Cooking with Alcohol: Spirited Food Recipes

Why use alcohol in foods? Aside from flavor alone, there are a number of reasons, including some scientific ones. Find out why, how to reduce the alcohol content, and how to substitute for alcoholic ingredients.

Recipe for Big Game Salsa, a salsa recipe for Super Bowl parties that is easy to make and includes tequila.

If you like lemoncello you know its qualities as a dessert drink. This cake recipe from About.com Baking Guide, Carroll Pellegrinelli,takes the sweet lemon liqueur to another level, pairing it with blueberries for a sweet adult treat.

Recently, I'd read about bacon marmalade being made by chefs and I decided to try my hand at creating my own recipe for it. Bourbon seemed like a naturally complementary flavor and I rounded the flavor profile out with coffee, brown sugar, chipotle sauce and maple syrup. This recipe is easy to prepare and has a variety of uses.

Spring and summer are prime grilling season here, and a quick and easy barbecue sauce is an essential component of any cooks repertoire. This Bourbon Brown Sugar Barbecue sauce will dress up steaks, burgers and ribs. Give it a try and see what you think. Just remember to use this sauce at the end of grilling as the sugar in the sauce will burn...

Recipe for Buttermilk-Banana Pancakes with Pomegranate Syrup. This delicious, made from scratch banana pancake recipe is topped with a pomegranate syrup made with PAMA Pomegranate Liqueur and maple syrup.

Recipe for Campari-Poached Pears, a delicious dessert of pears poached with Campari liqueur and served with raspberry sauce.

This is not your average lobster in butter dish, no this is Caribbean Lobster with a Jerk-Rum Butter. For even more flavor, beyond the spicy jerk seasoning and the sweet rum, this recipe also calls for onion, pepper, lime, chives and pepper.

Recipe for Caribbean Mahi Mahi Holiday Soup by Chef Ryan Scott that is a dish of mahi mahi, herbs and spices, garlic, tomatoes and Golden Sun Tommy Bahama Rum.

Recipe for Chipolte Glazed Chicken Skewers, a recipe featuring a Chipolte Vodka Sauce of Van Gogh Pineapple Vodka.

Recipe for Corrido Touchdown, an avocado chip dip made with Corrido Tequila, avocados, tomatoes, jalapenos, cheese, and sour cream that is ideal for serving while watching a football game.

Recipe for Forget Me Not Fudge, a recipe for homemade fudge that uses a little Maker's Mark Bourbon.

Dessert recipe for a Grapefruit-Campari Sorbet, a delicious frozen dessert made of fresh grapefruit, lemon and orange juices with Campari Italian liqueur.

About.com's French Food Guide, Rebecca Franklin, has a delightful recipe for Hazelnut Chocolate Mousse. It is a delectable dessert that has just a hint of Frangelico, a hazelnut liqueur.

Recipe for Jamaican Jerk Rum Chili created by Bravo's Top Chef Ryan Scott and made with spicy hot peppers, pork, rum and beer.

If you love the spiciness of jerk seasoning and can't get enough fresh avocado, you will really like this recipe. The Jerk Chicken and Avocado Salad uses pairs spicy jerk with sweet rum and tart lime in a chicken marinade and adds the freshness of a garden salad to cool everything off.

I recently competed in the Stanford's Ultimate Burger Showdown and my entry was the Oregon BBQ Whiskey Burger. Featuring a whiskey cola marinade, a bourbon-brown sugar barbecue sauce, Tillamook cheddar cheese, pepper bacon, grilled onions, fresh sliced tomato, lettuce and a hand-formed 1/2 lb burger patty on an onion roll, the result was simply...

Recipe for Plantain Pancakes with Macadamia Nut with Whiskey Sauce that was created by Bravo's Top Chef Ryan Scott.

An easy recipe for Pomegranate Salsa, a sweet and spicy salsa dip that uses pomegranate seeds, blueberries, strawberries, jalapeno peppers, mint, lime juice and PAMA Pomegranate Liqueur.

While watching any of those, perhaps the thing I enjoy the most is a good platter of hot wings. Luckily, Canada's favorite whiskey, Crown Royal has developed a recipe that allows you to have your Crown Royal and eat it too with this delicious recipe for Royal Hot Wings.

This Baked Spicy Pumpkin and Rum Cheesecake is the ultimate dessert and a nice alternative to pumpkin pie after the fall harvest. It is not too sweet, but just sweet enough and the rum is the perfect touch

Recipe for a Spinach Salad with Pancetta, Goat Cheese, Hazelnuts and Honey-Orange Vinaigrette that was created by Chef Ryan Scott and uses Barenjager honey liqueur in the dressing.

Recipe for Tequila Herradura Shrimp Tacos, a spiked food dish of shrimp, garlic, cilantro, Tequila Herradura Silver and Newcastle Brown Ale on warmed tortilla shells.

Recipe for a Tomato Vodka Cream Sauce, a spiked pasta of chicken sauce that uses fresh tomatoes, red pepper, parmesan and romano cheese, butter, cream and Blue Ice American Vodka.

While a Jack and Coke is one of America's favorite cocktail choices, the two components of that drink, namely good American whiskey and Coca Cola can combine to make a great marinade for grilled meats. This marinade works exceptionally well with pork chops or baby back ribs. Just finish these off with the barbecue sauce of your choice or let the...

One of my new favorite dishes for a football crowd comes from Andee Swanson of Turlock, California. Her whiskey glazed sausages are the talk of the town for their ease of preparation and mouthwatering flavor.

The natural marinating power of alcohol and the wonderful flavors of your favorite cocktails make grilling with them a great idea.