What can I sub for port?

[CaliPoutine]

Today I got my first Personal chef client(whooooo Hooooo). For one of her dishes she picked out

Pan seared pork tenderloin with dried cherry port sauce, onions and marmalade. Sooooo, I did a search at LCBO.ca( liqour control board of Ontario) for a nice inexpensive port. Unfortunatly, everthing that is reasonably priced is sold out.

I dont want to spend 30 bucks( or even 20) on a bottle I might never use again.

What is a good substition for port?

Thanks for your help

[Sackville]

Today I got my first Personal chef client(whooooo Hooooo).  For one of her dishes she picked out 

Pan seared pork tenderloin with dried cherry port sauce, onions and marmalade.  Sooooo, I did a search at LCBO.ca( liqour control board of Ontario) for a nice inexpensive port.  Unfortunatly, everthing that is reasonably priced is sold out. 

I dont want to spend 30 bucks( or even 20) on a bottle I might never use again.

What is a good substition for port?

Thanks for your help

←

This is a guess on my part, but would a full-bodied red wine do the trick? In a recipe I'm sure it would do just fine.

[jackal10]

Any other fortified wine, such as a sweetish sherry, or even Mirin.

You could always enjoy the rest of the bottle of port yourself, maybe with some blue cheese...

[afn33282]

Heck, go to your good local independant wine shop and buy a bottle of Dow's ruby port for $10. If they don't have Dow's, you might find a decent Australian/Californian offering. I am sure you will use it again. I don't think tawny port is usually recommended for basic pan sauces, but I am not sure. As far as shelf-life, I am not sure. Maybe you could freeze it in ice-cube trays, a la chicken stock?

Edited July 6, 2005 by afn33282 (log)

[Jason Perlow]

Madiera or Sherry. Or a full bodied red wine, like a Cab or a Bordeaux or a Pinot, or even something like a Sangiovese.

Heck, go to your good local independant wine shop and buy a bottle of Dow's ruby port for $10.

In Ontario, Canada, all liquor sales are controlled by the state at LCBO stores. There's no such thing as an independent liquor store.

[fifithewinecat]

CaliPoutine--I really don't feel there is any substitute for port in a dish like this. If you are going to be doing a lot of chefing in the future, you will use the port. As this is your first client, I would pull out the stops and not try to substitute, and maybe come up with a pale imitation of what the sauce should be. Result could be "oh, well, that tasted just like I have at the cut rate restaurants!"

If you have time, and friends in the USA, have somebody bring you a good port for cooking, like 6 Grapes, or Taylor Fladgate Reserve. It holds for quite a long time.

Blow their socks off, and don't worry about substitutions!!!

[Manolo]

Hi CaliPoutine,

If you use the Advanced Search Tool on the vintages.com website you can be more specific with your search. You can specifiy cost, type, size etc. I found a few ports in London are LCBO/Vintages that are under $20 that would be more than suitable for your dish:

ALLESVERLOREN PORT 1998, Product # 650366, $ 17.95 (750ml)

71 YORK STREET - YORK & RIDOUT shows 19 bottles in stock

GRAHAM'S SIX GRAPES PORT, Product # 208405, $ 18.95 (750ml)

109 FANSHAWE PARK ROAD - RICHMOND & FANSHAWE PK has 45 bottles

FONSECA BIN 27 FINE RESERVE PORT, Product # 156877, $ 16.95 (750ml)

71 YORK STREET - YORK & RIDOUT shows 19 bottles

109 FANSHAWE PARK ROAD - RICHMOND & FANSHAWE PK shows 17 bottles

I would go with the either the Graham's or the Fonseca as first choices.

Hope this helps.

Edited July 7, 2005 by Manolo (log)

[bleachboy]

Calvados.

[CaliPoutine]

Hi CaliPoutine,

If you use the Advanced Search Tool on the vintages.com website you can be more specific with your search. You can specifiy cost, type, size etc. I found a few ports in London are LCBO/Vintages that are under $20 that would be more than suitable for your dish:

ALLESVERLOREN PORT 1998, Product # 650366, $ 17.95 (750ml)

71 YORK STREET - YORK & RIDOUT shows 19 bottles in stock

GRAHAM'S SIX GRAPES PORT, Product # 208405, $ 18.95 (750ml)

109 FANSHAWE PARK ROAD - RICHMOND & FANSHAWE PK has 45 bottles

FONSECA BIN 27 FINE RESERVE PORT, Product # 156877, $ 16.95 (750ml)

71 YORK STREET - YORK & RIDOUT shows 19 bottles

109 FANSHAWE PARK ROAD - RICHMOND & FANSHAWE PK shows 17 bottles

I would go with the either the Graham's or the Fonseca as first choices.

