Cooking with Port
- djewesbury
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Cooking with Port
Yes, I know, a rich Bolognese sauce, a hearty stew.. We all know the basic, general kinds of dish into which a not-very-good bottle can add body and texture. But do any of you have specific recipes developed just for such a discovery? I seem to have a number of filtered LBVs that I can't be bothered drinking and will only really be useful in cooking.
Daniel J.
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Re: Cooking with Port
I created a recipe for Seared Scallops with Port reduction, but it works better with an acidic tawny Port such as Sandeman's 20-yr old.
Glenn Elliott
- djewesbury
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Re: Cooking with Port
Sounds lovely. But yes, probably an LBV reduction would be overpowering in that one!Glenn E. wrote:I created a recipe for Seared Scallops with Port reduction, but it works better with an acidic tawny Port such as Sandeman's 20-yr old.
Daniel J.
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- Dalva Golden White Colheita 1952
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Re: Cooking with Port
I think that a whole bottle of port in a dish may present difficulties. Too much sugar for my taste. I have always fancied trying (but never have) port jellies and the like which the victorians were so fond of feeding to invalids. Thankfully an open bottle of port seems to keep for ages for the purposes of cooking. I have used a bit at a time over several weeks.
I seem to remember a thread on port cocktails, you could try that but I would suggest keeping a bucket handy...
However it does have to be a pretty catastrophic bottle for me not to push it past the tonsils.
I seem to remember a thread on port cocktails, you could try that but I would suggest keeping a bucket handy...
However it does have to be a pretty catastrophic bottle for me not to push it past the tonsils.
- djewesbury
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Re: Cooking with Port
I don't want to use the whole bottle at once. And I also have them open and next to the cooker for a while.LGTrotter wrote:I think that a whole bottle of port in a dish may present difficulties. Too much sugar for my taste. I have always fancied trying (but never have) port jellies and the like which the victorians were so fond of feeding to invalids. Thankfully an open bottle of port seems to keep for ages for the purposes of cooking. I have used a bit at a time over several weeks.
I seem to remember a thread on port cocktails, you could try that but I would suggest keeping a bucket handy...
However it does have to be a pretty catastrophic bottle for me not to push it past the tonsils.
These aren't catastrophic, just far too nyangy to bother with. They're simply not nice.
I wondered merely whether you use them in specific recipes or just a dash here (cornflakes) and there (cheese on toast).
Daniel J.
Husband of a relentless former Soviet Chess Master.
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Re: Cooking with Port
I just remembered... I have a recipe for Port Poached Pears that's pretty fantastic. But that's a dessert.djewesbury wrote:Sounds lovely. But yes, probably an LBV reduction would be overpowering in that one!Glenn E. wrote:I created a recipe for Seared Scallops with Port reduction, but it works better with an acidic tawny Port such as Sandeman's 20-yr old.
Glenn Elliott
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Re: Cooking with Port
Post it.Glenn E. wrote:I just remembered... I have a recipe for Port Poached Pears that's pretty fantastic. But that's a dessert.djewesbury wrote:Sounds lovely. But yes, probably an LBV reduction would be overpowering in that one!Glenn E. wrote:I created a recipe for Seared Scallops with Port reduction, but it works better with an acidic tawny Port such as Sandeman's 20-yr old.
Daniel J.
Husband of a relentless former Soviet Chess Master.
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Husband of a relentless former Soviet Chess Master.
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Re: Cooking with Port
I once created a very interesting Port reduction. The recipe is as follows:
1. Pour 375ml of Croft LBV 2004 into your wife's favourite saucepan that she has owned for around 25 years.
2. Turn on the gas.
3. Fall asleep watching TV.
4. Wake up to the smell of burning and a house full of blue smoke.
5. Try to think of a plausible excuse as to why your wife's favourite saucepan now has a 1cm thick crust of almost pure carbon welded to the base.
