At the risk of offending at least the French PhD round these parts, doesn't that assume that there is such a thing as a good wine? Wine is a terrible thing to do to perfectly good grape juice in my mind.
There are certainly many people who don't like the taste of alcohol. This will, of course, rule out the enjoyment of wine. I'm not sure whether you're in this category or not, jocave. If not (i.e., the taste of alcohol doesn't bother you), you can always try a wine made from Vitis labrusca grapes such as the Concord grape. Personally, I find such wines much too sweet, and I'd rather drink such grapes in juice format. Normally wine is made from Vitis vinifera grapes.
Eric, you may be correct regarding the historical origins of wine. Incidentally, if you want to taste something odd (though not very enjoyable), buy a bottle of retsina. It tastes strongly of pine resin, which helped seal bottles of wine to prevent spoilage. To this day it's popular in Greece.
I know that this is practically sacrilege to say, but nearly all wines are suitable for cooking. When you heat wine, you release many of the flavours; when you cook with wine, you add many others. You might as well use an inexpensive bottle for a recipe that calls for wine and save the more expensive bottles for drinking.
So, for all the folks out there that get bent out of shape whenever the US decides to come to the rescue of a failing industry, is there a reason that the 70 million Euro bail-out the French government is giving the wine industry hasn't been mentioned? I suspect that if it involved soft wood lumber, there'd be a bit more outrage.
And as for me, I can't tolerate the taste of alcohol. I'll take a small sip of champaigne for a wedding toast, as long as there is plenty of water nearby. I might consider the low boil you suggested Eric, but that seems somewhat labor intensive.
Just to speak to Justin's comments about wine tasting bad: My sister doesn't like the taste of alcohol and so doesn't ever drink any wine. However, my family uses it a lot in cooking (it's used a lot in French dishes: beef burgundy and coq au vin are big examples but almost all sauces include some kind of alcohol). My sister really likes those dishes even though they are made with wine. The explanation I've heard is that there are alot of flavor components that you can't taste unless there is a bit of alcohol added to the sauce or what not so that these can disolve and be picked up by your taste buds. Also, I personally have found also that adding a tablespoon of cognac to a vanilla sauce makes the sauce taste more "vanilla-y" (but noone ever figures out my trick or that I added a bit of alcohol when I do that) I guess all I want to say is that just because you don't like the taste of alcohol by itself, it doesn't mean you don't like wine and other things when they are cooked.
And if you do like the taste of alcohol, then cognac is quite good for sipping by itself, in moderation. Busta Rhymes vouches for this in his song "Pass the Courvoisier."
If I use vanilla extract, I never put it in anything hot to make sure I don't lose any of the flavor. I also use vanilla beans a lot (you have to boil them in the milk or whatever to get the flavor out) but anyway, I think it's just that the cognac that enhances the flavor of vanilla. If you make vanilla ice cream, you should try it. Just add 1 tablespoon or so along with the vanilla extract.
Of course, for many herbs and spices, olive oil works as well. Gotta love herb-infused olive oil....
Mwal: Sales of Courvoisier skyrocketed after that song. Before, cognac was considered a drink of the stuffy cognoscenti. Talk about a successful rebranding!
8 Comments:
At the risk of offending at least the French PhD round these parts, doesn't that assume that there is such a thing as a good wine? Wine is a terrible thing to do to perfectly good grape juice in my mind.
There are certainly many people who don't like the taste of alcohol. This will, of course, rule out the enjoyment of wine. I'm not sure whether you're in this category or not, jocave. If not (i.e., the taste of alcohol doesn't bother you), you can always try a wine made from Vitis labrusca grapes such as the Concord grape. Personally, I find such wines much too sweet, and I'd rather drink such grapes in juice format. Normally wine is made from Vitis vinifera grapes.
Eric, you may be correct regarding the historical origins of wine. Incidentally, if you want to taste something odd (though not very enjoyable), buy a bottle of retsina. It tastes strongly of pine resin, which helped seal bottles of wine to prevent spoilage. To this day it's popular in Greece.
I know that this is practically sacrilege to say, but nearly all wines are suitable for cooking. When you heat wine, you release many of the flavours; when you cook with wine, you add many others. You might as well use an inexpensive bottle for a recipe that calls for wine and save the more expensive bottles for drinking.
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So, for all the folks out there that get bent out of shape whenever the US decides to come to the rescue of a failing industry, is there a reason that the 70 million Euro bail-out the French government is giving the wine industry hasn't been mentioned? I suspect that if it involved soft wood lumber, there'd be a bit more outrage.
And as for me, I can't tolerate the taste of alcohol. I'll take a small sip of champaigne for a wedding toast, as long as there is plenty of water nearby. I might consider the low boil you suggested Eric, but that seems somewhat labor intensive.
Just to speak to Justin's comments about wine tasting bad:
My sister doesn't like the taste of alcohol and so doesn't ever drink any wine. However, my family uses it a lot in cooking (it's used a lot in French dishes: beef burgundy and coq au vin are big examples but almost all sauces include some kind of alcohol). My sister really likes those dishes even though they are made with wine. The explanation I've heard is that there are alot of flavor components that you can't taste unless there is a bit of alcohol added to the sauce or what not so that these can disolve and be picked up by your taste buds. Also, I personally have found also that adding a tablespoon of cognac to a vanilla sauce makes the sauce taste more "vanilla-y" (but noone ever figures out my trick or that I added a bit of alcohol when I do that)
I guess all I want to say is that just because you don't like the taste of alcohol by itself, it doesn't mean you don't like wine and other things when they are cooked.
And if you do like the taste of alcohol, then cognac is quite good for sipping by itself, in moderation. Busta Rhymes vouches for this in his song "Pass the Courvoisier."
If I use vanilla extract, I never put it in anything hot to make sure I don't lose any of the flavor. I also use vanilla beans a lot (you have to boil them in the milk or whatever to get the flavor out) but anyway, I think it's just that the cognac that enhances the flavor of vanilla. If you make vanilla ice cream, you should try it. Just add 1 tablespoon or so along with the vanilla extract.
Of course, for many herbs and spices, olive oil works as well. Gotta love herb-infused olive oil....
Mwal: Sales of Courvoisier skyrocketed after that song. Before, cognac was considered a drink of the stuffy cognoscenti. Talk about a successful rebranding!
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