Recipe Based Food Writing - Cooking with RUM

Cooking with RUM

As a student at Trinidad and Tobago Hospitality and Tourism Institute (T.T.H.T.I) pursuing my bachelor’s one of the courses I have to complete is rum and other spirits. I am so excited about learning the history, how to making and cooking with the different alcoholic beverages.

Rum is a distilled alcoholic beverage made from sugarcane byproducts, such as molasses, or directly from sugarcane juice, by a process of fermentation and distillation. The distillate, a clear liquid, is then usually aged in oak barrels. Rum can be referred to in Spanish by descriptors such as ron viejo ("old rum") and ron añejo ("aged rum").

On our first class of cooking with rums the chef imparted some of his knowledge on the different types of rum and we sample a few types with different fruits and vegetables to peer what flavors goes well with each other. We were then asked to create menu items using the different spirits; I choose to make the salad and was given the Fernandes Black Label to use. 

This class was like a real chopped kitchen only different is that we were given one secret ingredient and each group was given a different rum. We used whatever little ingredient that the chef gather for us and had to come up with a menu. My group salad was a Flam bay Pear and Salmon Salad with Passion fruit Rum Vinaigrette.  

Flambay Pear and Salmon Salad 

Servings: Serves: 4- Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 fresh salmon fillets (thinly sliced)
• ½ lb mixed salad leaves
• 1 large tomato (slice)
• ½ cup black olives (small dice)
• ½ cup green olives (small dice)
• 1 cup feta cheese (medium cube)
• 1 Pear (slice)
• 2 tbsp Sugar
• 1 tsp butter
• 1/2 cup Fernandes Black Label

Passion Fruit Rum Vinaigrette

• 1 passion fruit
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• ½ cup Fernardeze black label

Method

1.      In a small frying pan, melt the butter and add the brown sugar.

2.      Stir until the sugar forms a sauce (only a few seconds), then add the pear and coat with sauce (another few seconds).

3.      When the pears are tender, add the rum and light it on fire (if you tilt the pan a little it will be easier to light).

4.      Stir until the fire goes out.

5.      Put in a stainless steel blow and chill.

To make the Vinaigrette

1. In a medium stainless steel bowl whisk together rum, passion fruit and olive oil. (about 5mins)
2. Season with salt and pepper. 

• Arrange items on plate  as in the pictures or as you wish and drizzle with vinaigrette.