Jose Cuervo Cinge, also known as Jose Cuervo Especial Cinnamon (that’s sure to be confusing, but why ask why), is a new expression that’s not even on the Cuervo.com website yet.

It is, however, in the stores—and that’s a good thing.

The new flavored tequila is a cinnamon-infused, 70 proof version of Cuervo Especial Silver. There are other “natural flavors,” but if they told us they’d have to kill us.

Cinge means “sting” and the ads we’ve seen show a menacing scorpion (is there any other kind?) crawling across a bar toward a shot of tequila.

But the experience is more “Cosmopolitan” magazine than “American Cowboy.” There’s a soft but vibrant cinnamon nose and flavor. It’s not a burning cinnamon experience like Red Hots candy.

Yet the brand’s copy calls it “a spicy and fiery shot of cinnamon.” Hmmm; perhaps our bottle was from a different batch.

Our Cinge was seductive, and we love it. For $16.99 a bottle, OMG: Last-minute gift problems solved!

We received a bottle from Jose Cuervo along with some cocktail recipes, but it’s heaven just drinking Cinge straight.

Or add it to cider, coffee, tea or a toddy—there’s no need to drag out the cocktail shaker.
 
Find more of our favorite spirits and lots of cocktail recipes.

As we grew into a foodie, and premium coffee bean and tea shops opened up around the city, we started to brew loose tea. We found the variety of whole leaf teas so flavorful on their own, that we never used milk and sugar again with our stash of fine teas (and coffees, too).

But that may change. Lipton has launched a new Natural Energy Premium Black Tea, with increased caffeine “to keep you alert and energized throughout your day.”

They sent us a box to try. We’ve been drinking it all day and don’t notice that we’re any more energized; but we refer you to our theory of cold medicine: It may not seem like it’s helping, but how do you know how much more congested and miserable you’d be without it?

And, since we’ve been drinking 4 cups a day of it, we’ve had the will to attack piles and piles of papers that we’ve ignored since the beginning of the year. If this keeps up, we’ll be happy to buy our own crates of Lipton Natural Energy Tea from Amazon.com.

It’s also available in K-cups. The tea is certified kosher by OU and is Rainforest Alliance Certified.

We’ve written several hundred pages of information on tea, and we have not come across the concept of pressing “fresh, high-quality tea leaves to release their natural essence.” In the language of tea, “pressed tea leaves” are those that are first fired (panned or steamed to stop the natural fermentation) and then pressed into molds. (All black, green and oolong teas are all panned or steamed, whether or not they will be pressed into molds.)

Our guess is that Lipton takes fresh-off-the-bush tea leaves and presses them to extract that “natural essence.”

Theanine is an amino acid found in tea (amino acids are building blocks for proteins). The L- designation describes the structural form found in tea and supplements.

L-theanine is also found in guyausa, a natural energy tea along the lines of yerba maté and in the bay bolete mushroom (Boletus badius, completely edible despite being called “badius”).

It is used in pill form to treat anxiety and high blood pressure. It is used to help prevent Alzheimer’s disease, and to make cancer drugs more effective. It may help the body’s immune system fight infection. In studies that showed efficacy, participants consumed 600 ml, more than 20 ounces, a day.

If you like sesame noodles or satay with peanut sauce, here’s another delicious use for it: in a marinade.

Marinating beef, chicken, lamb, pork or tofu in a peanut sauce-based marinade adds dimensions of flavor.

Just create a marinade from chicken or other stock, peanut butter, soy sauce, oil, ginger, chili flakes and garlic (see the recipe below). You can also add sherry and honey.

And certainly, serve a side of peanut sauce for dipping. See the recipe below.

WHAT IS “SATAY SAUCE?”

Satay is actually the grilled meat with which the spicy peanut sauce is served. The sauce is based on ground roasted peanuts; peanut butter can be substituted.

