How to Get Drunk Off Your Meal…By Cooking with Tequila

Just sub out your knife and fork for some salt and lime.

Taking a swig of your favorite mezcal at work is usually frowned upon, but not today. A personal favorite, National Tequila Day, is that time of year when you can let your freak flag fly, sipping frozen margs with breakfast, ripping some shots at lunch, and splashing some liquid in your evening meal. In honor of the greatest holiday of the year, Chef Julian Medina over at NYC’s beloved Toloache, taught us just how to properly infuse some tequila into your dinner’s ingredient list to create three dynamite dishes.

“Cooking with tequila is a lot of fun and it is more complex than you think, because each type of tequila has its own flavors. Those signature flavors add something special to each dish,” he says. “I love to pair tequila blanco with shrimp dishes and tequila reposado with duck. The blanco & reposado’s characteristics play nicely against the seafood and the meat respectively. It’s also nice to enhance a dish with an unsuspecting ingredient for a full bodied flavor that really brings a dish full circle!”

Channel your inner-chef and check out the directions below on how to cook the meals yourself. Plus, make yourself one of these killer tequila cocktails while you slave over the stove to celebrate National Tequila Day just right. Just don’t blackout and forget to shut off your stove.

Tacos de Camarones Borrachos: Shrimp tacos, habanero & tequila flambe tamarind vinaigrette with red pickled onions.

Filete con Salsa de Tequila: Filet mignon with maitake mushrooms and crispy potatoes with a tequila reposado-morita salsa.

Alitas de Pato:Juicy duck wings in a chocolate-tequila glaze with chipotle jicama slaw.