Love tequila? Love good food? Then you are going to love cooking with tequila and our tequila based products. Café Tequila is dedicated to making your life more fun & cooking with good tequila is definitely a step in that direction.

Have a good tequila recipe? Send it to us for testing at Café Tequila. If we use it in our new cookbook you will receive an honorary membership in the Café Tequila Club and your name in the book. You will also receive a Café Tequila T-shirt or embroidered hat & a 25% discount on all Café Tequila products for one year. For those of you who already sent recipes...we will begin testing them soon.

GETTING STARTED
Cooking with tequila requires a clear head, a kitchen, and a good tequila, like Tequila Nacional or any other 100% Blue Agave Tequila. Remember, the better the tequila the better the flavor of the food. You can do without the clear head and a kitchen, but not without a good tequila.

The first step to a successful outcome is to prepare and enjoy a Café Tequila shooter appetizer (see below). Then prepare one of these tasty recipes.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup Tequila Nacional
3 tablespoons triple sec
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 teaspoons grated lime zest
1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1 to 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded & finely chopped

Directions:
Combine lime juice, tequila, triple sec, oil, lime zest, chili powder, sugar, salt & peppers; mix well.

Pour the marinade over poultry or seafood evenly coating it in a shallow glass or ceramic dish. Cover & refrigerate, turning occasionally, 1 hour for poultry or 30 minutes for seafood.

Directions:
Pour the tequila in an iced glass & add an ample splash of Café Tequila Hot Sauce. Drop in the oyster, contemplate life for one second, and pour down the hatch. Salud! (we like to chew the oyster but that's not for everyone). Now, begin to consider what to make next (this may take a while so make certain you have enough tequila on hand).

Courtesy of Thomas Stegamaier, Executive Chef, Mark Hopkins Hotel, former Executive Chef, Barcelona Restaurant, San Francisco

Ingredients:
2 trimmed pork tenderloins
4 tbsp dark honey
6 ounces Café Tequila BBQ Sauce
2 ounces Tequila Nacional
2 tbsp Spanish Paprika
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt & fresh ground white pepper

Directions:
Rub tenderloin with honey, paprika, salt, pepper, tequila & 1/2 of BBQ sauce.
Marinate 24 hours, turning occasionally
Scrape off marinade & brown in olive oil heated to smoking point
Place skillet in preheated oven (375F) for 15 minutes & brush with BBQ sauce every 5 minutes
Cut into medallions or thinly slice.

Fitz is a rather irreverant bartender at McCormick & Kuleto's in San Francisco and he designed a Bloody Mary using two of our sauces that is muy bueno! Mix together tomato juice, 1 1/2 ounces good vodka, 1/2 teaspoon Café Tequila Steak Sauce, 1 tablespoon Café Tequila Cayenne Red Hot Sauce, squeeze of lime, celery salt & pepper to taste. (Horseradish is optional) SUBSTITUTE Tequila Nacional for a BLOODY MARIA

More to come after we take a tequila break. Writing about tequila and food always makes us thirsty and hungry! - Juan Federico