This has been bugging me for years. I can’t find an answer. What does the vodka in a vodka-based cream or cream and tomato sauce do? Vodka is essentially flavorless (aside from the taste of alcohol). When you cook with it, you burn off most of the alcohol, right? So what does the vodka do, flavorwise, in these sorts of dishes? I need to understand!
Some flavour compounds in tomatoes are extracted by the alcohol and are carried to the tongue with the alcohol that remains in the sauce (a small amount of alcohol will always be present after cooking). Many traditional sauces use wine to acheive the same effect, vodka does so without adding the fruity or sweet notes that you would find with the wine.
-DF
Maybe I should try that.
I don’t like wine and can always taste when someone uses it in their pasta sauce.
Never heard of the vodka thing.
I had a bottle of “pepper vodka” that a friend had given me. I used it to make “shrimp fra diavolo”.
When the vodka is in the pan with the shrimp, you light it on fire (BIG fire) and it sort of singes the shrimp, and adds some flavor to the sauce. Hot dish. Uses lots of cracked red pepper.
Tomatoes and cream go into the pan after that.
Damn, Trunk, that sounds awesome.
aHA! I’d been wondering the same thing for years. Thanks for clearing it up. Trunk, could I convince you to expand on that recipe a little?
This is from memory. . .it’s in my “cooks illustrated” italian cookbook and it might have called for brandy or something, but I subsituted pepper vodka. I don’t think that’s a great book, but it’s a good book.
Toss 1 lb. of peeled shrimp with garlic, salt, pepper, cracked red pepper.
Heat olive oil in hot pan.
Toss in shrimp and saute for about 45 seconds, until almost opaque.
Pour in vodka (probably 1/4 cup) and light on fire by waving a lit match over the pan. (I think the recipe here says to off the heat before adding the vodka, so that you’re just cooking in the flames.)
Pencil in a new set of eyebrows.
Get skin graft.
Shake pan until fire dies down, cook a few seconds longer, and pour the entire contents of the pan into a dish.
Reduce heat.
Add canned tomatoes (not “puree”, “sauce” or “whole peeled” – the other kind, “diced” maybe, that are in little 1/4" chunks in sauce). Maybe not a WHOLE 28 oz can, but a lot.
Now, add things to taste. . more cracked red pepper, fresh ground pepper, maybe some herbs (oregano, thyme, basil – go easy on these. They shouldnt’ be the focal point). I wouldn’t add anything to sweeten it like honey.
Let the tomatoes cook down a little while (10-15 minutes) to intensify in flavor.
I think at this stage, I’ve added some heavy cream before, but the recipe might not call for it. Add little by little until you like the color and texture of the sauce.
Add back the contents of the bowl with the shrimp in it. Leave in just long enough to heat the shrimp through.
Serve on spaghetti.
Accompany with italian bread and strong red wine (chianti, cab sauv. etc.)
(I’m sure that recipe isn’t exact to the book, but it’s got to be close. I’ve made it 4-5 times.)
This is a classic, penne alla vodka.
She pours the vodka into her tomato sauce, and doesn’t burn it off at all.
Perhaps in my recipe, I add a little back to the tomato sauce also. It’s not a cake. You can fool around with it a little.