accompanied by Rosmary Olive oil bread....So, my answer is, certainly not a waste. Whisky is made for enjoyment, and that we did. If this were the last whisky I would ever had, of course I would want to conserve it. I have the tendency to want to hoard, as if I will never be able to buy another bottle. For me, this is really not LIVING..A fifth of a bottle of Ardbeg 10 can be easily replaced. But the joy of my wife lovingly cooking us a whisky meal (when she only really likes malt for me)?????? Priceless....

by **Deactivated Member** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 11:14 pm

Cool, old thread dredgery! Thanks, Dr, worth the read.

Did your wife use real muscles?

by **Lawrence** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 12:48 am

I've revised my opinion and now cook with whiksy, the amounts used are so samll it's hardly a waste and additional flavour is quite wonderful.

by **Drrich1965** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 1:24 am

Fresh, very nice ones indeed.. :wink:

The meal turned out to be fantastic.... She also make a great beef stew with Ardbeg 10 a couple of weeks ago....No wonder this bottle went so quicky (that, and the tasting I had here a few weeks ago).

Rich

by **Thesh** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 1:36 am

It's not so much a waste of good whisky, as much as it is a waste of expensive money, in my opinion. A cheap whisky, blended or single malt, is perfectly fine for cooking. If you are using a $100 bottle of whisky as an ingredient in cooking, then you need to get your priorities straight. However, if you don't like the whisky, you better find a use for it if you bought it.

by **Drrich1965** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 2:43 am

Thesh wrote:It's not so much a waste of good whisky, as much as it is a waste of expensive money, in my opinion. A cheap whisky, blended or single malt, is perfectly fine for cooking. If you are using a $100 bottle of whisky as an ingredient in cooking, then you need to get your priorities straight. However, if you don't like the whisky, you better find a use for it if you bought it.

Well, not sure we want to get into the realm of values here, i.e. what constitutes problems of priorities (i.e. how expensive of whisky we use for what purpose, how much money we spend on whisky verses money for our retirements funds); just does not seem to be a worthwhile line on discussion, and could easily fall into judgmentalness..

I figure my wife used about $10 in Ardbeg tonight, or the cost of a bad whisky out at an expensive bar...Now, if that theoretical bad whisky was consumed during a converstion with a good friend, it would be well worth it....

by **toshie** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 2:49 pm

Mussels with a dash of Ardbeg, Lagavulin, or Laphroaig. As we say in the west: "Ye canny whack it!"

by **toshie** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 2:50 pm

Mussels with a dash of Ardbeg, Lagavulin, or Laphroaig. As we say in the west: "Ye canny whack it!"

by **Paul A Jellis** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 10:59 pm

I very rarely cook with whisky, as, I believe, that is a bit of a waste. I do, however, often add a splash of whisky at the end of cooking, thus retaining the alcohol and taste of the whisky.

The most obvious choice is haggis, I would never dream of serving it without a very generous glug poured over the top at the very last moment. Also a whisky sauce is great with beef, and as for oysters, forget the lemon juice, I always use Ardbeg!

Cheers, Paul

by **Wave** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 11:20 pm

I've never used whisky in my cooking but I've tried excellent dishes both here and abroad made with whisky. With my own cooking I'll use a good bottle of drinkable wine in my pasta sauce or with mushrooms (sautéed with butter & garlic with a cup of wine thrown in for the last minute on high). Bad wine makes for a bad dish IMO.

Beer for the most part I'll use a cheap stale beer since mostly I want is the the taste of the hops like in my black bean chili & homemade bread, though there are a couple of dishes where I'll use a good ale like in a chicken in a dijon mustard & beer sauce, a dark beer/ale adds an extra oomph to the dish.

Cheers!

by **Wave** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 11:26 pm

Thesh wrote:It's not so much a waste of good whisky, as much as it is a waste of expensive money, in my opinion. A cheap whisky, blended or single malt, is perfectly fine for cooking. If you are using a $100 bottle of whisky as an ingredient in cooking, then you need to get your priorities straight. However, if you don't like the whisky, you better find a use for it if you bought it.

I don't have any priorities, I don't need them! :lol:

Cheers!

by **Drrich1965** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 11:44 pm

Wave wrote:
Thesh wrote:It's not so much a waste of good whisky, as much as it is a waste of expensive money, in my opinion. A cheap whisky, blended or single malt, is perfectly fine for cooking. If you are using a $100 bottle of whisky as an ingredient in cooking, then you need to get your priorities straight. However, if you don't like the whisky, you better find a use for it if you bought it.

I don't have any priorities, I don't need them!

Cheers!

Nice response to that!

by **Bullie** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 12:03 pm

I'm looking on it as this:

If I'm about to cook a nice meal, why use inferior ingridients? Of course I'll use a nice single instead of a not so good blend.

But then it depends on what I'm cooking. Meatballs always taste better with a dab of Ardbeg or Laphroaig in them. If I'm doing a dessert, perhaps a dash of Glenfarclas or Glenrothes can enhance the whipped cream and so on... But if I'm to do a flambé (don't know the english name for it) I use a blend.. Just gonna burn it of anyway...

by **irishwhiskeychaser** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 12:17 pm

Yes we call it a flambé too ....

I totally agree with you. Good food requires good wine/whiskey.