Sweet tea is no longer just a drink. It's an ingredient that creative cooks have started using to flavor custards and pies or to brine chicken and pork.
It's hard to say why Southerners' favorite beverage is having a moment in the culinary spotlight. Maybe it's because McDonald's has been selling sweet tea nationwide for three years. Or maybe the popularity of sweet tea vodkas, including South Carolina-based Firefly, is inspiring cooks. Regardless, sweet tea has moved beyond its roots as a Southern staple.
"In the last two years, it's becoming more and more prevalent," says Martha Hall Foose, a Mississippi-based cookbook author who included a recipe for Sweet Tea Lemon Chess Pie in her cookbook, "Screened Doors and Sweet Tea." Raleigh author Fred Thompson, who wrote a cookbook devoted to iced tea recipes, agrees: "They are using it for everything and anything."
The cover of last month's Southern Living was devoted to the topic and featured a photo of a sweet tea icebox tart. Inside were recipes for grilled shrimp salad with sweet tea vinaigrette, sweet tea rice, even sweet tea tiramisu.
Local chefs have toyed with tea. Ashley Christensen of Poole's Diner in Raleigh uses tea and honey to brine pork shanks or unsweetened tea to marinate salmon or arctic char. James Beard-award-winning chef Ben Barker of Durham's Magnolia Grill uses sweet tea to brine pork chops. And John Fleer of Canyon Kitchen in Cashiers brines his chicken in sweet tea before frying it.
"What we love about tea is that briskness," Christensen said. "To be able to introduce that into food is a very cool thing."
Thompson says it's no surprise that sweet tea is turning up as a way to marinate meat, fish and poultry.
"We've been using wine and acidic things to marinate meats," he says. Teas and wines both have tannins, which introduce a smoky, savory flavor. He adds: "It offers a very mellow backdrop note, which is really cool right now - thanks to McDonald's, I guess."
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Here are a few:
Instant tea is a no-no. Use only the real thing. The Southern Living test kitchen staff used Luzianne for all of its sweet tea-inspired recipes.
Tea generally comes in three types: Black tea, which is also known as Orange Pekoe, has a mahogany color and a bright taste. Green tea is made from lightly colored tea and has a delicate flavor. Oolong, which falls between black and green tea, has a smoky, almost peach flavor.
For more information, go to bit.ly/c9hXQ5 or check out these blogs: www.tavalon.com/blog and www.teaguyspeaks.com/.
If you would like to get better educated about teas, Tin Roof Teas at Cameron Village in Raleigh offers monthly classes. Call 834-9000 or go to tinroofteas.com/.
Source: Andrea Weigl and "Iced Tea: 50 Recipes for Refreshing Tisanes, Infusions, Coolers and Spiked Teas," by Fred Thompson (Harvard Common Press, 2002).
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