Cooking Sherry vs. Dry Sherry

"st.helier" wrote in news:fgfpib$eq8$ snipped-for-privacy@news.datemas.de:

You know darn well we do, m'lord. There is nothing that is an abomination of food and spirit that we are not capable of. (Double negative and ending with preposition, I am on a roll!)

That said, I to subscribe to the if it can't be sipped it does not belong in the cook pot club, though I do stop short of demanding the best vintages, the ordinary day to say stuff will do well in most cases.

I once owned a cookbook with a recipe for "Canard Margaux". It used a WHOLE BOTTLE of Ch.Margaux in which to cook the duck! I let my ex take that book with her when we split our assets{:-) Graham

I believe the high salt content gives cooking sherry a different legal status (my recollection is that it isn't taxed as an alcoholic beverage, and may even be sold to under-age buyers). Practically speaking, if you use sherry intended for drinking, you may need to add more salt, since a recipe calling for cooking sherry already takes into the account the salt content.

Dana

"graham" skrev i melding news:nrLWi.168660$1y4.60684@pd7urf2no...

Quite believable.

80 years ago Margaux, Latour and their likes were horrendously expensive - 2, 3 even 5 times the price of ordinary red wine. 30 cents for generic St. Emilion, 1.40USD for Latour 1916 or 1.00USD for Petrus 1916 according to a 1927 price list. A difference well corresponding to actual quality... (sigh) Anders

(And the expensivest from that list? Ch. d'Yquem 1916 2.85USD and Alsheimer Goldberg Auslese, yes, Rhine wine, at 1.75USD)

"graham" wrote .......

Graham, this sounds like a good deal - particularly if you managed to retain the Margaux !!!!!

st.helier

Thanks Dana, but the recipe calls for dry sherry (so I wouldn't have to subtract the salt - some trick). The salt helps the sherry "keep" longer since I may not be cooking a whole duck for instance as in a previous reply. I guess my concern is more about whether the cooking sherry is sweet vs dry considering the 2g of sugar per 2 Tbsp serving. It would appear that it is sweet and not all the sugar was gobbled up by the yeasties which would make it dry. I know that some yeasts die off before all the sugar is fermented but I don't know where the cut off is between sweet and dry sherry. If I worded the inital question better, I may have gotten the answer for which I was searching. I appreciate all inputs. Mark

Dry means (virtually) no sugar. 2g per 2 T is a lot of sugar for a wine. Therefor your cooking sherry is not dry.

Andy

Oh. I suspect the difference is insignificant.

Dana

Exactly. Straightforward question - correct answer.

The EU definition of dry is "Maximum of 4g/l, or 9g/l where the total acidity content is not more than 2g/l below the residual sugar content." By my calculation, 2g per US tablespoon is 135g/l. That is most definitely sweet, which in EU terms is "At least 45g/l".

"st.helier" cited:

[from Wiki]

Wrong. PX and Moscatel sherries were never dry in their production cycle.

M.

Cook or drink Amontillado.

Since many who post and read this groups are not in the US, perhaps it is worth mentioning a little US history. In the early 1900s when alcohol was made illegal in all of the US, there were some exceptions to the law. A bit of wine could be made and sold for religious sacrements. Also one could make a certain amount of wine at home for personal use if certain rules were followed. Alcohol also was allowed in certain products including medicine, flavor extracts, etc. where the product was such that many poeple would not drink it for the alcohol. Cooking wine that contained a lot of salt could be sold, because not many people would drink much of it. Alcohol could be denatured with several additives for use in solvents for various purpose. There were volumes of details and restrictions describing legal uses of alcohol.

Alcohol became legal again in the 1930s, but individual states, or even such a small subdivision as a township could vote to remain dry, and many did. Some would allow sales of beer, but not spirits and wine. There still are a few local small devisions of states in the US that remain dry. There are yet more that allow sales for home use, but do not allow sales in bars and restaurants. Thus a small market for cooking wine containing a lot of salt remains to this day. Cooking "Sherry" seems to be the most common cooking wine. The thing to remember is the salt added to the wine. If much wine is used, the salt added to the dish should be reduced. If something is cooked in a lot of wine and a sauce is made from the reduced cooking liquid, cooking wine may make the dish too salty even if no other salt is added to the dish.

Then there are a few people still very anti-alcohol who would not be seen in a liquor store in case their friends might think they are drinking alcohol. There are several religions in the US that are very anti-alcohol. And of course good Moslems do not drink alcohol. Good Mormons do not drink alcohol or coffee. Most of those who I have met who do not drink alcohol will tolerate a bit of alcohol in a flavoring such as cooking wine or vanilla extract, since the nature of the product prevents most people from drinking enough to produce symptoms of alcohol intake. But there are a very few who will not knowingly consume anything containing alcohol. Of course everyone has a tiny bit of alcohol in them that is produced in the body by reactions concerning digestion of food.

[From Wiki]

Amontillado, however, starts bone dry. And we (i.e. Wiki) talk Sherry from Jerez, not some copy.

M.

I didn't have any at the time{:-( or perhaps {:-) given the way assets were split! She thought buying expensive wines was pretentious and so my purchases were strictly limited. Now, with her 2nd husband, she makes wine from kits!!!!! Graham

"graham" wrote ....

Poor bastard !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My feelings precisely - and not just with regard to the wine{:-) Graham