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Cooking With Booze

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A FRIEND OF MINE IS ALWAYS AGHAST AT THE AMOUNT OF BOOZE I WASTE. Waste? Me? Never! Cooking with booze is an important part of my life and I'm not changing that for anybody. So when I was sent this great little book Cooking With Booze: From Beer Batter to Vodka Jelly — 101 Recipes From The Drinks Cupboard by (recover-ing teetotaller!) George Harvey Bone, I was in seventh heaven.

Cooking With Booze contains a wealth of intoxicatingly delicious recipes gathered from worldwide sources and it perfectly combines two of life's greatest pleasures: food and booze!
It is divided up into nine chapters of recipes that are cooked using wine, fortified wines, beer, cider, vodka, whisky, rum, brandy and tequila, with a further chapter that deals with other spirits and liqueurs — everything, in fact, to liven up the most jaded of palates.

If you like your food rich and full, try Amaretto Mousse or Advocaat
Ice Cream. But Amaretto Spumoni is to die for if you love almond liqueur. If you favour savoury, try Whisky Rarebit — a special treat with a zing! Chicken in Apple and Whisky Sauce is amazing and Tipsy Sweet Potatoes most definitely more-ish.

Cooking With Booze presents a collection of drink-fuelled delicacies that ensure that spirits will be high throughout the festive season — T'is The Season To Be Jolly.

The simple instructions make these recipes from all over the world
well worth trying and there are interesting snippets of information surrounding each dish. Cooking With Booze also includes fascinating quotes and comments from well known gourmets throughout history such as John Keats and William Shakespeare.

Anybody could rustle up Dom Pedro — ice cream, chocolate sauce and malt whisky. Du Nier Beurre, or Black Butter, needs a little bit more time and patience. It is a traditional preserve from the Channel Island of Jersey using apples, cider, liquorice, lemons and allspice — you can use it with desserts or serve as you would jam.

I have yet to try the Bierbroad — South African Beer Bread — or Mexican Drunk Chicken (I didn't know you could drink chicken!) but you could earn lots of Brownie Points in the kitchen by serving up a luxurious Champagne and Vegetable Soup. At the top of the page is a quote: "Remember, gentlemen, it's not just France we are fighting for, it's Champagne!" — Winston Churchill.

Other interesting recipes are: Baked Mackerel with Calvados, Penne Alla Vodka, Sake or Sambuca Jam, Grand Marnier Brownies (Mmm!), Vodka Martini Smoked Salmon, Chinese Beer Chicken and Arak Cookies — Arak, we are told, lays claim to being the first ever liqueur. Helpful tips include mixing brandy with a tablespoon of vodka "to get a nice blue flame" before igniting and pouring over your Christmas pudding.

Books are always welcome gifts and this Christmas SnowBooks has the perfect present for the wine lover in your life (or beer lover, port lover, whiskey lover — or any other lover you happen to have...).

So there you have it! Why not treat your loved ones to a stocking-
filler to warm the cockles of the heart and to guarantee a very 'merry' Christmas... And an intoxicating New Year.

• Cooking With Booze is available now at £9.99 (RRP) from www.snowbooks.com, Borders Books, etc, and all good bookshops.

Sample Recipe from Cooking With Booze:

Vodka Martini Smoked Salmon
1.3-1.8kg (3-4lb) salmon, cleaned
6 sprigs fresh dill
60ml (1/4 cup) lemon juice
3 tbsp butter, melted
1 tbsp horseradish
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 lemon, sliced
1/2 tsp Tabasco
60ml (1/4 cup) vodka
60ml (1/4 cup) vermouth

FIRST, WASH THE SALMON AND DRY WELL. Fill with dill and lemon. Slice and set it aside. Place the butter, lemon juice, horseradish, garlic, Tabasco and booze in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Remove and allow to cool.

Wrap the salmon in a large piece of foil, leaving one side open. Pour in the sauce and close loosely. Place on the edge of the grill for about an hour, to cool gently. After and hour, open one side of the package and cook for one hour.

Check it's properly cooked before slicing and serving — Copyright 2007 © SnowBooks

About the Author — George Harvey Bone is an aesthete and gourmand, descended from a long line of bon vivants, and formerly worked in the wine trade before turning his attention to the kitchen.

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