Spirits for cooking.

[birddogfoodie]

Hopefully this won't get moved to the Spirits board... I am going to re-vamp my "pantry liquor cabinet". Can I get some recommendations for the following spirits? (as well as anything I've missed). I have a pretty good bar but I don't think I need to use "the good stuff" all the time to cook with.

Cognac
Vermouth
Sherry
Rum
Bourbon
Vodka(?)
Orange Liqueur
anything else????

Thanks

[HaagenDazs]

Cognac - Hardy's Red Corner
Vermouth - Gallo
Sherry - hmm...
Rum - Cruzan
Bourbon - Beam, Turkey
Vodka - Iceberg
Orange Liqueur - Marie Brizzard triple sec

Those are very acceptable brands you can drink as well.

[jazzy77]

My husband and I disagree on this, but I never use the good stuff to cook with (except wine - I just use the stuff I'm drinking that night...so I can drink it whilst cooking with it). But, we have a small kitchen, so we don't keep that much cooking liquor around.
The following is what we use:

- Vermouth for a lot of stuff - Dry for poultry sauces, and it's awesome in gravy. Sweet with pork and beef sauces, but really only because I keep it around for Manhattans (see bourbon below).
- Madeira/Marsala for all of our tomato sauce needs. I find them to be somewhat interchangeable, and we just use the stuff we buy from the store, nothing special.
- Bourbon for desserts and beef sauces. We tend to use Maker's Mark because I drink it too, but I'd probably buy Jim Beam if I'm just cooking with it. I would be incredibly mad if someone used my Basil Hayden to cook with.
- Vodka to use in tomato dishes where we don't want other flavorings. Again, quality doesn't matter.
- Dark rum for use in baking, ice cream, and glazes.
- Limoncello/Crema di Lemoncello for aperitifs and baking desires.

[birddogfoodie]

Thanks!