[Sca-cooks] champagne reduction

[Stefan li Rous]

Adamantius gave us instructions on reducing champagne:
> > How can you reduce it that far and not burn it?  That sounds so
> > delicious!!
> >
> > Ranvaig
>
> Use a heavy-bottomed pan, watch it carefully, and swirl it around to
> wash down the sides (a standard syrup-boiling technique) to keep any
> from sticking to the sides of the pan in layers thin enough to burn.
> It oxidizes just a little, I suspect, but doesn't have to burn. And
> perhaps I was unclear: it's not as thick as honey until it cools off.
> It'll cook down to a glaze consistency: for a while it'll foam as it
> boils, and then rather suddenly, the foaming will subside and you'll
> be able to see the surface of your liquid again. That's your cue to
> watch it carefully, because it's almost done. This rule works for a
> number of syrupy reductions, such as glace de viand or de volaille
> (which are stock reductions), sugar syrups, etc.
This sounds interesting, but about how long should we expect this to 
take for say a bottle? Approximately 5 minutes? 25? an hour?
Is there some advantage of using champagne? Or you just like that 
particular taste? The bubbles are all going to boil away. For instance, 
does starting with a sweeter wine make a difference compared to a dry 
wine? Reduced mead would probably be very sweet. Like Hippocras I 
wonder if this is a good use for a so-so wine.

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
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