In news:rec.food.cooking, "J. Clarke" > posted on
Sun, 21 Mar 2010 10:52:38 -0400 the following:

> On 3/21/2010 9:20 AM, Damaeus wrote:
>
> > Everything that had an acquired taste when I was growing up was something
> > that tasted like shit: black coffee, beer, cabbage rolls, and wine.
> > Basically drink it until you can keep a straight face so you can pretend
> > you like what used to nearly induce vomiting.
>
> What wines have you tried (and don't say "all of them"). If they all
> taste like shit to you then you haven't been exposed to the right wines.

I couldn't list them all. I've tried too many.

> Look for "Sauternes" (make sure it's French--there is some really bad
> crap produced under that name in other countries), "Beerenauslese",
> "Eiswine", "Ice Wine", or "Tokaji Aszu", "Cream Sherry", or "Port" (but
> make sure it's from Portugal--same deal as Sauternes). You may get a
> real surprise. Or it may all taste like shit to you.
>
> I used to think the same thing you do. A glass of Sauternes was a real
> eye opener.

Maybe I'm just white trash. I like white zinfandel, but people who really
know wine seem to think of white zinfandel as the Kool-Aid of the wine
aisle.

> > Well anyway, I don't see how you can mess up chicken marsala just because
> > it has wine in it.
>
> It's not "just because it has wine in it", it's because it has _marsala_
> in it. If someone told gave you a sample of something that tasted
> marvelous then told you that it was made with goat ****, would you
> assume that you could just pour some goat **** in a pan and replicate
> the recipe? Well that's pretty much what you're doing with chicken
> Marsala--you're taking something that is pretty vile and trying to make
> something very nice out of it. It's doable, but it's not something
> you're going to hit on the first try.

I didn't realize marsala was vile fresh out of the bottle.

> > If all the ingredients and amounts are the same, who
> > cooks it isn't going to alter the way it tastes all that much.
>
> You'd think that, wouldn't you. Needs to cook for the right amount of
> time at the right temperature--you need to boil off some volatiles but
> you don't want to boil off _all_ the volatiles. And there's a sequence
> involved. And "the right time at the right temperature" is going to
> depend to some extent on which particular bottle of marsala you were
> using. This is more critical with marsala than it is with, for example,
> sherry. Need to keep sampling until it hits the spot. There's probably
> some other chemistry going on as well.
>
> In honesty, I can't make it. But I've had it a few times in good
> Italian restaurants and it's been quite nice. And in other places where
> it was pretty much chicken boiled in goat ****.

Then TGI Friday's probably wasn't the best place for it, if it's all that
involved to make. lol

Damaeus