Pagani & Co.

Level Up Your Liquids

Here I am writing about how to use liquids — beer, wine, tea and pickle brine — to give food flavor and texture. It was fun topic to dip into: I got to talk with interesting chefs from all over the country (and London!) and learned a bunch of new tricks in the process.

Susan Pagani

August 10, 2025

1–2 minutes

Liquids may be the hardest-working ingredients in the kitchen. They cook rice, poach fish, steam dumplings, and braise vegetables. They transform a random assortment of leftovers into a soup. They give texture and structure to some of our favorite foods, like fork-tender ribs and delicate layer cakes. Along the way, liquids pull a dish together by helping flavors bloom, develop, and mingle.

For the home cook, all of that utility adds up to a whole lot of opportunity for liquid creativity.

Think about the flavors of a nut brown ale unfurling across your palate, lightly fruity and full of malty cocoa and toasted hazelnut. Or the sophisticated floral sweetness of jasmine tea. Or consider the tangy notes of a classic dill-pickle brine: salty, puckery, and refreshing.

If you’re not cooking with all that, you’re missing out. Everyday liquids like beer, tea, wine, pickle juice, and coffee can lend a wealth of flavor and complexity to your dishes.

Here’s how to put them to use in your favorite recipes.

[Appeared in Experience Life Magazine. Photo courtesy of Experience Life.]