The Malt Cask

A second food post on the blog today, and yes the whisky involved is a favourite of mine, as per my first post: the Laphroaig Quarter Cask. And it does involve fish again, this time a cod fillet. I do tend to use the Quarter Cask when I am cooking with fish as I think it imparts a really nice flavour onto the dish. I know I have not reviewed it yet as a dram on its own, but I can pick up the traditional Laphroaig medicinal peat flavour as well as a decent amount of malty cereal and fruity notes, which are, in my mind, perfect for cooking with.  If you thought my Quarter Cask Salmon Spaghetti dish was quite easy to make, today's dish is even simpler, and probably much healthier too. The main idea is to cook the cod fillet en papillote, which means you just have to put the fish on a piece of foil and wrap it in like a parcel. The fish will then cook in the oven in its own juice and steam. So let's have a look at what I actually did: -cut a large piece of foil and lay it flat...

Being French, wine has always been around as I was growing up, particularly at mealtime and I learnt from my parents a few simple rules regarding the pairing of food and wine: red with meat and cheese, white with fish and seafood and rosé with salades. Obviously, you must go a step further with the type of wine you choose depending on the type of dish you are planning on serving. Wine -both red and white- was also involved in cooking, as well as some spirits, in cakes particularly (Kirsh, Grand Marnier, Cointreau, Cognac are amongst the few names which spring to mind) However whisky has never been part of the list of alcohol I ever associated with cooking or even food in general. The first time I realised it was something that could be done was during my visit of the Dalwhinnie distillery about 9 years ago now. I remember vividly asking our tour guide at the end of the visit, in front of the sign detailing the range of the "Classic Malts", what is your favourite Whisky to dr...