Lifestyle
How to Use Soda in Your Cooking to Make Your Food Pop
Whether you call it soda, pop, or cola, fizzy drinks have been a staple in my go to lunch. Now what if I tell you, you can eat soda. Sounds crazy? Hear me out: here are a few ways to put soda into everything you eat.
Cake
Photo by Emma Delancy
A good cake is a balance of fluffiness and flavor, but sometimes you can’t get that desired texture with baking powder alone. The same fluffiness can be achieved with soda in place of water or milk.
There isn’t a for sure best soda for making your cakes –it’s really based on your taste preference. Seltzer is a good all around fluffiness-enhancer, but doesn’t add much flavor. You can try pairing chocolate cake with Dr. Pepper for a cherry chocolate cake or Sierra Mist/Sprite in a lemon cake for an extra boost of citrus. Check out this mug cake that uses soda to fluff it up.
#SpoonTip: Try Dr. Pepper, Coca Cola/Pepsi, or Root Beer for dark cakes and Sierra Mist/Sprite or Orange Fanta for light cakes.
Tempura
Photo by Mollie Carroll
Tempura, a Japanese-style batter is used on all sorts of fried goodies like shrimp or vegetables.
A classic tempura uses cold water, rice flour, and eggs. Swap that cold water with seltzer water for some lightly fried sweet potatoes or chicken. Avoid flavored sodas, the sweetness overpowers the delicate flavors of tempura.
BBQ Sauce
Photo by Kelly McAdam
A good BBQ sauce is sweet, tangy, and most importantly finger-licking good. There are a number of types of BBQ sauces, but the classic BBQ sauce has these characteristics. Normally they are sweetened using brown sugar, molasses, or honey. These are all good sweeteners, don’t get me wrong, but some soda will add that little bit of oomph that other BBQ sauces can’t replicate.
Try incorporating Dr. Pepper for a cherry accented BBQ sauce or Coca Cola/Pepsi for a cola BBQ sauce.
Fish and Chips
Photo by Savannah Carter
Beer may not necessarily be a soda, but I just couldn’t leave it out. Alcohol has a lower boiling point, leaving much less water in the crust in the end. Beer gives your classic batter a much lighter and arguably better-tasting fish fry.
Serve them with a side of chips and tartar sauce on some newspaper and you’ve got yourself a traditional English Fish and Chips.
Still haven’t sated your thirst for soda?