Spicy peanut sauce is popular in the cuisines of some African countries, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. The term for the sauce in Indonesia is bumbu kacang; elsewhere it is called pecel or sambal kacang.

Grilled pork skewers, marinated in peanut
sauce marinade and served with a side
of peanut dipping sauce (not shown). Photo courtesy National Pork Board.

They soon were turned into a sauce in Indonesian cuisine and other countries followed. Indonesian peanut sauces are considered to be the most sophisticated (layered with ingredients).

RECIPE: PEANUT MARINADE

This recipe is courtesy Swanson, maker of both conventional and low-sodium broth and stock.

Ingredients

1. MAKE marinade. Stir 1 tablespoon brown sugar, 2 tablespoons peanut butter, the oil, 1/2 cup soy sauce, 1/3 cup lime juice, half the garlic and 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper or chili flakes in a shallow, nonmetallic dish or a gallon-size resealable plastic bag. Add the chicken and turn to coat. Cover the dish or seal the bag and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight. Remove the chicken from the marinade and discard the marinade.

2. LIGHTLY OIL the grill rack and heat the grill to medium. Grill the chicken for 15 minutes or until cooked through, turning the chicken over once halfway through the grilling time.

3. MAKE the sauce. Stir together the remaining brown sugar, peanut butter, soy sauce, lime juice, garlic, cayenne pepper, coconut milk and ginger root in a 3-quart saucepan. Cook and stir over medium heat for 15 minutes or until the mixture is thickened. Stir in the broth and heavy cream.

4. SPRINKLE the chicken with cilantro and serve the sauce with the chicken.

RECIPE: SPICY PEANUT SAUCE

Here’s an alternative recipe for spicy peanut sauce. The sauce can be made a day ahead of time, and will keep 3 to 4 days in the fridge.

Ingredients For 1-1/4 Cups

 
Preparation

1. ADD all ingredients to a blender or food processor and process until smooth.
 
*You can use low-sodium ingredients because the other ingredients add more than enough flavor. But if you have full-sodium products on hand, feel free to use them.

†Find red curry paste in the Asian products section of your market.

Pastry chef Christina Tosi of Momofuku Milk Bar in New York City created this treat with Häagen-Dazs Peppermint Bark Ice Cream Float

“I do not mess around with my hot chocolate,” says Chef Tosi. “As a pastry chef, it’s practically required to have a killer hot chocolate recipe at the ready when the cold months come knocking….Häagen-Dazs Peppermint Bark Ice Cream just screamed out ‘dunk me in hot chocolate!’”

The flavor, white chocolate ice cream blended with crunchy, chocolaty peppermint bark and peppermint candy pieces, is available through the end of the month.

RECIPE: PEPPERMINT BARK ICE CREAM FLOAT

Ingredients For 4-6 Servings

A hot and cold holiday treat. Photo courtesy Häagen-Dazs.

1. COMBINE cocoa powder, sugar, chocolate and salt in a medium mixing bowl.

2. BRING milk to a near scalding boil in a medium sized saucepan over medium heat. Pour milk immediately over the bowl of cocoa, sugar, chocolate and salt. Allow it to sit for 1 minute.

3. WHISK slowly to combine. Continue whisking until mixture is evenly combined and silky smooth. You can always pass it through a fine mesh strainer if you’re concerned about lumps.

4. POUR hot chocolate evenly into mugs and add optional schnapps; stir to mix. Scoop ice cream on top. Garnish with optional candy cane/peppermint stick.

TIPS

But for most cheeses, once the wheel is cut and the rind is broken, the cheese begins to deteriorate. Small pieces of cheese have an even shorter lifespan than large, cut wheels.

Given the cost of cheese, you don’t want it to spoil before each delicious bite is consumed. So here are tips to properly handle and store your cheese. The tips are from Formaticum.com*, which sells specialty paper for wrapping cheese. (The two-ply cheese paper maintains proper humidity and allows adequate oxygen exchange to keep cheese alive [breathing] and tasty. It is the same paper used by leading Parisian fromageries.)
 
