For The Love Of Port

There is a recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child, et al., named Poulet au Porto. This is a roast chicken, flamed with cognac, then served with a sauce comprised of mushrooms, a quantity of heavy cream, some shallots, some fresh squeezed lemon juice, and "a semi-dry port." My question is what style of port is likely to be the best in such a dish -- a ruby port or a tawny port? I understand the french tend to consume a lot of tawny port, which makes me suspect tawny might be the appropriate style. One solution is to cook the dish on separate occasions trying both general styles of port and make up one's own mind from direct experience. It is recommended that the Poulet au Porto be served with a fine white burgundy such as a Meursault or a Montrachet or with a fine white Graves.

Also, my inclination would be to ignore the "semi-dry" modification. In my limited experience drinking port I would say that I have yet to stumble across anything I would refer to as "semi-dry." Semi-dry with respect to what, baclava?

What you have to remember when you're going through the recipes in MtAoFC is that they are adaptations of French recipes from the 60s.

Then, as now, the French used basic rubies and tawnies in their cooking. Julia is usually very specific, but in this case she seems to have been a bit vague - perhaps because the French of the time didn't really consider Port to be anything other than a cooking ingredient. Her vagueness probably means that you can use either without compromising the dish.

I haven't made that specific recipe, but I've seen it in the cookbook and it's on my list to try. My guess is that you should use a basic ruby or ruby reserve, a la Coq au Vin. Part of my rationale for that guess is also that there is lemon juice in the sauce, which to me wouldn't be as necessary if one were to use a tawny port. (I find that tawny Ports usually show a little more acidity than ruby Ports.) I suspect that the "semi-dry" label just means relative to other Ports - we often refer to Dow's Ports as being dryer than, say, Graham's Ports, so that's probably what she means.

I can't wait to hear how it turns out - please come back and let us know!

I think the fact that this is a chicken dish and the requirement is for a "semi-dry port" suggest to me it would be a white port rather than a ruby or tawny.

Derek T. wrote:I think the fact that this is a chicken dish and the requirement is for a "semi-dry port" suggest to me it would be a white port rather than a ruby or tawny.

Derek:

Thanks for your reply. I may need to try cooking the dish three different ways! Of course, the recommended wine is a white wine, which may also lend weight to your white port suggestion.

Derek T. wrote:I think the fact that this is a chicken dish and the requirement is for a "semi-dry port" suggest to me it would be a white port rather than a ruby or tawny.

A dry white Port would probably be really tasty, but I thought he was looking for authenticity. Was white Port really popular enough in the late 50s and early 60s to be included in a recipe book that was intended to teach classic French cuisine to American housewives?

Besides, the French are perfectly happy to cook chicken in red wine, that's what Coq au Vin is after all.

I did some searching via Google, and while there are many hits for this recipe they're almost all simply a re-printing of it straight from Julia's cookbook. No one mentions what kind of Port they used, except for one person who claimed to have used Manischewitz Concord Grape wine instead. (It's certainly sweet enough.)

In the end... it's only 1/3 cup. You probably can't go wrong!

Glenn E. wrote: I can't wait to hear how it turns out - please come back and let us know!

Prepareing this dish is not on the short term list -- over the coming month -- but further out. When I prepare it I will report. I had flagged it for cooking, along with several other items in MtAoFC which I have not yet cooked, long ago but had it brought back to mind by watching the movie "Julie and Julia" last night.

In the mean time, here is a description of a Port Game sauce which I like well on grilled lamb chops.

16 ounces beef stock
4 ounces ruby port (arguably where my interest in port originated, drinking ruby port bought for making this sauce)
1 tablespoon red currant jelly
coarse ground black pepper
2 tablespoons of butter and 2 tablespoons of flour

Boil the beef stock down with about 1/2 teaspoon of coarsely ground black pepper in a broad skillet to about half the original volume or less (I confess, I use canned beef broth; purists may prefer to prepare their own beef stock from scratch). Concurrently boil down the port in a sauce pan until it approaches a syrrup-like consistency -- don't burn! Decant the reduced beef broth from the skillet into the sauce pan, leaving the coarsely ground pepper behind in the skillet. Add the red currant jelly to the sauce pan. Simmer gently, mixing to incorporate the red currant jelly. Make a roux with the butter and flour: melt the butter, blend in the flour, cook for about five minutes without burning or browning. Add enough of the roux to the sauce to attain the desired thickness. Just before serving, add salt to your taste. This is a pretty good sauce sauce for lamb chops or roast leg of lamb. This sauce is not my innovation, but I don't remember where I cribbed it from.

Glenn E. wrote:

Derek T. wrote:I think the fact that this is a chicken dish and the requirement is for a "semi-dry port" suggest to me it would be a white port rather than a ruby or tawny.

A dry white Port would probably be really tasty, but I thought he was looking for authenticity. Was white Port really popular enough in the late 50s and early 60s to be included in a recipe book that was intended to teach classic French cuisine to American housewives?

Yes, White Ports were around as I've run across many old bottles on display over the years. Matter of fact one US retailer is currently selling a Cockburn's #3 White Port, which was last made/labeled as such in the mid-late 1950's. Oh, and it's a basic dry white Port so in case your thinking about buying it, it probably isn't any good anymore.

What next, a commentary on the new movie: Julie & Julia?

I agree with Derek that this recipe was possibly designed with a White Port in mind (and in hand).