Cooking With Wine Beer and Alcohol
 

Putting up yet a new cooking thread.
I was going to put this in the cheap eating thread but decided it needed it's own spot.
I gave a fast scan and didn't find anything dedicated to the subject so here it is.
Salt this is for you and others that would like to know what and how I do it and others ways.
I am not a trained chef so you folks can cringe if you want, it is simply what I like and how I do it.
If you guys have ideas please feel free to donate to the thread as always we must share.

This can be considered the introductory post.
Today's concoction will be a little later in the day.

Worth

I substitute beer for water whenever I can and ppl like it. I find the lighter and more in the Tecate/Budweiser end of the spectrum it is the better. I've tried cooking with microbrews and I've ended up with a brown mess with hops dominating.

Wine has many applications and can really bring out the zing in a dish, at times it is absolutely essential.

Booze is more for desserts, and I'll leave those to other people, as I'm absent a sweet tooth.

I like the idea of this thread. It is one to learn from and get to eat something different along the way.

I've had the same experience as Gerardo with the hoppy IPA's like SmuttyNose and
DogFishHead. They do muddy up if i add a bit in place of water. Fine in my BBQ sauce.
Not great in stocks or chowders.

I stock a box white and red just before the Thanksgiving holiday that lasts through the new year for cooking. Good enough to drink if needed. Even for a guest that stops by in
the afternoon and wants a sip of something.

NewYears we braised our City ham using Julia's method on the stovetop with white wine
and water for two hours, then into the over slathered in a wet rub. We used a ton of Turkish spices and maple syrup. We still had the nice crispy chewy edges. The braising drew out a ton of salt and tenderized.

Snow falling now but i doubt a power outage....decided to make a mixed seafood grill/sear, scallops, shrimp, chunk of salmon,
in the big cast iron tonight being home-bound. Over pasta using fresh frozen garden tom Heirloom slices. A packet of roasted/smoked hatch chilis. (cleaned out the freezer and found pay-dirt. Six flat-packed small packages stuffed in the back). I think i'll use a bit of vodka when i caramelize some big onions for that.

Gotta love freezer shopping....

Could really use the beer ingredient help. I do make a mustard with rich beers.
1/2 cup white or black mustard seed
cold beer to cover, about 1/4 cup, rest one hour
1/4 cup ac vinegar, rest a few hours then into fridge overnight
with spices of choice....dried or fresh chilis, cumin, garlic, savory, etc
salt pepper
blender high power to desired grainy or smooth
add maple syrup or honey to taste
-lots of variations

Sweet Sixteen.
 

Yep sweet sixteen is the name of this one.:lol:
Here are some pictures.
The name comes from the size of the kettle 16 quarts and the sweet Madeira wine.
One whole bottle of it.
The cook gets to drink another whole bottle of it while she/he is slaving away in the hot kitchen. :twisted:
More to come.
Worth
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Giant cans of tomatoes garbanzo beans sweating onions and cilantro mushrooms red potatoes carrots corn.
The beef and sweet breads were brown in olive oil as well as the onions.

Worth
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Okay lets add up the bill and see what this cost me.
It came out to $35.92 and I have some fresh carrots left over.
So lets round it up to $36.00.
Lets say we eat one quart a day.
That adds up to $2.25.
At a one pint serving it would only be $1.12 a meal.
That's cheap eaten too.:yes:
Worth

Box wins are fine and because the bag part doesn't let air in much, it doesn't oxidize as quickly. Box wines are respectable, LOL, and like I was taught, break the so called rules if it pleases your mouth.

I t is good to start with the general rules until you get some ideas, then have some fun with stuff.

Mushrooms, browned in butter and finished with either a red or white wine are good.

White wine is my favorite way to cook summer squash, especially the yellow crook-necks. I like them when they are tiny. The yellow squash in stores are always way too big for me, tough skin and big seeds.

Here it is it tastes as good as it looks.
At the end I added macaroni.
Worth
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You all are making me hungry :)

[QUOTE=Gerardo;609247] I've tried cooking with microbrews and I've ended up with a brown mess with hops dominating.[/QUOTE]

Sometimes that's exactly what you want. Hops brings out the flavor of meat, especially beef. Guiness or a hoppy bibble is my secret ingrediment in chili.

[QUOTE=Worth1;609311]Here it is it tastes as good as it looks.
At the end I added macaroni. [/QUOTE]
You sound like Garth Brooks. "Everything is better with tortellini added."

The first rule of cooking with alcoholic beverages:

[FONT=Arial Black][SIZE=3]If it's not something that you would drink, then it's not something you should cook with.[/SIZE][/FONT]



For Rule 2, see Rule 1.

[QUOTE=Worth1;609311]Here it is it tastes as good as it looks.
At the end I added macaroni.
Worth
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Looks delicious! And tomorrow, you can have it with Fresh bread!

Next summer I want to buy a bottle of Bacardi 151 and set my sweetest tomatoes on fire to see what happens. I think "tomato flambe" isn't a thing because tomatoes with a high sugar content are not commercially available.

German stripe tasted really sweet to me.

Hubert Keller's show today was about cooking with beer. I just caught the end of it where he makes ice cream and beer/ale/porter/stout floats.

His recipes are at [URL]http://hubertkeller.com/[/URL] but I don't see that recipe. Show 219 is (also?) about beer.

