Do you use vermouth in your cooking?

[Jenise]

Last week, the use of vermouth in cooking came up with friends who cook. I don't recall exactly how it came up, but I believe our friend Annabelle, who doesn't own vermouth, wondered aloud to Ines and I if it was something she should have in her pantry. Julia Child recipes were cited as heightening the mystery because they often call for "white wine or vermouth", implying a large degree of similarity and interchangeability.

I'm reminded of that now because I just put a pot of orca beans on the stove to cook. This is not a rustic bean soup with ham bones and big chunks of things, but a more sophisticated and nuanced bean soup, if indeed any food that can produce that much gas can be called sophisticated, that just wouldn't be the same with white wine in place of the sharper verve provided by white vermouth toward the end of cooking. And I realized, in gathering my mis en place just now, that I'm out of it. F word.

Since my kitchen's about to be torn down I am not inclined to add to my pantry--indeed, the whole point of cooking the beans was to take another step forward in reducing the pantry. I will end up at net zero if I run out for a bottle of vermouth in the next hour, which I am nonetheless heavily inclined to do even though the closest source of vermouth is over the border in Canada. The soup just won't be the same without it.

Anyway, back to vermouth, Ines and I both agreed that white vermouth and white wine are not interchangeable, and that Julia must have been suggesting that back in a day when American households were more likely to have vermouth lying around than white wine, strange as that seems now.

So it also came up, just when do we prefer vermouth? In my case, honestly, if there's anything in my repertoire besides this bean soup and seafood sauces (shrimp sauteed in butter, garlic, thyme and vermouth, for instance) in which I reflexively reach for it, I can't remember it now.

So a question to you cooks: if you keep vermouth around for cooking, in what dishes do you use it?

Yes - white I hasten to add. Used to order it by the case for restaurant kitchens.

Works great as a deglazer- with a little lemon - in nearly all seafood sautes.

Jenise,

I very frequently use vermouth in recipes that call for white wine or sherry. I've found that the additional botanicals and whatever other goodies they put in vermouth add an extra dimension of flavor to the dish that just makes it so much better. The vermouth doesn't add any additional flavors that I wouldn't want in whatever dish I'm cooking, so I've always been pleased with the result. I've been doing this for over 35 years and I've found that the flavors I like best are in Noilly Pratt white. For some reason the Italian vermouths just don't seem to work for me.

I've used it as a substitute for white wine a few times, but a couple recipes I've made call for it, most recently: Lobster Bisque.

We use it whenever small amounts of white wine are called for.

We've used vermouth in a lot of different recs over the years, E.G. pork loin, veal stew and chops, pasta recs, shrimp and scallop dishes and once in duck. IMO it's worth having a bottle on hand.

Gene knows that if he lets me run out of dry Vermouth (he is in charge of the liquor/wine cabinet) that he is in trouble. I've been cooking with dry Vermouth for 47 years! I use it in Risotto, seafood soups of all kinds, and anything that calls for white wine. My mother taught me this and a few years ago, I heard a chef that I admire say that Vermouth is very appropriate to use for any dish that calls for white wine. In fact, if I have a rice or seafood dish that is a bit off, I add Vermouth. It deglazes pans perfectly, as well

I have a family Risotto dish that calls for Haute Sauterne. When I could no longer easily locate this, mom told me to use Vermouth. II do not drink it and really do not know what it's purpose is, except in a martini.

...I do not drink it and really do not know what it's purpose is, except in a martini.

That's good enough for me.

I am almost embarassed to admit that I have never had vermouth in my kitchen, and have never had it in any form except on the one or two occasions when I actually ordered a martini.

Like most of you, in a white sauce involving seafood. Otherwise, dry martini!

We always have vermouth on hand, but it's the sweet kind that is used for those Brandy Manhattans that Wisconsin people can not live without.

I think we have some white vermouth around but I've never used it for cooking. I'll have to give it a try.

If the amount of white wine in the recipe is 1/2 cup or less, or for deglazing, then white vermouth is fine.

Interesting...since I've just now been slamming together a teaching seminar on use of Bitters/Amari/Vermouth/Bitter Liqueurs for a Vancouver BS gig I'm doing.

Vermouth is fine stuff for cooking-----as long as you understand that the derivation of vermouth is vermut (and other forms), which means wormwood, because that was originally one of the aromatic botanicals used to make the stuff. I wouldn't say white wine and vermouth are similar, or interchangeable, since vermouth is by definition a wine-based concoction of any number and mixture of aromatics steeped in it.

Some are noticeably sweeter than others; some are noticeably drier; some are noticeably more bitter...way more bitter. Likewise, you can use Italian amari (wine or spirit based) to achieve the same---and in many cases considerably more pronounced---effects.

Of course, you can achieve the same effect with bitters. You probably have, or have used, Angostura bitters before, Jenise. And there's Peychaud's, of course. But one you might want to check out is from New York, Fee Brothers Bitters. There are seven now: original/old fashion, orange, lemon, grapefruit, mint, peach, and a limited release Whiskey Barrel Bitters. And.they.are.intense! A drop or two.

The Fee, by the way, is occasionally available in Vancouver, when you're perambulating around up there.

