Cooking with Bourbon: Do Try This at Home
BY TOM YATES
The 2010 Kentucky Bourbon Festival wraps up this weekend with The Great Kentucky Bourbon Tasting and Gala. It’s a grand event that will start off with bourbon samplings from eight of Kentucky’s finest distilleries. After the tasting, a toast with 1792 Ridgemont Reserve Small Batch Bourbon will be offered followed by a gourmet Kentucky meal and special dessert prepared with Blanton’s Bourbon.
The first year that I taught the Bourbon Cooking school, I chose Booker’s Bourbon. It had a rich smoky charcoal aroma with intense fruity tobacco undertones that paired beautifully with open-flamed chargrilled beef tenderloin.
With its woody charred vanilla nose, Woodford Reserve would pair nicely with any cut of meat. Buffalo Trace could offer a great flavored marinade at a very good price point with its vanilla mint molasses aroma and oaky dark toffee undertones.
Bookers Bourbon Marinated Chargrilled Beef Tenderloin
Serves 8
1 cup Bookers Bourbon (or choice of bourbon)
1 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup good quailty soy sauce
4 sprigs fresh rosemary
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 T worcestershire sauce
2 cup water (or beef stock)
1 5 lb beef tenderloin (or choice of steak) * pork tenderloin would be fantastic
Method: Combine all the marinade ingredients thoroughly to dissolve the brown sugar and pour over the beef tenderloin. Cover and refrigerate 8-12 hours or overnight, turning occasionally. Grill whole tenderloin for 30 -45 minutes for rare or longer for desired temperature.
If using individual smaller cuts of steak, use the same method and grill to desired temperature.
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