He has an entire show on [I]Boeuf Bourguignon[/I] and another just on [I]Coq au Vin[/I].

That looks good Worth, why is all of your sauces red, the chili powder you made? It almost looks like chili oil.

I'm glad you brought this up, I may cook a braised red wine beef shank dish tomorrow. Now I'm thinking Osso Buco too..Hmmmm decisions.

[QUOTE=Rajun Gardener;609364]That looks good Worth, why is all of your sauces red, the chili powder you made? It almost looks like chili oil.

I'm glad you brought this up, I may cook a braised red wine beef shank dish tomorrow. Now I'm thinking Osso Buco too..Hmmmm decisions.[/QUOTE]

Some times yes but this one no it was the 6 pounds 6 ounces of tomatoes and the whole bottle of 36 proof wine I put in it.:lol:
The only spices were a wee bit of salt lots of black pepper and garlic powder that is it.
The oil you see is on top pure olive oil.

[QUOTE=EPawlick;609333]Looks delicious! And tomorrow, you can have it with Fresh bread![/QUOTE]

Not for sure I will have time I might have to go dig a ditch in west Austin.
Nope just looked I have some pre-made half baked ciabatta bread left in the freezer.

Worth

Now I wish I would have bought that big canner so I could can these 16 quarts of soup I have.
I feel like an idiot for not getting it.
It would take me all day with the little one four quarts at a time.
Worth

The giant kettle is washed out and put away.
I set the whole thing out in the cold last night to cool off and put 12 quarts of it in the freezer and saved one for today on the stove.
The first thing I tasted today was cold soup to see what it tasted like.

Now here is the run down on what I did.
It was 4 pounds of chuck roast I cut up.
One pound of cut up sweetbreads.
Pepper and garlic powder.
In the kettle I put in virgin olive oil and put the meat in to cook, it made its own juices.
While this was going on I made the roux.
When it was the color of peanut butter I put it in with eh meat.
I them dumped in the whole bottle of Madeira and some more water about a bottles worth.
I took the roux pan without washing it (why wash it) and added more oil and cut up 3 giant mean onions and one bunch of cilantro just because I didn't want it to go to waste and I had it around.
Sweated them in the pan with oil.
While this was heating back up I cut up the rest of the carrots and potatoes and so on and let it heat up on medium low.
By the time the root crops were dome the meat was tender.
At the end put in the pasta if you want and simmer till done.
Or you can cook it on the side to add as wanted.
I highly advise not to do this with any other meat besides chuck or ground of some sort.
If you use sirloin it will come out like a dry chew toy, been there done that.:no:

Worth

One last word on the soup I made and the reason for not many spices.
I would consider it what I would call a base soup.
Like this morning I added water my homemade chili powder Mexican oregano and nutmeg plus about 3/4 cup of pasta.
I let it cook till the pasta was done.
By doing this I can make any flavor I am looking for.
You can add herbs at the end and they need to be added at the end anyway.
But you cant take them out.
Plus it turned one quart of food into 2 quarts.
Worth

I agree with the base soup. Sometimes I'll add picante sauce and/or boiled okra to my bowl of soup. That way, others can eat the same soup without those two strong ingredients, and add whatever they want or not.

Using Worth's base soup more or less, you can also us trip, well cleaned and diced up, for the long simmer and it is very good. If you add the tripe and lots more black pepper (lots!) then more hot peppers to suit each cooks taste or style, you would have a version of Philadelphia pepper pot soup.

[QUOTE=imp;609530]Using Worth's base soup more or less, you can also us trip, well cleaned and diced up, for the long simmer and it is very good. If you add the tripe and lots more black pepper (lots!) then more hot peppers to suit each cooks taste or style, you would have a version of Philadelphia pepper pot soup.[/QUOTE]

I didn't want to freak people out on the black pepper as to how much I put in it.
The top was completely black before I stirred it up.:lol:
Probably more than a hand full.
My mothers soup always had about 3/8 inch of black pepper on the bottom.
The closer you got to the bottom of the kettle and the longer it lasted the hotter it got.
Worth

My favorites beers are IPA's, love em, but never cook with them, the stronger hop flavor doesnt work well. If I use beer to cook with its usually a porter or stout.

Chicken Piccata and Chicken Marsala. Both are basically pan seared chicken cutlets, briefly simmered in a pan sauce made with white wine (Piccata) or Marsala wine. An internet search will turn up hundreds of recipes, but both are very easy to make.

Season and flour the cutlets and sear them to a light golden brown in a combination of oil and butter. Remove from the pan then add the wine and let it reduce and thicken, adjust seasonings, put chicken back in the pan and very lightly simmer until it's tender. (Some people supplement with some chicken stock if they go with less butter/oil and less wine.)

The Picatta typically comes with capers added, and the Marsala with sliced mushroom that are sautéed then simmered in the sauce together with the chicken. I skip the capers, but I do use the mushrooms.

I always make sure there is enough sauce to also dress the pasta served with the chicken. The Piccata served over sautéed spinach in place of pasta is also good.

We have a few "old style" Italian restaurants that will serve chicken Picatta or Marsala with a side of pasta and tomato sauce unless you know to ask for the chicken to be served over the pasta.

Next weekend will be New England clam chowder with white wine.
Totally made up.:lol:
Worth