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Cooking with Champagne


Chufi

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I have to come up with a savory recipe using champagne (or other sparkling wines). Any ideas? Is it generally considered a bad idea to cook with champagne? Doesn't the characteristic quality of champagne (the festive fizz) disappear when you cook with it?

For the recipe, I would prefer it wasn't one of those ultra fancy ones (lobster with champagne/caviar sauce, or something like that): I think it would be much more interesting to use the champagne in a simpler and less expensive dish.

All thoughts much appreciated.

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Savoury recipes will show little sign of the champagne to all but the most sophisticated of palates.

But you can make a jelly with it, and done carefully the gel will retain the bubbles. You can also add gold leaf flecks to the jelly and it looks pretty spectacular.

Edited by joesan (log)
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I have, from time to time through the years, had left-over champagne. I've found you can sub it for white wine in pretty-much any recipe.

And it makes a great vinaigrette salad dressing.

I've also seen it used (although I've not done it) in a congealed fruit salad. Like joesan said, the bubbles had been preserved in the gelatin. It was lovely, and quite tasty.

Edited by Jaymes (log)

I don't understand why rappers have to hunch over while they stomp around the stage hollering.  It hurts my back to watch them. On the other hand, I've been thinking that perhaps I should start a rap group here at the Old Folks' Home.  Most of us already walk like that.

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Do you replace all of the water with champagne?

It was served at a very nice luncheon I once attended. I meant to try to replicate the recipe, but never gave it a go, so I'm not sure. Guess I'd probably start with a google or two.

I don't understand why rappers have to hunch over while they stomp around the stage hollering.  It hurts my back to watch them. On the other hand, I've been thinking that perhaps I should start a rap group here at the Old Folks' Home.  Most of us already walk like that.

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Hi Shelby - yes. You soften some leaf gelatine in cold water and add to the champagne. I'm of the opinion that practically nobody could differentiate between champagne and cava or prosecco in this kind of dish so I'd use something like that instead (and drink the champagne!).

But maybe there's a specific reason for someone to want to use champagne.

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Coquille St Jacques?

That's a big classic and it's wonderful. My standard recipe is from Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles. It's a simple sauce with butter, shallots, fish fumet, cream, champagne, lemon and chives.

Oysters and champagne is also a classic pairing - for example, warm oysters in champagne sauce.

I imagine that this type of sauce would be good with fish too.

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Hi Shelby - yes. You soften some leaf gelatine in cold water and add to the champagne. I'm of the opinion that practically nobody could differentiate between champagne and cava or prosecco in this kind of dish so I'd use something like that instead (and drink the champagne!).

But maybe there's a specific reason for someone to want to use champagne.

this sounds like a good idea. I could make a sheet and then cut the jelly into little cubes.

any ideas for a savory salad to serve this with? I´m thinking the flavors would have to be subtle so as not to overpower the champagne flavor. Or maybe go a Thai/Vietnamese flavor route?

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Chufi - You need about 8 sheets of leaf gelatine per 75cl bottle. Soften the gelatine in cold water first and squeeze out the excess water before using. What's good about the gelee idea is that you have the best chance of keeping some of the champagne's taste. It often gets lost in a sauce.

If you want to go savoury you could take your cubed idea and serve with a carpaccio of raw scallops and yuzu or lemon, or perhaps thinly sliced crudo swordfish. Bit of chervil for colour and balance.

Or for salad how about some mache and almonds? Both would complement the champagne.

Edited by joesan (log)
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"I have to come up with a savory recipe using champagne"

Your Post indicates that you need to learn about Champagne versas 'sparkling wine'. You used the lower case for a product that requires the upper case because Champagne is a region in France and only certain wines from that region can carry the appellation 'Champagne'; Korbel not withstanding.

The rest of the world produces sparkling wine of various quality and some of it can be quite good.

I never use Champagne in cooking as it is too dear for that. A good quality American Sparkler such as Domaine Chandon or a Cava will suffice. Otherwise its not really any different than using a dry chardonnay unless one uses some of the very sweet sparklers that i can't stand.-Dick

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"I have to come up with a savory recipe using champagne"

Your Post indicates that you need to learn about Champagne versas 'sparkling wine'. You used the lower case for a product that requires the upper case because Champagne is a region in France and only certain wines from that region can carry the appellation 'Champagne'; Korbel not withstanding.

The rest of the world produces sparkling wine of various quality and some of it can be quite good.

