Golden Margarita Glaze

Cinco de Mayo not only marks a heralded Mexican holiday, but also provides an opportune time to bring out the grill and turn your backyard BBQ into a fiesta.

While tequila, Mexico's most renowned export, is most commonly used in margaritas, it also makes an excellent marinade ingredient for grilling.

Golden Margarita Glaze

Brush on a little fiesta flavor every time you grill with this luscious, zesty margarita glaze. Great on fish and shellfish, chicken, pork or vegetables. 

Makes about 1/2 cup or 4 servings.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1/4 cup Jose Cuervo Golden Margarita
• 1 Tbsp. packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp. taco seasoning or ground cumin
• 1 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt or to taste

Directions:

1. Blend all ingredients together in a bowl. Set aside. 
2. Brush your food with glaze during the last 1 to 2 minutes of grilling. 
3. Drizzle any unused glaze over your food just before serving.

4 Of The Most Common Cooking Methods Explained

If you are preparing any kind of meals from a recipe, it's important that you understand the various methods of cooking. There are a number of terms for different ways of cooking, as follow.

Grilled

If a recipe calls for something to be grilled, it generally means it should be cooked over an open flame or heat. Grilling can be done by charcoal or gas - on a barbeque for example - or it can be done using a grill of some sort on the burners of your stove.

Broiled

Broiling indicates cooking by exposing directly to a heat source such as a flame or element. Most ovens have a "broil" setting, which heats an element at the top of the stove rather than the one at the bottom, which is used for baking.

When broiling items in the oven, they should normally be placed on the top rack to give them the proper heat exposure.

Frying vs Deep Frying

Both frying and deep-frying cook foods with a similar process, but the method is a little different in each case. Frying can be done over any heat source, such as a stove element or an open flame. Oil or butter is heated and the food is cooked by its heat.

Deep frying, on the other hand, also involves oil but in this case the food is completely submerged in the oil. Deep frying is used for foods such as french fries, breaded chicken and doughnuts. It can be dangerious, however, because you're dealing with boiling oil so proper equipment and safety precautions must be used.

Sauteing

Sauteing involved cooking food quickly in a small amount of fat. It is similar in process to frying, but because of the smaller amount of fat and faster cooking times, it brings out stronger flavors than frying will.

Knowing what is involved with the various terms will make it easier to plan when following a recipe. You'll know what equipment and ingredients you'll need that are unique to each method.