CHEFS RATE ALCOHOL HOT, HOT, HOT

A survey released yesterday by the National Restaurant Association shows that alcohol is among the hottest culinary trends in restaurants. More than 1,000 American Culinary Federation member chefs ranked craft beer, energy drink cocktails, martinis, mojitos, artisan liquors, organic wine and specialty beer in the top 20 trends. In addition to cocktails and other drinks, they noted that alcohol is also important as a cooking ingredient and with food pairings.

"Specialty alcohol is increasingly popular right now," said Dawn Sweeney, president and ceo of the association. "As American diners are growing increasingly sophisticated, adult beverages can be an important part of both recipes and meals.”

"Specialty alcohol, craft and specialty beer in particular, is a very hot trend," said Chef John Kinsella, CMC, CCE, AAC, president of the American Culinary Federation and senior chef instructor at Midwest Culinary Institute in Cincinnati. "Organic wine is also very popular now...I'm also seeing additional, innovative culinary uses of alcohol now, including flavoring items with alcohol essence, like we currently are developing with chardonnay-, cabernet- and merlot-flavored iced teas for example."

The overall top trends in culinary uses of alcohol are signature cocktails, closely followed by deglazing/reductions/sauces, food-beer parings and beer sommeliers, as well as food-wine pairings and wine sommeliers, according to the survey.