Hope this helps.

←

Thanks for the help. Unfortunately, I have to cook this food tomorrow in my podunk town of Exeter. We have one LCBO here and they carry hardly anything. Maybe Im doing something wrong on the LCBO website, because I looked at a few ports and all of them werent in stock. I'll try an advanced search and if I cant find anything.

I have a amontillado medium dry sherry in my cabinet.

I think we have some sangiovese too.

We're going to the Heartland Gathering next week so we can bring some port back for next time.

Thanks for the help

Oh and I'm not allowed to drink any alcohol at all. Im diabetic.

[sizzleteeth]

A decent balsamic vinegar with at least 6 years on it... even better reduced slowly over medium heat with some brown sugar until it thickens slightly - or reduced with the cherries - or both.

[afn33282]

I have a amontillado medium dry sherry in my cabinet. 

I think we have some sangiovese too.

←

Hey, good luck with all that. I don't know much, but my vague impression is that ports, while coming in several types, are usually either pretty grapey, or pretty nutty/caramel-ly from longer wood aging. I am not very good at matching up flavors in a dish, but it seems that your recipe would call for something on the grapey side. The amontillado would be closer to the nutty-ish profile. I would use the sangiovese, reduce the heck out of it--port is a bit thicker than table wine, and maybe add some sugar--port is kind of sweet, in my rediculously limited experience. Also, you can all laugh at me for this, but maybe a teaspoon of top-notch grape jam to boost the fruitiness? None of the Sangioveses I've tried were very fruity. But I am no cook, so try to imagine adding a nutty vs. fruity element to the other ingredients, and trust your instincts. By the way, the only Amontillado I've ever tried (actually not a Sherry, but the Alvear Montilla-Moriles Amontillado), was very dry. You'd definately want to compensate with some sugar, etc.

Also, bleachboy, I have always wanted to try Calvados, and I am sure it wonderful, but I wouldn't imagine that its apple profile would be a perfect substitution for port in every case. For this recipe it might work, but the apple on top of the cherry and the marmalade, which I am assuming is orange marmalade, doesn't sound right to me. And somebody told me the other day that most eaux de vie (fruit brandies) are dry, but I am not sure about Calvados. But, bleachboy, you probably know a lot more about it than I do. It might work brilliantly--as I said, I have a lot to learn about combining flavors

Last note. This site says "Use any sweet red wine as a substitute in your recipe." Not very helpful as far as specifics, in my opinion, but you get the idea. There is also another link here, on alcohol substitutions, including one for port, but the darn thing was taking so long to pull up I gave up before I could see the page. The Google sketch said something about concord grape juice plus lime zest and cranberry juice --maybe there was more, but the snippet cut off there. Hope it works out.

***later***

Ach, bleachboy, you might have been right. Check this out:

"If the recipe calls for 1/4 cup or more port wine, sweet sherry, rum, brandy, or fruit-flavored liqueur, substitute equal measure of unsweetened orange juice or apple juice plus 1 tsp. corresponding flavored extract or vanilla extract."

I don't know, though; after reading some of the site's suggestions, I am dubious in general. As a last resort, you might slog through the Google results for substitute port wine -birthmark here. By the way, the balsamic vinegar idea is sounding better and better as I think about it.

Chris, loves food, no cook.

[CaliPoutine]

FONSECA BIN 27 FINE RESERVE PORT, Product # 156877, $ 16.95 (750ml)

71 YORK STREET - YORK & RIDOUT shows 19 bottles

109 FANSHAWE PARK ROAD - RICHMOND & FANSHAWE PK shows 17 bottles

I would go with the either the Graham's or the Fonseca as first choices.

Hope this helps.

←

Thanks,

My friend is coming over tomorrow night to do some cooking and she's stopping at the LCBO in London beforehand and bringing me the Fonseca.

[DTBarton]

I think Marsala would work OK.

[annanstee]

I second the Marsala.