Cooking with Vodka

DAS COOKBOOK

Once the Vodka Cookbook crosses the German border, guess what? It transforms itself into: Das Wodka Kochbuch. That's right! A German edition of The Vodka Cookbook is now available and I'm looking forward to hearing from German Vodka lovers about their favorite recipes and experiences.

SOMEONE’S IN THE KITCHEN WITH VODKA

I know, I know. I'm a bad boy for not keeping up with this blog. But so much vodka...so little time. Actually, I've had a lot on these past few months. But I will try harder to press on with more vodka recipes and more news about The Vodka Cookbook. Speaking of press, check out this review by Henley Vazquez in Stuff@Night back in my home town, Boston. Click here.

The Vodka Cookbook Wins GOURMAND WORLD COOKBOOK AWARD

My publisher tells me that The Vodka Cookbook just won the Best Book on Cooking with Spirits in the 'English language - UK' category of the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards. Now I don't know how many books came out this past year on the subject of cooking with spirits in the UK. But I suspect it was not a very crowded field. Nonetheless, I would like to thank Edouard Cointreau and the good people at Gourmand and congratulate them for their excellent choice.

Great Food Live

My first appearance plugging The Vodka Cookbook on British television could not have gone better -- thanks to Great Food Live host Frank Bordoni and chefs extraordinaire, Gino D'Acampo and David Massey. They make cooking amidst the controlled chaos of live television look effortless. And their friendly banter really made me feel right at home through several segments about tasting, enjoying and, of course, cooking with vodka. And when you add the professionalism of the entire team at UKTV FOOD, including producer Donna Chalk, to the mix, it makes for a thoroughly enjoyable experience. These guys are tops. Thank you one and all.

Fun at the Bertinet Kitchen

I want to thank Jo & Richard Bertnet and everyone who attended my cooking demonstration at the Bertinet Kitchen on October 7th. I had a great time sharing some of the recipes from The Vodka Cookbook. And judging by the number of copies sold, it looks like a lot more people will be cooking with vodka...making the world a better place.

How I began cooking with vodka

Just between you and me, I never thought I would be involved with another cookbook. Back in 1986, my advertising agency’s largest client was Marriott Corporation. With their 60th anniversary looming, they asked me to come up with some promotional tactics. One idea that had been floating about was that of memorializing Marriott’s first business. You see, long before there was a single Marriott hotel, there was Hot Shoppes – a chain of restaurants founded by Bill & Alice Marriott in 1927. So in 1987 I conceived, edited and published The Marriott Hot Shoppes Cookbook – Sixty years of American Cookery. It’s a compilation of Hot Shoppes recipes and includes a history of Marriott. Published by my agency, it sold around 100,000 copies when Amazon was still just a rainforest in South America.

Fast-forward sixteen years. I’m living and working in Russia -- where vodka plays as important a role in the culture as wine does in France or Italy. (Did you know there are over 1000 different vodkas in Russia?) One day it occurred to me that, although it is the world’s most popular spirit, I have seldom seen vodka used in cooking. This fact is particularly striking in Russia where vodka and food are inseparable. Most Russians dine and entertain at home where the table is always set with ‘zakufski,’ (appetizers), including pelmeni, caviar & blini, black bread and the omnipresent bottle of vodka. Yet actually cooking with vodka is quite uncommon.

Inside The Vodka Cookbook

There are way over 100 recipes in The Vodka Cookbook. And I've got the empty vodka bottles to prove it. In fact at one point, seeing all the empty bottles piling up, my housekeeper was contemplating some kind of intervention until she found out I was writing a book about vodka. But it was all for research. Honest.

Anyway, for those of you who have expressed an interest, here is the complete list of recipes: