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5 ways to cook with whisky on Burns Night

by Katie Smith 19 January 2017

Want to mix up your Burns Night celebrations? We’ve put together a selection of five great ways to use whisky to make your Burns Night an unforgettable event this year.

Katie Smith

Katie is an avid home baker, passionate about using seasonal produce and hedgerow ingredients. As part of the editorial team at Great British Chefs, she pursues her dual loves of food and writing.

Katie Smith

Katie is an avid home baker, passionate about using seasonal produce and hedgerow ingredients. As part of the editorial team at Great British Chefs, she pursues her dual loves of food and writing.

1. Whisky-cured salmon

Get your whisky-inspired Burns Night supper off to a triumphant start with a light salmon gravadlax starter infused with the smoky, peaty flavours of Laphroaig whisky. The recipe by Scot Graham Campbell is a true homage to Scottish produce, but make sure you get the curing process underway a few days ahead of time so the whisky has plenty of time to permeate the salmon’s delicate flesh. For a speedier curing process with equally delicious results, try William Drabble’s sticky treacle and Whisky-marinated salmon recipe with fragrant dill and fennel seeds.

Laphroaig whisky-cured salmon gravadlax, cucumber,...

Laphroaig whisky-cured salmon gravadlax, cucumber, tonka bean

by Graham Campbell

Scottish hospitality and celebrations

by Graeme Taylor

2. Whisky sauce

A fine whisky makes a fine sauce, perfect for drizzling over a showstopping main course for your Burns Night festivities. But it doesn’t always have to be haggis, neeps and tatties, as Paul Weburn proves with his Pine-scented grouse recipe, lavished with lashings of Auchentoshan 3 Wood whisky-infused sauce and served with crisp croquettes . For a stunning starter, try Dominic Chapman’s recipe for Duck livers on toast with a velvety whisky cream sauce.

Pine-scented grouse with cobnuts, haggis, neeps 'n' tatties

by Paul Welburn

Duck livers on toast with whisky cream sauce

by Dominic Chapman

3. Whisky petit fours

Petits fours are small-scale pieces of culinary innovation and many benefit from a generous douse of whisky. Soothe the fiery notes of this indomitable spirit with the smooth creaminess of chocolate in Vineet Bhatia’s dark chocolate truffles recipe, or venture into the more exotic corners of the petit four world with Marcello Tully’s Brazilian–Scottish hybrid recipe for Brigadieros da Escocia. For a taste of the New World, try Dan Cliffords’ Whiskey sours recipe spiked with American Bourbon.

4. Whisky dessert

For the ultimate Burns Night dessert there is Cranachan – the classic Scottish sweet. Shaun Rankin’s Cranachan recipe traverses the Scottish–English border and even the Channel to result in an elegant dessert worthy of Robert Burns himself. Adam Stokes breaks from tradition with his Cranachan soufflé recipe, and Rosanna McPhee draws on her Brazilian heritage in her recipe for White chocolate pavé, which is steeped in whisky and scattered with a crunchy Brazil nut praline.

Whisky and chocolate cremeux with whisky ice cream, coffee and caramel

by Geoffrey Smeddle

Butterscotch devil's delight

by Kate Doran

5. Whisky cocktail

Planning on raising a glass to the much venerated Burns Night haggis? While a dram of whisky is the traditional drink of choice, whisky cocktails are sure to instill an added sense of occasion to the ceremony. Matt Whiley’s Hot buttered whisky recipe is a warming cocktail guaranteed to banish away the cold bite of a wintry January evening. Marcus Wareing and Vivek Singh use the heat and zing of ginger in their Log cabin brace up and Return of the mac recipes. And if you can’t stand the heat, try Anna Hansen’s Tonka bean sour recipe tinged with the subtle tones of vanilla.