Pass The Salt: Cooking With Tequila

Tequila is a divisive old drink. Some think it’s the bee’s knees when done properly with a lick of salt and a sharp bite of lemon or lime. Others may once have thought that, but can now no longer catch even a whiff of the stuff without violently heaving.

But let’s put that to one side for a moment, as it’s National Tequila Day, so we all need to get over our retching and celebrate the mighty Mexican tipple. Instead of necking it though (we really don’t want to make you vom), we propose that you get cooking with it.

via GIPHY

Tequila actually works well in both savoury and sweet dishes, creating a tangy, sticky glaze for meat, and making for a slightly unusual baking ingredient. Here’s a few ideas for how to use it in the kitchen:

Tequila and honey sounds a little bit like it could be a perfect sore throat remedy, but it also makes an excellent sticky glaze for chicken.

Combined with chilli powder, pineapple juice, the juice of a lime and a little cumin powder, tequila and honey make a brilliant cooking sauce for chicken in this recipe from What a Girl Eats.

You could make this recipe in your Tefal OptiGrill, if you like, covering the meat in the sticky marinade before grilling it to perfection. Serve with rice or a fresh green salad for a gorgeously summery meal.

Orange juice and tequila are key components of a classic Tequila Sunrise cocktail, but you wouldn’t be too happy if you found a prawn floating in your cocktail glass, would you? But what about if you put the tequila and orange on the prawns instead? Much better idea…

The Manhattan Food Project has a recipe for this very thing: prawns marinated in tequila, orange juice, chilli flakes, garlic and a little olive oil. Fruity and spicy with a hint of tequila, this marinade covers pretty much every base imaginable.

Tofu is a dream for absorbing strong flavours, so this tequila, chilli and lime version from Vegan Dad is a real treat for all you veggies and vegans out there.

It’s super simple to make, and great for enjoying as a snack with a cooling dip, or to form the base of a meal with a fresh salad, or even a plateful of chips rustled up in your Tefal ActiFry for a Fryday (see what we did there?) night dinner with a difference. Extra tequila on the side in the form of a margarita is a must.

If you’re a little unsure about this whole coating meat/fish/tofu in tequila business, then a good way to get just a hint of its flavour would be to incorporate it into a side dish, like this ‘slaw with a difference from The Chunky Chef.

It’s your standard mayo/shredded carrot/cabbage/onion affair, but with a squeeze of lime and a shot of tequila thrown in there for added good measure. Because why on earth not?!

Back to the Tequila Sunrise; this time, not with prawns, but in a cake. That oh-so-summery combination of tequila, orange juice and grenadine is what holidays taste like to many of us, and that’s exactly what this cake from Baked By An Introvert tastes like.

The recipe also includes pomegranate juice, which gives it that gorgeous red colour when it’s sliced into for a glorious ‘sunrise’ effect. It’s the perfect summer cake, and makes an excellent centrepiece for a celebration.

It’s lime and Cointreau that tequila sits alongside in a classic margarita, and they’re the ingredients you’ll find in these incredibly cute cupcakes with a kick from Giraffes Can Bake.

They consist of a vanilla and lime sponge, which is then topped with a tequila and lime-flavoured buttercream icing, and finished with a slice of fresh lime. They’re the perfect thing to serve alongside a margarita next time you make cocktails.

Now, how does it go again? One tequila, two tequila, three tequila…