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While whiskey lovers may instinctively reach for an aged product, Martini says to leave the añejo and reposado tequilas on the shelf. “To me, the older the spirit, the more you take away from the essence of the drink. If you’re making it with an extra añejo, you’ve eliminated the light nature of the cocktail.”
We like El Tesoro Blanco ($45; Drizly) and Tequileño Platinum ($52; Drizly), but your favorite is where you should start, (yes, even if it violates some “rules”).
Margarita fans should also resist the urge to add salt—on the rim or in the drink. “If you must garnish, I’d recommend squeezing the lime, then shoving it into the bottle it was hopefully served in,” Martini says.
One thing everyone seems to agree on: Ranch water is defined by Topo Chico, the Mexican carbonated water that’s soared in popularity (comparable to the ranch water). And thank goodness for that, because its popularity has made it significantly easier to track down outside of Texas.
Why Topo Chico? Well, there’s a cultural reason, and a scientific one. “Topo is so effervescent,” says Martini. “When you have a three-ingredient recipe and one of those ingredients is almost 80 percent of the cocktail, you should probably aim for the best version of that ingredient. I don’t know what magic Topo found, but it’s easily the best sparkling water I’ve had. If not Topo, make sure your soda is as carbonated as possible. That’s the key.”
The ranch water is still growing its audience, but it has a powerful home state movement behind it. “Texas doesn’t have a rich history of original cocktails,” says Martini, “but the ranch water is absolutely a Texas cocktail. It’s becoming trendy and that makes me happy, but it’s becoming trendy because it’s delicious.”
How to make it
Heat 2 Tbsp. olive oil in paella pan on medium-heat grill. Add chicken and cook about 5 minutes, turning to brown on all sides. Add chorizo and brown, another few minutes.
Add 3 Tbsp. olive oil. Add onion, scallions, bell pepper, and garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Cook until vegetables soften, about 5 minutes.
Deglaze pan with sherry, scraping pan to loosen any burned bits.
Add rice, red pepper flakes, and tomatoes. Mix well and cook for 2 minutes.
Add stock, saffron, and paprika. Mix well and cook for 15 minutes, but do not stir again until serving. (Seriously, even if you hear crackling noises from pan bottom. You want that noise.)
Tuck clams and mussels, hinges down, into the cooking rice. Add shrimp. Continue cooking about another 15 minutes, rotating pan every few minutes. If heat doesn’t seem to be distributing evenly, you can close grill or cover pan with foil.
Once rice is tender and shellfish open, remove pan from grill. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with chopped parsley.
Serve with lemon wedges, and make sure to dig up some of the prized socarrat—the caramelized crust on the bottom—for each serving.
How to make it
Preheat grill to medium-high heat.
Form burgers into quarter-pound patties.
Press a depression into the burger with your thumbs.
Brush onion slices with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Place onion slices on grill for 10 minutes.
Add patties to the grill.
Douse burgers with whiskey, aiming to get some to land in the thumbprint.
For medium burgers, cook for 3 minutes on one side, then flip and cook for another 3 minutes.
Add cheese with 1 minute to go.
Lightly toast bun on grill.
Smear special sauce on bun.
Drizzle chili oil on bun.
Plate up the burger, make sure to chew.
How to make it
Set noodles in a pot.
Chop cabbage and garlic, slice green onions, and mushrooms.
Sauté vegetables in olive oil or bacon fat on medium-high heat until soft.
Boil 3 cups of water.
Pour boiling water over noodles and keep noodles submerged for 2 minutes then drain.
Add noodles to sauteed vegetables.
Stir on low heat.
Garnish with bacon crumbles. [ami-related id=”10094″ url=”https://www.mensjournal.com/food-drink/the-10-best-ramen-places-in-america-20150121/” title=”The 10 Best Ramen Places in America” target=”_blank” thumb=”true” imgsrc=”https://www.mensjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/mj-390_294_the-10-best-ramen-places-in-america.jpg?quality=86&strip=all” imgid=”87852″ format=”gallery” flag=”” channel=”32″ showsubt=”true” subtitle=””]
Cooking with beer isn’t novel. Stouts make regular appearances in recipes for hearty stews and chilis. Beer cheese soups and beer-battered onion rings, fish tacos, shrimp (everything, really…) are staples on brewpub menus. Of course, beer can chicken is a fun trick to perform on the grill during backyard barbecues. But why stop here? Considering the impressive breadth of craft brews available these days, it’s a shame we don’t experiment cooking with beer more often.
Beer recipes are super versatile: Use brews in to bake, braise, and simmer; they can add flavor and depth to sauces, marinades, and brines. A lager can stand up to rich meats, while a stout can add a subtle hint of chocolate to desserts. To put it another way, beer is bidding to go beyond soups and batters.
“For us, cooking with beer is all about exploring great beers and their flavors in new ways—bringing a beer’s complex flavor profile into food,” says Warren Berkey, the co-founder of Beer Belly. The Instagram account is devoted to the art of cooking with beer, spiking chorizo queso with a hazy IPA and drawing on the roasted caramel flavors of a porter for the base of slow-braised short ribs.
Here, chefs and recipe creators share with us their favorite beer recipes. These dishes range from chicken wings marinated in a citrus IPA to pork chops brined in a hefeweizen to a sour beer compote perfect for drizzling over ice cream.
The natural sweetness of a classic hefeweizen is a perfect match for the pork and brown sugar in this beer-brined pork chop recipe created by chef Justin Brunson, the owner of River Bear American Meats and Culture Meat & Cheese in Denver. “The key to this dish is getting a good char when grilling and adding the cooling herbs as the finishing touch, which really brings the whole dish together,” Brunson says.
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