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Best substitute for Marsala wine?

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  • 04-02-2015 10:30am
    #1
    Piglet85
    Registered Users Posts: 353 ✭✭


    Hi all,

    I need to use up a few bits in the fridge today, and was thinking of doing a chicken thigh, mushroom and crème fraiche dish. I know you often see marsala in mushroom recipes, but I haven't got any. Any ideas on what might work well instead? I know white wine will be nice if necessary, but I thought a change would be interesting. I've got a possibilities in store: brandy, vermouth, port and a not-great sherry. Any thoughts?

    Thanks!


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    #2
    duploelabs
    Registered Users Posts: 11,436 ✭✭✭✭duploelabs


    What kind of sherry is it? Dry, medium, or sweet? Alternatively buckfast can be swapped out for marsala believe it or not


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    #3
    MissFlitworth
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,057 ✭✭✭MissFlitworth


    duploelabs wrote: »
    Alternatively buckfast can be swapped out for marsala believe it or not

    This has just made me grin from ear to ear :D


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    #4
    Piglet85
    Registered Users Posts: 353 ✭✭Piglet85


    MissFlitworth wrote: »
    This has just made me grin from ear to ear :D

    Haha, me too! I think I must be getting old, though - I don't have any buckfast in stock :pac:
    duploelabs wrote: »
    What kind of sherry is it? Dry, medium, or sweet?

    It's dry, if that's any good? Oh, and I just spotted some Shaoxing Rice Wine in the press too, so maybe that would be a runner?


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    #5
    duploelabs
    Registered Users Posts: 11,436 ✭✭✭✭duploelabs


    Leave the dry (fino sherry) for a fish or shellfish dish. Bucky is great for cooking, works fantastically for both sweet and savory dishes. I made a buckfast cheesecake for 200 people recently and have a recipe for pig cheeks braised in buckfast which makes the cheek turn out like confit duck


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    #6
    duploelabs
    Registered Users Posts: 11,436 ✭✭✭✭duploelabs


    MissFlitworth wrote: »
    This has just made me grin from ear to ear :D

    Yes, you can now go down the offy and get a bottle in without having to bear the shame


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    #7
    Alun
    Registered Users Posts: 21,467 ✭✭✭✭Alun


    I think either of those would do. Sherry is often suggested as an alternative to Chinese rice wine too. It probably depends on whether it's a recipe where it's just a dash to add a bit of flavour, in which case any of the alternatives would probably be OK, or if it's a major ingredient in which case it might be worth while investing in a bottle of Marsala wine. It'll keep pretty well just like any other fortified wine, including Buckfast (!), so it won't go to waste.


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    #8
    ibarelycare
    Registered Users Posts: 58,456 ✭✭✭✭ibarelycare


    duploelabs wrote: »
    Leave the dry (fino sherry) for a fish or shellfish dish. Bucky is great for cooking, works fantastically for both sweet and savory dishes. I made a buckfast cheesecake for 200 people recently and have a recipe for pig cheeks braised in buckfast which makes the cheek turn out like confit duck

    Could you post the recipe for this please? My friend loves buckfast, would love to make it for him :D


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    #9
    duploelabs
    Registered Users Posts: 11,436 ✭✭✭✭duploelabs


    Alun wrote: »
    I think either of those would do. Sherry is often suggested as an alternative to Chinese rice wine too.

    Not doubting your source, however the range of flavour that sherry has from the fino to px could never be shoehorned in to a single substitue


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    #10
    duploelabs
    Registered Users Posts: 11,436 ✭✭✭✭duploelabs


    ibarelycare wrote: »
    Could you post the recipe for this please? My friend loves buckfast, would love to make it for him :D

    I'll try and scale it down


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    #11
    Bateman
    Registered Users Posts: 4,818 ✭✭✭Bateman


    They do buckie in cans now, I noticed in Belfast the other week :pac:


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    #12
    StripedBoxers
    Registered Users Posts: 5,112 ✭✭✭StripedBoxers


    I'd go with the brandy, I've often made creamy pasta dishes with whiskey/brandy and they always turned out delicious.


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    #13
    duploelabs
    Registered Users Posts: 11,436 ✭✭✭✭duploelabs


    StripedBoxers wrote: »
    I'd go with the brandy, I've often made creamy pasta dishes with whiskey/brandy and they always turned out delicious.

    yeah but you'd run the risk, since it's a much more concentrated flavour, of letting it overpower a dish


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    #14
    the beer revolu
    Registered Users Posts: 17,040 ✭✭✭✭the beer revolu


    Use a blend of white wine and brandy.
    Maybe add a bit of sugar.


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    #15
    The Hill Billy
    Registered Users Posts: 22,777 ✭✭✭✭The Hill Billy


    ibarelycare wrote: »
    Could you post the recipe for this please? My friend loves buckfast, would love to make it for him :D
    Your friend? Yeah, right. :p

    :D


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    #16
    StripedBoxers
    Registered Users Posts: 5,112 ✭✭✭StripedBoxers


    duploelabs wrote: »
    yeah but you'd run the risk, since it's a much more concentrated flavour, of letting it overpower a dish
    I've used anything from 1-4 bar shots of brandy in cooking and have never had it over power a dish.

    Not sure if different brands make a difference? But I always use Hennessy because its what we have in.

    I usually use it in chicken pasta dishes and would cook those from 1-3 hours so maybe that's why it hasn't had a strong taste or overpowered a dish on me. I don't know tbh.

    The only alcohol I've had overpower a dish on me is white wine.


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