More US restaurants incorporating whiskey and bourbon into their desserts, including shakes, gelato, banana bread pudding and frozen custards; whiskey most popular among alcoholic beverages in desserts

Jennifer Nguyen

Jennifer Nguyen

LOS ANGELES , June 9, 2014 () – According to Dataessential MenuTrends, whiskey and bourbon are two of the most popular alcohols incorporated into desserts at U.S. restaurants today, with whiskey having the largest growth in the last four years, Nation’s Restaurant News reported June 4.

Jason McClure, executive chef of Sazerac in Seattle, said combining spirits with food has inspired him to think differently about food.

At Sazerac, the most popular dessert there is the banana bread pudding with whiskey sauce. The bread is sliced then layered with bananas, pecans and a hard sauce made of whiskey, sugar and egg yolks.

As for the Kessler Canyon Ranch in DeBeque, Colorado, chef Lenny McNab is known for his candied bacon and bourbon frozen custard, a dessert made with bourbon, brown sugar, heavy cream, candied maplewood bacon, whole milk, egg yolks, maple syrup and vanilla nutmeg.

McNab said the treat was inspired by a bottle of bourbon from the bar along with extra bacon fat from an elk tongue mincemeat pie.

Another chef who uses bourbon in their frozen treats is Zbynek Mlynarik, a gelato chef at Persona Neapolitan Pizzeria in Santa Barbara, California, who is known for his bourbon vanilla gelato.

“I wanted to provide an alcohol-based product, but it needed to be more of a classic flavor in order for Persona to move a lot of [it],” said Mlynarik.

He said the restaurant goes through at least one full pan each week, about 169 scoops out of a pan.

Bourbon is also incorporated into the dessert menu at George Martin’s Burger Bar in Rockville Centre, New York. Their Spiked Shakes have been a huge hit with customers since last summer’s debut, including the Cinnamon French toast Spiked Shake with Jim Beam maple bourbon, rum chata cinnamon cream liquor and vanilla ice cream, topped with whipped cream and a drizzle of maple syrup.

“We chose bourbon for the shakes because it is a natural pairing with vanilla ice cream,” said Suzanne Raspanti, Burger Bar’s general manager.

Aside from bourbon and whiskey, liqueors like Bailey’s, Amaretto and Kahlua are gradually becoming popular additions in restaurants’ desserts as well.

The primary source of this article is Nation’s Restaurant News, New York, New York, on June 4, 2014. Click here to read the primary source's full version of the article.

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