*Formaticum is a noun created from the Latin verbs forma, to shape or mold, and aticum, to age. It was first used by Roman legionnaires to describe a specific cheese of compressed curds of milk, made in a mold.

The best way to wrap cheese is in special cheese paper. Photo courtesy Formicatum.

GENERAL CHEESE STORAGE TIPS

There is no single way to store all the many types of cheeses. But one general tip is:

1. DON’T WRAP CHEESE IN PLASTIC. It needs to breathe. To retain its delicate flavor balance, the cheese requires both oxygen exchange and storage at the proper humidity. Non-porous materials like plastic wrap suffocate a cheese. In soft cheeses, they accelerate an ammonia aroma. Non-porous wraps also trap too much moisture, accelerating the growth of invasive surface molds.

Wax paper, aluminum foil and plastic wrap are unsuitable for wrapping cheese because they neither regulate humidity nor allow oxygen exchange. Cheeses wrapped in them are more likely to dry out, grow surface molds and otherwise spoil. If you’re planning to finish the cheese in a day or two it’s not an issue; but if you’re not sure when you’ll get around to eating it, you should invest in cheese paper (check out the Formicatum website).

2. AVOID PRE-CUT, PLASTIC WRAPPED CHEESE. For the best possible flavor, shop at a cheese counter with unwrapped cheeses. Cheese that is cut to order is always the freshest and tastiest. Always taste before you buy. Try to avoid plastic-wrapped, pre-cut pieces of cheese. If those are your only choices, however, be mindful of the “cut and packaged date” on the label and be sure the cut date is within a day of purchase. When you get home, you can rewrap the cheese in cheese paper (or waxed paper, in a pinch).

3. CONSIDER A CHEESE DOME. Cheese domes (photo at left) are a great way to store cheese without wrapping. Cheese stored under a glass dome creates its own climate and proper humidity. White mold, soft ripened cheeses like Brie and Camembert and washed rind cheeses (the “stinky” group) are ideal when stored under a cheese dome. They’re available with a marble, wood or glass base, and are a terrific gift idea for someone who enjoys good cheese frequently. (Or give them a box of cheese paper.)

4. STORE EACH CHEESE INDIVIDUALLY. Never wrap different cheeses together: Their flavors will interact and none of them will taste as good as they should. Label the cheese with the date of purchase (and the name, if you won’t remember it).

MORE CHEESE TIPS

CUTTING. Cut soft cheese while it’s cold (we put very soft cheeses like chèvre logs in the freezer to firm up so we can cut slices for salads). Harder cheeses such as aged Gouda and Parmigiano-Reggiano are much easier to cut at room temperature. For hard cheese, a sharp cheese knife with an offset handle is the professional utensil of choice. For soft cheese a wire cheese cutter will ensure clean cuts. Always clean tool the tool before slicing, to prevent the introduction of new molds or bacteria.

“FACE CLEAN.” Before re-wrapping cheeses that have been at room temperature cheeses, blot or use a serrated knife to scrape any oil or moisture that has formed on the surface. Always rewrap in clean wrapping material.

TEMPERATURE. Cheese should ideally be enjoyed at room temperature, but will last longer in the fridge. Drastic temperature changes are not good for fine cheese. Keep cheese in the fridge and only remove and warm to room temperature what you will consume in each sitting. If you have leftover cheese that has been sitting out for hours, store it under a cheese dome at room temperature and finish it the next day. Soft cheese that has been left out overnight is delicious on morning toast. Never freeze cheese.

CHECKING IN. Don’t loose cheese at the back of the fridge; it’s too expensive to throw out when you discover it weeks or months later. Check and rewrap the cheese periodically if the wrapper has become damp or oil-stained, and plan to eat it (or give it to someone who will).
 
Discover much more about cheese and read reviews of our favorites in our Cheese Section.