Cooking With Bourbon

Dan,
You are absolutely right. These recipes have to be "original". However, tweeking is what creates a new dish, IMO. I'l say this much about what I have decided to do: it involves hot Italian sausage, shitakes, fennel and pasta AND bourbon! I'll post the recipe after the contest.

I keep a container of this sauce in the 'fridge most of the time. It's awesome on pork and chicken, too.

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recip ... _id=453967

Dan,
You are absolutely right. These recipes have to be "original". However, tweeking is what creates a new dish, IMO. I'l say this much about what I have decided to do: it involves hot Italian sausage, shitakes, fennel and pasta AND bourbon! I'll post the recipe after the contest.

How did you do? Any ribbons? What did you make?

Well, I didn't do anything in the Bourbon contest. I made a pasta dish where I had marinated hot Italian sausage (in the casing) in bourbon....well here's the recipe:
THE DRUNKEN ITALIAN

2 CUPS EVAN WILLIAMS BOURBON
11 OZ HOT ITALIAN SAUSAGE IN CASING (ABOUT 3)
2 TBSP DOUBLE CONCENTRATED TOMATO PASTE
3 TBSP EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL
5 OZ SLICED SHITAKE MUSHROOMS
3 OZ JULIENNED SHALLOTS
.5 OZ MINCED GARLIC
4 OZ JULIENNED FENNEL BULB
½ PINT WHIPPING CREAM
8 OZ (DRY WEIGHT) FUSILLI COL BUCO PASTA, COOKED PER PACKAGE DIRECTIONS
12 LARGE BASIL LEAVES CUT CHIFFONADE
SALT AND PEPPER TO TASTE

POUR ½ CUP BOURBON OVER SAUSAGE AND MARINATE SEVERAL HOURS OR OVERNIGHT. (THE LONGER THE BETTER!) HEAT OVEN TO 400 DEGREES AND COOK SAUSAGES WHOLE UNTIL JUST COOKED THROUGH, 5 - 10 MINUTES. COOL AND SLICE INTO “COINS”. SET ASIDE. POUR BOURBON FROM MARINADE INTO A SAUCEPAN. ADD REMAINING BOURBON AND COOK OVER LOW HEAT UNTIL REDUCED BY HALF. STIR IN TOMATO PASTE UNTIL WELL BLENDED. ADD SAUSAGE PIECES AND SET ASIDE.

HEAT OLIVE OIL IN LARGE, DEEP SKILLET OVER MEDIUM HIGH HEAT. ADD SHITAKE MUSHROOMS AND COOK UNTIL SOFT AND SLIGHTLY “CRISPY” AROUND THE EDGES. ADD SHALLOTS, FENNEL AND GARLIC, REDUCE HEAT SLIGHTLY AND COOK ABOUT 3 MINUTES OR UNTIL SLIGHTLY SOFTENED. YOU WANT SOME “CRUNCH” LEFT. WHILE THIS IS COOKING, HEAT CREAM IN A SMALL SAUCEPAN UNTIL ALMOST BOILING. SET ASIDE. ADD COOKED PASTA AND SAUSAGE / TOMATO / BOURBON MIXTURE. TOSS WELL. ADD CREAM, BASIL AND SALT AND PEPPER TO TASTE. CONTINUE COOKING AND TOSSING UNTIL EVERYTHING IS WELL COATED AND SAUCE HAS THICKENED.

SERVE WITH PARMESANO REGGIANO OR ANY OTHER HARD CHEESE TO GRATE ON TOP.

SERVES 2 - 4
I thought it was good! Had it for dinner right after the contest!

On a happier note, my decorated cake got second place. It's the one that looks rather antiqued with apples, pears grapes and squiggles.
I'm doing one more contest tonight....Spam! LOL I'm doing a shrimp and grits with spam! Wish me luck!

Sounded good to me . . .

Good luck with Spam. Several years ago I made a GREAT dish with Turkey Spam (cold Asian spicy sesame noodles), but (a) the judge took one bite, gagged, and tried to spit it out without people seeing her do it (and this was the NYTimes's recipe for the ultimate sesame chicken in the world!), and the grand winner was an 11 year old boy whose recipe was Spam on a stick (a pretzel stick with a piece of Spam and a slice of pineapple on it).

Andrew, LOL! That same thing happened to me this year! I was dreading the fact that the judge for my table (who has been judging these things almost as long as I have been entering) hates coconut. I remember this from years ago. My chocolate brownies had LOTS of cocnut in them, and bacon and bourbon. My boyfriend called them "Drinking Bourbon and Making Bacon Brownies"! I saw her spit it out in a napkin. The brownie base was basically a Nigella Lawson recipe, then I made German Chocolate cake icing with candied bacon instead of pecans and swirled it through the brownies. The whole thing was drenched in bourbon. She didn't like it!!! LOL We ate the whole batch at work the next day!

Shrimp and Grits did not fare well.....oh well, there's always next year!

Carolyne... im sorry that your entries didnt do well. But, i am sure that you had a great time experimenting and coming up with them!

btw.......the brownies sounded awesome!

Becky, thanks! I did have fun. The fair is one of my favorite events.....sensory overload from food, drink, music, animals, displays and finally.....the people!!!! LOL (sometimes ROFLMAO)
I also discovered that I actually like Spam if I slice it very thin and fry like bacon until crispy. (As everyone should know by know, bacon is my favorite food, along with peanut butter)
Maybe next year my Spam entry could be Spam and peanut butter paninis! LOL

I'm a little late on this one, but used to go to a restaurant that did Bourbon Pot Roast Nachos. They made their pot roast with Bourbon, it was fairly noticeable in the meat but not overpowering. With the nachos they made a sauce, guessing it was the pan drippings and more bourbon, that they pour over everything. The sauce and the roast were pretty tasty, not so crazy about the nachos though, they didn't really hold up to the sauce.

All the talk of bread pudding has made me hungry, love that stuff!!

They made their pot roast with Bourbon

I always thought that pot roast was made with cows.