Subj : Al K. Haul [1] To : Dave Drum From : Ruth Haffly Date : Sun Dec 31 2023 17:15:25 Hi Dave, DD> I've told people for many years the the alcohol "cooks out" od wine DD> or or hooch used in cooking. Turns out that's not entirely true. Some DD> residual alcohol may remain evewn after long cooking according to A DD> Washington Post article that showed up in my newss feed. Talk about DD> an "eye opener" http://tinyurl.com/86-D-BOOZE RH> I read that too, years ago, and that was part of the reason I didn't RH> cook with it. Now I'll cook with it, but in very small amounts. I might RH> do a splash or 2 of red in beef stew, didn't last time I made stew and RH> did notice a difference. DD> It does add flavour. As beer adds flavour to things .... mostly from DD> the hops. In batter for deep frying it's one thing but in chilli (I DD> see a DD> lot of recipes that call for beer in the chilli) it's an undesirable DD> (to me) bitter undertone brought on by the hops in the brew. The bitterness of the hops is the why we don't like it and wouldn't use it for cooking. I've seen a lot of recipies that look good until I start reading the ingredients listing. When I see beer, ale or stout listed, I'll think "well, it looked good until I saw.....". DD> I buy small piccolo/split bottles that hold 187 mL or about 6 DD> tabvlespoons. IOW enough to flavour the dish without the rest of the DD> jug turning to vinegar while waiting to be used. Bv)= Besides, DD> they're cost effective. RH> We've been buying the little cardboard boxes that hold maybe half a RH> litre, usually one red, one white. So far none have turned on us; we RH> put open ones in the fridge and use it from time to time. DD> I usually don't have room in the ice box for stuff that should be in DD> there. Or the freezer. Mostly because Dennis is a pack-rat. I'm not DD> scheduled to work next Tuesday so there's going to be a big clear-out DD> to the bare shelves - which will get washed and spiffed up. All DD> science experiments and "what is this?" item will be binned, etc. Sounds like a good idea. We've probably got some stuff in our fridge that should find a new home in the trash can. DD> My friend, Lee Bertagnolli, makes wine as a hobby. And wins DD> RH> competitions with his product. Every year at the December meeting of DD> our computer bunch he presents all in attendance with a 750 mL RH> bottle DD> of one of his wines. DD> Mine gets re-gifted - usually to my chilli cooking friend Les if it's DD> a red wine. Or to his wife, Sara, if a white. They are Jewissh but do DD> not care for Kosher wines like Mogen David or Maneschewitz because of DD> their sweetness. RH> Understandable; we tried the Kosher wines at one time but gave up on RH> them quickly--much too sweet for us. Steve's older brother and his wife RH> are into wine making but haven't offered us any of their output yet. RH> It's probably very small, for their consumption only. DD> I grew up in small(ish) towns with substantial immigrant and first DD> generation populations - many Italian families many of whom had big DD> grape arbors and made wine for family consumption. Oddly the families DD> of French heritage didn't follow that practice. Town I grew up in was well settled by (mostly) Scotch-Irish long before my parents moved there. Farming was mostly dairy but from what I've read, there was a time when cauliflower was a big cash crop in the area. DD> If I'm using hard liquor as a flavourant I always buy it in RH> Railroad DD> Bottles (50 mL) RH> Never heard that term before but I guess it pre dates airplane RH> bottles. (G) DD> I was told by a friend (and fellow chilli cook) who had been a cook on DD> transcontinental trains that the small bottles served two (or more) DD> purposes. Inventory was easier - and it made it harder for an DD> unscrupulous attendant/bartender to deplete the stock by nipping at DD> the bottle. And since the bottles contained about a "jigger/shot" of DD> booze, measurement was simple. Sounds like a win-win all the way around (except for the unscrupulous folks). We had our first meal on a train this past spring on our trip to Denali from Whittier, Alaska. We were seated so that we could see a bit of the kitchen as waiters came in/went out; from what we could see, it was very tight working space. The menu we were offered was very limited, looked like very minimal cooking was actually done on the train except maybe the salmon chowder. The rest of the hot offerings were probably just microwaved. --- Catch you later, Ruth rchaffly{at}earthlink{dot}net FIDO 1:396/45.28 .... If you think you are confused now, wait until I explain it! --- PPoint 3.01 * Origin: Sew! That's My Point (1:396/45.28) .