Speaking of Vancouver perambulations, are you around during the early part of Thanksgiving Week? I'm doing a couple of days of spirits training for the trade Hospitality Show at the Convention Center, so will be there from Nov 22--25, should you have any desire to come up.

Have been using a couple of the Fee Brother's bitters for a while now. The peach bitters is excellent in Sidecars while the grapefruit one adds a wonderful nuance to a gin-and-tonic.

As Hoke says, a few drops go a long way. Haven't tried them yet in cooking, but this thread gets the wheels turning.

We use a little (dry) vermouth in a lot of things, and for a lot of things. Great for deglazing. Points up many soups and salads nicely. Adds into our house version of Pimms cup. Quady's Extra Dry Vye in a perfect martini.

My favorite original use for summer: a soak for vanilla beans, then add extract to fresh meyer lemonade. Yeeeeh-haaaaaa. Ahem, sorry about that, sorta lost control for a second. Good lemonade will do that.

Nope, I use a dry sherry instead - I prefer the taste to what Vermouth gives. I'll grant you that there are a few uses that call specifically for Vermouth, but not enugh nor often enough used for me to have yet another dusty bottle sitting in the back of my cupboard.

[Jenise]

Nope, I use a dry sherry instead - I prefer the taste to what Vermouth gives. I'll grant you that there are a few uses that call specifically for Vermouth, but not enugh nor often enough used for me to have yet another dusty bottle sitting in the back of my cupboard.

Sherry would be a reasonable substitute. It's what I was considering the use of, possibly cut with a bit of white wine, for a substitute yesterday before I remembered that my buddies Anne and Ron drink a lot of martinis. Sure enough, they had white extra dry Noilly Pratt--just what I needed.

Btw, overnight I remembered the one other time I absolutely want vermouth and nothing else will do, and it's to marinate a rack of lamb. A 50/50 blend of dry white vermouth and soy sauce along with a few fat pinches of dried oregano make a deliciously complex marinade (to be added to the pan at the end of cooking to deglaze and create an intense little drizzling sauce) that's perfectly suited to lamb's strong personality.

[Jenise]

I've been doing this for over 35 years and I've found that the flavors I like best are in Noilly Pratt white. For some reason the Italian vermouths just don't seem to work for me.

I once read an article about vermouths that also recommended the Noilly Pratt over, say, Cinzano, for reasons I can't recall in any detail except that whatever they were convinced me that I would hands down prefer the NP too. Haven't tasted them side by side myself though.

Btw, a question to you or anyone, is dry white vermouth ever consumed on its own as a beverage, or is it strictly a blending ingredient?

a question to you or anyone, is dry white vermouth ever consumed on its own as a beverage, or is it strictly a blending ingredient?

Haven't had it straight, but have had a lot of table wine made from the Picpoul grape, the French White Vermouth grape before fortification.

Jenise,

I use dry vermouth once in a while for cooking...usually for seafood soups or sauces. I prefer vermouth in my beurre blanc over white white. I prefer sherry in my shrimp chowder and armanac in my lobster bisque. I wouldn't necessarily use vermouth as a sub for white wine, especially when a large amount of is needed (1/2 cup or more)...like in beef stroganoff. And I certainly use sherry much more. Besides sauces, I do like to poach my salmon using vermouth instead of white wine and also a splash in French Onion soup.

We drink a lot of dry martinis here, so I always have NP vermouth in my pantry. I was a bartender for many yrs and never remember using vermouth in anything but martinis.

One advantage of the Sherry is that (if you must) you can use it in a Martini in place of Vermouth - ever tried it?

The other advantage is that you get to haul it out more than a couple of times a decade - warm those nuts, chill that Fino - hey, it must be (every) Friday night....

I try to avoid ingredients that I will probably let go stale in the cupboard because I never use them. You can end up with a collection of rare but rancid oddball oils, weird spices or spice mixtures that have had all flavour fade from them in the long distant past......I'm sure people can come up with additions to that list from their own experience.

Never ran into anybody who drank dry vermouth on its own, but did know a couple of people who loved sweet vermouth on the rocks. I tried a sip and it didn't appeal to me, but then again I really don't get why there are so many people who drink jaegermeister which I also tried once and never again.!

[Jenise]

I was a bartender for many yrs and never remember using vermouth in anything but martinis.

You, the WLDG madonna, once a bartender?

[Jenise]

One advantage of the Sherry is that (if you must) you can use it in a Martini in place of Vermouth - ever tried it?

The other advantage is that you get to haul it out more than a couple of times a decade - warm those nuts, chill that Fino - hey, it must be (every) Friday night....

I try to avoid ingredients that I will probably let go stale in the cupboard because I never use them. You can end up with a collection of rare but rancid oddball oils, weird spices or spice mixtures that have had all flavour fade from them in the long distant past......I'm sure people can come up with additions to that list from their own experience.

Nope, not me, I don't do martinis--just don't care for any of the white alcohols.

You're wise to avoid over-stuffing your pantry. I try to do likewise, but it's unavoidable that some things go rancid before they're used--I'm just resigned to replacing certain things periodically.