Attention tea drinkers: It’s time to think outside the kettle. While tea can be enjoyed hot or iced, using the tasty brew in your cooking can add a new depth of flavor to recipes. There are many ways to infuse tea into your cooking.
Cooking with tea can be traced back to ancient China, where tea leaves were frequently used for added flavor and texture to food. Tea-preserved eggs have been a delicacy in China for 700 years. Tea is also full of anti-oxidants and has been long-touted for its health benefits.
“There’s tannin in tea. It’s similar to how there’s tannin in wine, so it really gives a great compliment to food,” said “Top Chef” host and Food and Wine magazine contributor Gail Simmons, who recently teamed up with Pure Leaf Iced Tea to develop recipes using iced tea. “It kind of brings out the flavors of whatever you’re eating it with.”
Brewed tea is great for marinades and sauces. Simmons uses unsweetened tea in her recipe for Tea-Marinated Duck Lettuce cups. She combines tea with Asian-inspired ingredients for her duck marinade, and also infuses tea into the dressing for her fresh vegetable salad.
“I mix Pure Leaf unsweetened tea with really great traditional flavors, which also bring out the flavors of the duck like ginger, soy,” said Simmons. “When you marinate it overnight, it really absorbs those flavors, so when you sear the duck, you get this great bound of delicious, rich duck flavor with the flavor of real-brewed tea.”
Source: foxnews.com/leisure/2012/07/05/tea-is-not-just-for-drinking/