Distilled gin is a liquor which is widely used in cooking, including some traditional Italian foods. In addition to the preparation of alcoholic cocktails such as a Gin and Tonic or a Negroni, it is often used as an ingredient in recipes for sweet or salty foods. In confectioneries, gin is often used for the preparation of citrus sorbets because it confers a particularly rich and intense flavour, but there are recipes for entrées and main courses in which distilled gin is used to enhance aromas and flavours of white meat and fish, especially sushi and oysters.
In cooking, distilled gin is a key ingredient to enrich chocolate or fruit desserts; it can as well be used in place of other spirits, such as vodka.
Among the most classic recipes are crepes flavoured with gin, tarts, and biscuits dough; sponge cake can also be ‘soaked’ with distilled gin, and then stuffed with cream, fruits and other ingredients. Variants of more ‘aromatic’ gins in this case, are even more suitable, because they create a special blend of flavours.
One of the Italian distilled gins best suited for the preparation of desserts is Panarea Gin: The citrus and fruity notes, obtained with the addition of infusions of orange, lemon and grapefruit to the traditional spirits distilled from grain, wheat and juniper berries, enhance the flavours of many pastries.
Amongst the savoury foods which use distilled gin, there are those based on meat and raw fish as well as risotto; gin, moreover, is very suitable to accompany cheeses such as Sardinian pecorino, or as an ingredient for a fresh and pleasant aperitif.
Some examples? In addition to the classic Gin and Tonic, you can prepare an excellent Gin Lemon, a White Lady, and others cocktails which are different from the usual ones, depending on the bartender’s creativity.