Thank you, despite my horrible mistake of spelling Champagne as champagne I'm well aware of the difference between the Real Thing and sparkling wines.

anyway, back on topic:

the plan is now to make the jelly and I will try to have some pomegranate seeds floating in it, cut this jelly into cubes and serve with a salad of mixed leavs and lightly smoked duck breast. Will report back after the weekend.

Joesan, one more question for you: does the champagne not need to be warm for the gelatine to dissolve in it? I've seen recipes where half the champagne is warmed, gelatine added, then the rest of the champagne is added cold. Would you recommend this, or another method? Sorry about going on and on about it. I need the recipe for the last article in a series I've been writing for a newspaper and it needs to be good. :smile:

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Hi Klary - don't worry it's not a problem. There's nothing worse than a glimpse of a recipe without knowing the whole.

Here's exactly how I'd do it. Bloom 8 gelatine sheets in cold water for 5 minutes. Lift them out and gently squeeze away the excess water. Then add the sheets to about 200ml of very hot champagne. Whisk until fully dissolved. Strain through a sieve. Allow to cool somewhat. Mix in the remaining 500ml champagne (50ml goes to the chef for an aperitivo!) , and your pomegranate seeds and allow to set in the fridge. Cut into cubes.

I love your idea of the jelly with smoked duck breast.

PS If you wish you could experiment with whisking some set aside champagne jelly just as it is nearly set. This would give you a kind of frothy foam. But IMHO the jelly looks best without the foam, especially in the dish you describe.

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Just spotted this thread. I've used Champagnes and other sparkling wines in home cooking for decades (in lucky times, the price range of inexpensive French Champagnes overlaps the price range of good US sparkling wines and since Champagnes last for some years, well stored, I buy them at such times and use them later). Laurent-Perrier, Domain Louis Roederer (DLR), and Lanson are all well-known Chmpagne labels that periodically have offered excellent entry-level wines. Non-Champagne sparkling-wine regions in France (Côtes du Jura, the crèmants of Burgundy) can be even better values; many people outside France do not realize they are closely related wines minus the C-word cachet, therefore prices are disproportionately low. Living in northern California with a wide choice of US alternatives, if not actually using Champagne I generally use the US-made Roederer Estate (RE, separate subsidiary of DLR), an extremely Champagne-like California wine fastidiously made with methods imported from Champagne itself.

Either joesan and I have had different experience, or I hang out with too many cooks, because many people I know not only discern wines in cooking, but if they're avid cooks, they can identify the wines rather specifically. (One chef friend, now in Savannah GA, complains loudly about things like simple French- or Italian-style country stews "ruined" because they tasted like the cheap wine thoughtlessly used in them.)

Dishes I've used sparkling wines for include Champagne Risotto which, I'm told, is popular in northern Italy. Just substitute Champagne for say half the meat broth in a typical risotto recipe: cook Arborio or other thick-grained rice in the broth (either ritualistically like the purists insist, or like regular rice but with generous liquid, if purists aren't watching -- I've never seen them spot the difference in the result!) and when cooked, stir in freshly grated Reggiano Parmesan. Simple, delicious, elegant.

Champagne choucroute (Alsatian cooking) is an outstanding meal-in-a-pot use, I originally learned it 25 years ago from Cronin and Palais' wonderful little book Champagne. You rinse some sauerkraut (the German word equiv. to Fr. choucroute) to remove excess salt, then stew slowly with mixed Champagne and chicken broth, apples, chopped onions, mixed meats (usually I combine pork loin or delicate ham, some sausages, US "hot Italian-style" turkey sausages give a very interesting result; other meats if handy, like fresh poultry) and some of the typical seasonings of such dishes, dried juniper berries, a few whole cloves maybe. Simmer it all gently until the flavors develop, an hour or two. Serve with something starchy, rice, French bread, etc. A real crowd pleaser!

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So are you going to use Champagne, or some other sparkler? I like good Champagne too much to use it in cooking, especially vintage. But I regularly drink relatively cheap but great ($16-20) Cremants de Bourdeaux and Burgundy. The Bourdeaux I usually drink is I think 100% semillon which gives it a nice roundness, and the Burgundy is 90% chard and 10 pinot noir. There is also a nice sparkling Vouvray I like quite a bit. These are nice wines that have good structure and the kind of fruit (expressed, but elegantly restrained) that would be suited to what you're talking about doing. Nice pin point bubbles too.

nunc est bibendum...

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  • 2 weeks later...

sorry to be a bit late in reporting back, but I had to wait until the piece was published in the paper, which was yesterday. The jelly worked really well, and the pomegranate looked very pretty. I posted some pics and the finished column on my own blog here

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