Great ‘how to use up old booze’ hunt

ShakeyStacey

I have about a glass of rose left from about 3 weeks ago, trouble is it has been sat on my bedside table rather than in the fridge, it's a screw top, so the lid has been on it. Is it alright to use in cooking? And what could I do with it? I'm not really into making deserts at the moment, as I'm a bit of a starving student :P Any reccomendations for a good cheap meal?

Mr_Warren_2

Perfect to use for cooking !!! As a basic rule, a dish will taste so much better if you add wine (white, rose or red) at the beginning.

For an "Out-of-this-world" tomato sauce i start by frying onions & a crushed garlic clove in a bit olive oil. When this has gone soft, i add a glass of your 3 week old rose (when the girls come back from Uni and they get ready in their bedrooms with their friends before going out, we have ooddles of the stuff left over). Mix well and stir in a jar of (in my case) Sainsbury's own tomato and mushroom sauce. Leave on the lowest possible heat, put a lid on and go watch Corry. It is a small difference in the preparation but the end result is just so much better.

If you have larger amounts of wine left (even if it has started to go off), do a Beef Bourguinion (beef stew in wine).

Fry your onions/garlic/sliced carrots as above, roll pieces of stewing beef in flower and fry, giving them a nice colour all round. Mix it all well then add the contents of your left overs all at once. The mixture will frizzel and that is the time to get all the stuck bits off the bottom using a flat wooden spoon. Set on low heat, adjust seasoning and go watch Corry. Again, the longer it cooks the better it is (2hr on slow heat is ideal). 30mn before serving add peeled potatoes to the pan.
I defy anyone to tell me the wine was off when they eat that dish.

Anyone for lunch?

Mr_Warren_2

Oh and i also use "old" wine to serve to people who want to drink it with limonade. Why on earth would i serve good quality El Plonco for them to kill it with a mixer. I add ice cubes to the mix and sometime (if i feel posh) a squeeze of lime. I can't remember them ever complaining about it.

harryhound

walrusoflove wrote: »

It can depend how it's been stored. If the bottles have proper cork stoppers (not plastic or screwtop) and have been stored upright, chances are that the corks will have dried out and allowed air into the wine, which may make it oxidised and undrinkable. This is why wine cellars store their bottles lying on their sides.

I have a feeling that all the opinion that cork is best for storing wine, certainly for keeping plonk for a couple of years, is 99% hogwash. It is keeping the air out that makes all the difference (or sucking it out with a vacuum pump).
The advantage of corks is that a new cork can be boiled to sterilise and soften it, and then be rammed into a topped up bottle of wine. Stored on its side is should be air and liquid proof, especially if fitted with a plastic capsule. Very professional looking.

We have been keeping spirits in bottles with plastic washers for years.
"Chevas Regal" was fitted with a plastic non return valve in the 1960's (to prevent bar staff refilling the bottles with inferior spirits) I am sure that if the plastic had tainted the contents there would have been complaints.

walrusoflove wrote: »

chances are that the corks will have dried out and allowed air into the wine, which may make it oxidised and undrinkable. This is why wine cellars store their bottles lying on their sides.

Might still be OK for use as vinegar though.
When my gran died, in one of those houses with steps up from the street to the front door, we found several bottles stored in the cupboard under the steps, at least since her husband had died 25 years earlier. Some were pretty good, some were empty because the wood worm had burrowed into the corks and the wine in bottles in the rack had dribbled away.

Katie-Kat-Kins

I simply don't understand why anyone would chuck wine, unless it was really horrible - corked or something.

Unopened it will normally be ok for a couple of years, more if good quality.

Once opened, if you don't drink it all in one sitting, screw the top in, or shove the cork back in or use a stopper. White re-capped and in the fridge will be fine for at least a week, more than that if you just use it for cooking. Red for a few days if you cap it.

One bottle is four glasses, add a glass to whatever you cook for four days and you've used a whole bottle.

Alternatively you could drink it, give it to a friend or neighbour or freeze it.

Even if you don't like it on its own, try making a spritzer by adding soda or lemonade to either red or white wine (you don't often see red wine spritzer over here but it is quite common in spain) or you could make sangria with leftover red.

Any tomato sauce or gravy will benefit from a splash of either red or white wine, cream sauces can have white added to.

If you find the quantities in a bottle awkward - too much to drink in one night but not quite enough for two nights then consider a box, these keep fresh for much longer and are easily stored. You can now buy smaller two litre boxes from some shops. They are often cheaper than a bottle and there is less packaging than the equivalent volume of wine in bottles so it is better for the environment.

I really think chucking wine is total thoughtless waste. It is easily used within the time before it goes off. Anyone chucking it away has more money than sense!

Katie-Kat-Kins

ShakeyStacey wrote: »

I have about a glass of rose left from about 3 weeks ago, trouble is it has been sat on my bedside table rather than in the fridge, it's a screw top, so the lid has been on it. Is it alright to use in cooking? And what could I do with it? I'm not really into making deserts at the moment, as I'm a bit of a starving student :P Any reccomendations for a good cheap meal?

With a screw top it might be ok to drink, taste it and see. As a starving student I didn't waste any alcohol by cooking with it! It will certainly be fine for cooking with though!

Sublime_2

There isn't usually any left in our house!

When we do have wine, I nearly always use at least a glassful for cooking. Nothing better than cooking poultry, pasta sauce, stews, etc and adding a glass. I don't use meat stock cubes (only vegetable), so for some of my meals ie: spag bol, a glass of red is a necessity to give a good flavour.

MeNikki

I often make a Sangria-type drink with leftover spirits and dubious quality red wine.
Sangria is ideal for getting rid of that not-quite-one-glass left in the bottle after a party, and I will just mix in whatever spirits I have in cupboard at the moment, some fruit juice, lemonade, tin of cocktail fruits, ice cubes and it's ready to be served.
You could also make a Sangria Blanca by using leftover white wine, and I don't see why you should not use Rose.
Sangria de Cava is quite a common mixture too.

So there you go... Sangria is my solution to leftover booze :beer:
But as Christmas is nearing why not consider making a mulled wine?

Or if Sangria and mulled wine are not your thing; try making Kalimotxo (half red wine, half coca cola)

ShakeyStacey

Mr_Warren wrote: »

If you have larger amounts of wine left (even if it has started to go off), do a Beef Bourguinion (beef stew in wine).

Fry your onions/garlic/sliced carrots as above, roll pieces of stewing beef in flower and fry, giving them a nice colour all round. Mix it all well then add the contents of your left overs all at once. The mixture will frizzel and that is the time to get all the stuck bits off the bottom using a flat wooden spoon. Set on low heat, adjust seasoning and go watch Corry. Again, the longer it cooks the better it is (2hr on slow heat is ideal). 30mn before serving add peeled potatoes to the pan.
I defy anyone to tell me the wine was off when they eat that dish.

Anyone for lunch?

This sounds amazing. I'm just ordering from Asda so I'll stick some stewing beef on my order. I'll probably make it over the weekend so I'll let you know after how it went

jumblejack

Baileys tip...


Fold into softened icecream, even the cheapest value stuff. Tastes just like baileys haagan daas!!!!!