Christina--bought some Yzaguirre Vermouth

[Jenise]

The Reserve, which I found locally yesterday where I thought I'd find it. Turns out the shop owner is a BIG fan of red vermouth and often drinks it straight. He had a number of options. Was easy, talking with him, to choose the Yzaguirre of which he had two bottlings. This was the least sweet of the two and therefore more plausibly in my particular wheelhouse. Next up, I make a Marianato! Or was it Marionato.

I too love a good vermouth straight with a twist of lemon or orange but have not tried that particular one. I totally dislike sweet drinks. The Food and Wine link https://www.foodandwine.com/cocktails-s ... enaissance does mention it as one which is most like Italian vermouths. I happened to stumble on the last two mentioned in that article and was able to taste them in the store because just the weekend before they had hosted a vermouth tasting and happened to have those open. He also had the black vermouth available for purchase but we had already assembled a case of Spanish wines and vermouth. Next trip...
The article also mentions the Marianito but not the specific proportions I used as a starting point. For the Gonzalaz Byass La Copa the recipe of 5-1-1 was perfect to accentuate the vermouth.
For me these are a window into further explorations of Basque, Galician, Andalusian cuisine.

[Jenise]

For me these are a window into further explorations of Basque, Galician, Andalusian cuisine.

From the F&W descriptions, the Gonzales Byass is the one that sounds closest to the MUT I had in Nashville. Tonight or tomorrow, I'll pour the Yzaguirre and an Antica Caparno (Italy) side by side. I hope they're not that similar.

But speaking of cuisine, your mentioning Spanish vermouth last week landed squarely in the middle of me reading, or re-reading, a 2017 issue of F&W which I'd saved wherein Jose Andres takes Eric Ripert and a few others on tour around Spain. In it is a recipe for albondigas (meatballs) that sounds like it will be the most amazing version of albondigas I have ever had and which I plan to build a small dinner party around.

And yesterday, on a Facebook page whose focus is food but I don't recall from what angle, a question popped up about favorite cookbooks. As in what is your. To which I don't have a ready answer--there isn't a single book in my little collection that I would call a favorite, but the book I have made more recipes from than any other? A Spanish cookbook. Can't recall the name but the author is an American who lived in Spain for many years. I love this food.

I have only one book I reference for ideas about Iberian cuisines and that is Anya von Bremzen's The New Spanish Table. It is based on her two decades of travel and writing about Spain and it spans the decades that included the rise of Ferran Adrià and acolytes so it includes the classic and the creative. She covers all regions but it is heavily Catalonian and Basque.
Although I have a sizeable collection of cookbooks I use them mostly as a source of ideas and information about ingredients and culinary culture unless it is something that I have no taste reference or taste memory for. Then I follow the recipe for the first go around.

[Jenise]

Although I have a sizeable collection of cookbooks I use them mostly as a source of ideas and information about ingredients and culinary culture unless it is something that I have no taste reference or taste memory for. Then I follow the recipe for the first go around.

Same here. So in fact it's unusual that I have found so many tempting recipes from Spain worth doing. Offhand I recall pork meatballs and green olives in a sauce containing tomatoes and cinnamon. Packets of cabbage folded around goat cheese then panko-ed and fried. Quail wrapped in grape leaves. Veal scallopines topped with a sherry sauce and smashed artichokes. Potatoes and chorizo. Boiled leek salads. White gazpacho. Garlic soup. So many things.

[Jenise]

So the other night we compared the Yzaguirre to a fancy Italian red vermouth, plain + rocks. The Italian won, for both of us. It was sharper, more herbaceous, where this was sweeter with prominent vanilla and licorice notes.

We tasted several vermuts at the Despana wine shop and several had intense vanilla and cinnamon notes. Don't remember if we tried the Yzaguirre but that said I wouldn't give up on using what you have in a Marianito. Last night we tried the St. Petroni from Galicia [ just learned that it represents the Pernod Ricard's company foray into Spanish vermouth ] in a Marianito with Brooklyn Gin and Carpano bitters [ out of Campari ]. Just a very satisfying, complex cocktail for a non sweet cocktail lover.
Also trying various substitutes for the Campari which is starting to taste too sweet for me.

If you can find Berto sweet vermouth I doubt you would be disappointed. The cardamom in the botanical blend is amazing. It is now my go to for a Manhattan or Boulivardier.

Thank you Robert. I did some tracking and it appears that it is available at Eataly in NYC. I will put it on the list of things to get when there in October.