SC - Starter Recipes

[Robin Carroll-Mann]

Cooking wines, or sherries, or whatever are simply a lousy vintage or batch
which has been salted to death so that the seller can realize some profit
from something which he'd otherwise have to throw out. It isn't counted as
an alcohol in any sense- I remember, back before I turned 21, I could buy it
at the store without question, and stores which did not have alcohol for
sale would have it. It also can be sold here in Ohio on Sunday, whereas
anything stronger than beer may not be, and it isn't even taxed as an
alcoholic beverage by the US government.

My suggestion to those of you who wish to cook with wine would be to buy the
real stuff- never cook with anything you wouldn't eat or drink otherwise.
For those of you who don't drink, find someone who does and ask their advice
about what you should use- as a suggestion, those boxed wines they have out
have some very drinkable stuff. You might find them very economical too- the
way they are dispensed avoids letting air and therefor oxygen contact the
wine, so you don't have to deal with the flavor changes that occur when you
open a bottle of wine, use a bit, and then let the rest sit for a week or a
month or a year. If you were to buy two varieties, a red and a white, you'd
be pretty well set, and still have something drinkable to offer guests.

One of the nice things about cooking with wine is that you can use less salt
because of some of the compounds in wine which provide the mouth-feel and
flavor enhancing qualities of salt- on the downside, some people are
allergic to some of the nitrates and other compounds found in it, and lets
not even get into the Alcohol Question.

Hope this helps a bit,

Phlip

Nolo disputare, volo somniare et contendere, et iterum somniare.

phlip at morganco.net

Philippa Farrour
Caer Frig
Southeastern Ohio

"All things are poisons.  It is simply the dose that distinguishes between a
poison and a remedy." -Paracelsus

"Oats -- a grain which in England sustains the horses, and in
Scotland, the men." -- Johnson

"It was pleasant to me to find that 'oats,' the 'food of horses,' were
so much used as the food of the people in Johnson's own town." --
Boswell

"And where will you find such horses, and such men?" -- Anonymous