6. Give up trying to clean it off and throw it in the bin.
7. Wait a few weeks.
8. When it comes, answer the obvious question honestly.
9. Be prepared for the incident to be mentioned every time you approach the cooker with a bottle of wine.
1. Pour 375ml of Croft LBV 2004 into your wife's favourite saucepan that she has owned for around 25 years.
2. Turn on the gas.
3. Fall asleep watching TV.
4. Wake up to the smell of burning and a house full of blue smoke.
5. Try to think of a plausible excuse as to why your wife's favourite saucepan now has a 1cm thick crust of almost pure carbon welded to the base.
6. Give up trying to clean it off and throw it in the bin.
7. Wait a few weeks.
8. When it comes, answer the obvious question honestly.
9. Be prepared for the incident to be mentioned every time you approach the cooker with a bottle of wine.
"The first duty of Port is to be red"
Ernest H. Cockburn
Ernest H. Cockburn
- djewesbury
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Re: Cooking with Port
At least you posted all the steps, so we can follow your method.DRT wrote:I once created a very interesting Port reduction [!]
Daniel J.
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Re: Cooking with Port
Hmm. It isn't in my Dropbox folder, so it must be in a cookbook at home. I'll have to look for it. Probably in my Dude Food cookbook.djewesbury wrote:Post it.Glenn E. wrote:I just remembered... I have a recipe for Port Poached Pears that's pretty fantastic. But that's a dessert.djewesbury wrote:Sounds lovely. But yes, probably an LBV reduction would be overpowering in that one!Glenn E. wrote:I created a recipe for Seared Scallops with Port reduction, but it works better with an acidic tawny Port such as Sandeman's 20-yr old.
Glenn Elliott
- djewesbury
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Re: Cooking with Port
But of courseGlenn E. wrote:Probably in my Dude Food cookbook.
Daniel J.
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Re: Cooking with Port
No, really.djewesbury wrote:But of courseGlenn E. wrote:Probably in my Dude Food cookbook.
Glenn Elliott
- djewesbury
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Re: Cooking with Port
Oh I take it back! I just presumed that you were the Dude in question.Glenn E. wrote:No, really.djewesbury wrote:But of courseGlenn E. wrote:Probably in my Dude Food cookbook.
Daniel J.
Husband of a relentless former Soviet Chess Master.
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Husband of a relentless former Soviet Chess Master.
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Re: Cooking with Port
Well the cookbook was a gift, so at the time I was the Dude in question.djewesbury wrote:Oh I take it back! I just presumed that you were the Dude in question.Glenn E. wrote:No, really.djewesbury wrote:But of courseGlenn E. wrote:Probably in my Dude Food cookbook.
Lots of good (and easy) recipes in that cookbook. I highly recommend it.
Glenn Elliott
Re: Cooking with Port
[quote="DRT"]I once created a very interesting Port reduction. The recipe is as follows:
I have produced a similar result with different ingredients a couple of times.
Last year I made jelly with Japanese quince and most of a bottle of Croft Purple Velvet, it's delicious.
I have produced a similar result with different ingredients a couple of times.
Last year I made jelly with Japanese quince and most of a bottle of Croft Purple Velvet, it's delicious.
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- Dalva Golden White Colheita 1952
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Re: Cooking with Port
I have a Cruz '89 awaiting the same fate, though I'm hoping not to quite match DRT's result. I haven't researched an optimum Port (or Port and wine) reduction, but if anyone has a favourite to recommend, please do.
- Alex Bridgeman
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Re: Cooking with Port
I take it that the Cruz '89 has already been tried and found wanting?PhilW wrote:I have a Cruz '89 awaiting the same fate, though I'm hoping not to quite match DRT's result. I haven't researched an optimum Port (or Port and wine) reduction, but if anyone has a favourite to recommend, please do.
Top Ports in 2023: Taylor 1896 Colheita, b. 2021. A perfect Port.
