Whiskey as a cooking ingredient is underutilized and underrated. The question is, can you go with the cheap stuff?
On her website, model, TV personality and social media guru Chrissy Teigen has rhapsodized about what spirits and wine can bring to your dish. On bourbon, she notes:
If you’re looking for smoky flavors (and tequila is not for you), try bourbon or whiskey. Both have sweet, smoky, and caramel flavor profiles that can be used in either sweet or savory dishes. Next time you make bacon, try adding a maple-bourbon glaze!
Teigen, who has two cookbooks out and is working on a third, links to a useful food science article over at Fine Cooking, which explains alcohol’s role in improving flavor perception via evaporation and molecular bonding.
As for her cooking suggestion? “Avoid bourbon or whiskey you wouldn’t drink.” (Also, cook on low heat and pair with acidic ingredients like lemons, fruits or grains.) Meaning, go with the good stuff.
So, what to use? That’s up to what you like, of course. For Teigen — who recently announced she had quit drinking and seems to be extremely happy about her choice (as we are for her or anyone who makes that decision) — it appears she prefers variations on Bulleit.
As G. Clay Whittaker noted in The Bourbon Report, she’s been spotted cooking in the kitchen with both traditional Bulleit and Bulleit Blenders’ Select, the latter created by blender Eboni Major (who, FYI, is one of the first Black blenders in the American Whiskey category). It’s a pretty highly regarded release — it ranked no. 4 on The Whisky Advocate in their 2020 top whiskies list — and it seems ideal for cooking, based off of the tasting notes.
As noted by Bulleit, the blend utilizes three out of the 10 whiskey types used to make the original Bulleit Bourbon, and boasts “distinct notes of vanilla bean, honey, dried fruit and toasted oak, with a lingering sweet cream and fruit wine decadence for a smooth finish.”
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