Next Time You Make Tacos, Reach For Some Alcohol

Cooking with alcohol is a time-honored tradition across cuisines and cultures. There are many reasons why adding spirits to your food is a good choice. Alcohol interacts with food in the cooking process to make food more aromatic, fried food crispier, and even pie crusts flakier.  All of that is why you should raid the liquor cabinet the next time you're making tacos. 

There are different ways to use spirits, beer, or wine in your cooking, but the most common is a marinade. Alcohol is great at transferring flavors from a liquid marinade into food, which both tenderizes and infuses flavor into the meat. 

If you're making steak tacos, there are several different options, depending on what flavor profile you want to develop. If you're making a citrusy carne asada, marinate your steak with a shandy, Blue Moon, Kronenbourg 1664 Blanc, or an orange or grapefruit IPA along with orange juice and garlic. If you want a steak that tastes closer to an arrachera, try Negra Modelo to get a rich, malty flavor, or mezcal for a bit of that delicious smokiness. You can even experiment with a red wine marinade, as flank steak is a perfect vehicle — it's low in fat, so it will readily soak up the flavor of the wine while the alcohol tenderizes it.

If you're making chicken tacos, consider taking inspiration from Ina Garten's tequila-marinated chicken. The tequila makes the chicken extra moist and the lime lightens up the boozy flavor — after all, margaritas and tacos are a classic combination, so why not cut out the middle man?

While marinades are the most common way to use alcohol for taco night, they're far from the only option. Another popular choice is a classic beer batter. The addition of beer to a fry batter works on two levels: the carbonation in beer expands to create a lighter, airier crust than a normal batter, and the alcohol itself evaporates faster than water, which allows the crust to become crispier faster.

Beer-battered shrimp tacos are a timeless dish that hit all the right flavor notes, especially with an herbaceous taco sauce and a bit of heat. Just make sure to use fresh shrimp, as pre-cooked shrimp can give your dish a rubbery texture. Beer is also a perfect addition to a classic Baja fish taco batter, preventing the fish from becoming overly breaded and heavy.

You can even use alcohol in your taco sauce. Salsa borracha, or drunken salsa, is a classic topping that combines the smokiness of charred peppers and tomatillos with the rich, yeasty malt of a Mexican beer. The beer, in this case, comes in after the tomatoes, peppers, onions, and garlic have been roasted. Use the beer, and even a splash of tequila, to deglaze the pot and simmer the charred veggies before blending everything into a chunky sauce that can be served on top of tacos or as a dip for your chips.