2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
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- Dalva Golden White Colheita 1952
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Re: Cooking with Port
Indeed. Two further bottles await a probable cooking fate.AHB wrote:I take it that the Cruz '89 has already been tried and found wanting?PhilW wrote:I have a Cruz '89 awaiting the same fate, though I'm hoping not to quite match DRT's result. I haven't researched an optimum Port (or Port and wine) reduction, but if anyone has a favourite to recommend, please do.
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Re: Cooking with Port
Not quite cooking but here goes.
I have been suffering from a cold which has lingered rather, having had the usual suggestions of toddys and an unusual one of hot ginger cider from an auld fella, I found the following recipe in 'The wine quotation book'.
Garlic Port;
Chop a pound of garlic, put it into a litre measure of old port, and let it macerate for twenty days. Begin with half a liqueur glass every evening before the soup course, then slowly increase the dose to one or two liqueur glasses. This beverage is a sovereign remedy for chronic bronchitis.
Toulouse-Lautrec; L'Art de la cuisine.
I have been suffering from a cold which has lingered rather, having had the usual suggestions of toddys and an unusual one of hot ginger cider from an auld fella, I found the following recipe in 'The wine quotation book'.
Garlic Port;
Chop a pound of garlic, put it into a litre measure of old port, and let it macerate for twenty days. Begin with half a liqueur glass every evening before the soup course, then slowly increase the dose to one or two liqueur glasses. This beverage is a sovereign remedy for chronic bronchitis.
Toulouse-Lautrec; L'Art de la cuisine.
Re: Cooking with Port
Ah, but it also makes you shrink to 4 ft 8 in tall.
"The first duty of Port is to be red"
Ernest H. Cockburn
Ernest H. Cockburn
- djewesbury
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Re: Cooking with Port
Can Owen tell us whether this has worked? And what Old Port he used?
Daniel J.
Husband of a relentless former Soviet Chess Master.
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- Alex Bridgeman
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Re: Cooking with Port
Patience, the 20 day maceration has only just started. How can he possibly tell you if it has worked yet?djewesbury wrote:Can Owen tell us whether this has worked? And what Old Port he used?
Top Ports in 2023: Taylor 1896 Colheita, b. 2021. A perfect Port.
2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
Re: Cooking with Port
The shippers can tell us, thirty years before it should be drunk but only a few minutes after it has gone on sale, that a vintage is the best since 1927.AHB wrote:Patience, the 20 day maceration has only just started. How can he possibly tell you if it has worked yet?
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Re: Cooking with Port
I have to confess I have taken no steps towards making this. I see no reason why I can't give it a go. I am assuming that as the recipe is a French one when they say 'old' port they are not referring to fine vintages, but rather to any old port. I mean no disrespect to the French but they have a reputation for drinking younger, wood ports. And I can't imagine that I will be exploring the finer nuances with a cold and garlic.
I think I might scale back the recipe and begin with a half bottle of something. Having recently made chutney I can say that peeling and chopping large quantities of garlic is deeply boring (I suppose that I need not peel it as it is being strained). I shall just have to hope that the efficacy is not dose related and less than a litre will work.
I have a feeling this will taste terrible.
I think I might scale back the recipe and begin with a half bottle of something. Having recently made chutney I can say that peeling and chopping large quantities of garlic is deeply boring (I suppose that I need not peel it as it is being strained). I shall just have to hope that the efficacy is not dose related and less than a litre will work.
I have a feeling this will taste terrible.
Re: Cooking with Port
Here's my favorite port recipe. Start with two beef filet steaks. Smear generously with olive oil and sear on both sides till the beef is nearly done to medium rare. Leave in a warm oven while you get ready to make the port sauce. Deglaze the pan with a cup of ruby reserve or LBV Port. Reduce by about two thirds. Add 4 ounces of blue cheese and whisk till smooth and syrupy. Add the steaks back into the pan and let them marry with the sauce. Serve with plenty of crusty bread to soak up every last bit of the sauce...