Top Chef Seattle
Moderators: Glenn E., Roy Hersh, Andy Velebil
- Glenn E.
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Top Chef Seattle
We watched this week's episode of Top Chef tonight, and I noticed that one of the chefs used a Port in her dish. We paused the DVD and I was able to figure out that it was a Kopke tawny with an indication of age, but we couldn't see which one. Probably a 10 or 20, though, as cooking with a 30 or 40 would be a waste.
Glenn Elliott
- Andy Velebil
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Re: Top Chef Seattle
Cooking with any aged tawny is a waste. That's what the basic stuff is forGlenn E. wrote: Probably a 10 or 20, though, as cooking with a 30 or 40 would be a waste.
Andy Velebil Good wine is a good familiar creature if it be well used. William Shakespeare http://www.fortheloveofport.com
Re: Top Chef Seattle
Depends. If you are using Port to feed your Christmas Cake (instead of brandy), the better the port you use, the better the cake! This year I used Vieira de Sousa 10 year tawnyAndy Velebil wrote:Cooking with any aged tawny is a waste. That's what the basic stuff is forGlenn E. wrote: Probably a 10 or 20, though, as cooking with a 30 or 40 would be a waste.
Re: Top Chef Seattle
I would mostly agree on using less expensive wines--However, this Christmas my wife wanted 2-3 tablespoons of port to flavor the gravy/sauce for the beef tenderloin. I had a 2007 Q. do Crasto VP open and she used that. The port just added a nice touch.
Any Port in a storm!
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Re: Top Chef Seattle
1966 Grahams makes a lovely sauce when reduced by 2/3rds
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Re: Top Chef Seattle
I agree that sometimes, you want to use a nice 10 year old or LBV to provide some extra flavor to a special dish/sauce. But in general, you can save the good bottles for something more appropriate to drink. For a reduction though, I see no reason to "waste" top end Port. It really matters on the specific use and no rule in either direction will fit all purposes.
Ambition driven by passion, rather than money, is as strong an elixir as is Port. http://www.fortheloveofport.com
Re: Top Chef Seattle
Or you can use a corked bottle of vintage port. Heating port seems to destroy the chemicals that cause the horrible mushroomy / cardboard taste.
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Re: Top Chef Seattle
Does not get rid of TCA though. Learned that one the hard way finding a way to use a Cockburn 1983; ruined my dinner with TCA flavored gravy....Al B. wrote:Or you can use a corked bottle of vintage port. Heating port seems to destroy the chemicals that cause the horrible mushroomy / cardboard taste.
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Re: Top Chef Seattle
That's odd. I've done this a few times and found that boiling the port and making a reduction completely removes the TCA flavour. Did you boil the Ck83 or just heat it until the cornflour thickened in the gravy?Moses Botbol wrote:Does not get rid of TCA though. Learned that one the hard way finding a way to use a Cockburn 1983; ruined my dinner with TCA flavored gravy....Al B. wrote:Or you can use a corked bottle of vintage port. Heating port seems to destroy the chemicals that cause the horrible mushroomy / cardboard taste.
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Re: Top Chef Seattle
I must've reduced it by 2/3's and it was awful, I actually laughed when tasting it... Makes sense to me, why would it leave if it only gets worse? I have not tried the seranwrap thing yet.Al B. wrote:That's odd. I've done this a few times and found that boiling the port and making a reduction completely removes the TCA flavour. Did you boil the Ck83 or just heat it until the cornflour thickened in the gravy?Moses Botbol wrote:Does not get rid of TCA though. Learned that one the hard way finding a way to use a Cockburn 1983; ruined my dinner with TCA flavored gravy....Al B. wrote:Or you can use a corked bottle of vintage port. Heating port seems to destroy the chemicals that cause the horrible mushroomy / cardboard taste.
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- David Spriggs
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Re: Top Chef Seattle
I have tried the SaranWrap thing and it worked surprisingly well! Left over night in a decanter with a horrible, undrinkably corked wine it was only very slightly corked the next day. I need to try the experiment on a more normal corked wine to see if it salvages it. Some of my 1977 and 1983 Dow's sound like good candidates!