Liquids Category

Ordinary Tokay table wine is mediocre, but some Tokay grapes are affected by Botrytis cinerea, a fungus that pokes holes in their skins and makes them shrivel on the vine. This concentrates the sweetness and makes for an exquisite dessert wine. Look for bottles labeled Tokay Aszú, the Hungarian name for botrytised Tokay wine.

To make your own: See the Tomato Juice Recipe posted on Recipesource.com.

Treacle is the British version of molasses, and it's a close substitute. Varieties include golden syrup=light treacle, which resemble light molasses, and dark treacle = black treacle, which is more similar to dark molasses.

Even though the name means "triple dry," this is a relatively sweet orange-flavored liqueur.

This liqueur is flavored with vanilla and citrus.

Tucapi is a yellow sauce extracted from manioc roots. It is used with rice and various meats like duck, fish and shrimp.

This Japanese vinegar is quite salty, and it has a distinctive, slightly fruity flavor. It's typically used in dips and salad dressings.

To make your own: See the Mitch's V-6 Vegetable Juice Cocktail Recipe posted on Fabulousfoods.com.

This is a relative of the Pinot Noir grape, and it makes a red wine that goes well with hearty meat-based dishes. Don't confuse it with Gamay or Gamay Beaujolais.

This liqueur is flavored with chocolate and mint.

Examples include spiced rum, Tuaca, Licor 43, and crème de vanille.

Veal bones have more collagen than beef bones, and so veal stock is thicker and richer.

One boullion cube weighs 0.14 ounce and makes one cup of broth.

A medieval ingredient that's making a comeback, verjus is a sour juice made from unripened red or white grapes. Vinegars in salad dressings sometimes create off-tastes in the wines that accompany a meal. Verjus doesn't, so it's a good substitute for vinegar if you're planning to serve an expensive wine with dinner. Some people also mix it with sparkling water and ice to make a sophisticated non-alcoholic drink.After the bottle is opened, store verjus in the refrigerator, where it will keep for about a month. If you can't use it that fast, pour it into ice cube trays, freeze, then store the cubes in a plastic bag in the freezer. Though becoming more popular, verjus is still hard to find. Look for it in gourmet specialty shops.

This is a fortified wine that's heavily flavored with sugar, herbs, roots, flowers, and spices. It's sometimes served as an apéritif, but it's better known as a key ingredient in many cocktails, including martinis and Manhattans. It's also used to perk up sauces, especially those that accompany seafood. There are two main types: dry vermouth and sweet vermouth. Noilly Prat and Martini & Rossi are well-respected brands.

This assertive white wine from California exudes a complex perfume of flowers and fruit. It's expensive and hard to find, but it's delicious with seafood and poultry.

To make your own: See the recipe for Violet Syrup on RecipeSource.

This flavorless, colorless liquor is a great mixer, since it blends unobtrusively with other ingredients. Some prefer to drink it straight, poured from bottles they store in the freezer. Since vodka is virtually flavorless, the differences between the brands are all but imperceptible to the mortal tongue. Buy the cheapest brand if you're using the vodka in mixed drinks. Flavored vodkas also are available; here the differences in quality may be more noticeable.

This is a slightly sweet French white wine made with Chenin blanc grapes.

Popular brands iinclude Nocciole, Nocello, and Nocino.

This somewhat sweet beer is made with wheat malt.

Whiskey is distilled from various grains that have been pounded and cooked into a mash and allowed to ferment. The whiskey is then aged in oak barrels until the flavor is mellow and smooth. The most highly esteemed whiskies are single-malt Scotch and straight Bourbon. Lower in the pecking order are rye whiskey, blended Scotch, sour-mash whiskey and the lighter and drier Irish whiskey and Canadian whisky. At the bottom is corn whiskey, also known as moonshine. Straight whiskeys tend to have a more robust flavor than blended whiskeys, which include several whiskeys and, sometimes, neutral spirits. Whiskey should be served at room temperature.

This blush wine goes well with poultry and seafood.

This Asian vinegar is milder and sweeter than Western vinegars. It's used in Japan to make sushi rice and salads, and in China to flavor stir-fries and soups. Western cooks often use it to flavor delicate chicken or fish dishes, or to dress salads or vegetables. Japanese brands tend to be milder than Chinese, but they can be used interchangeably.

This is used to make daiquiris, piña coladas, mai tais, and many other cocktails. The best white rum comes from Puerto Rico, but Trinidad, Barbados, and the Virgin Islands also produce it. Bacardi, Ronrico, and DonQ are popular brands.

This cheap vinegar gets all the mundane jobs, like making pickles, cleaning out coffee pots, and washing windows. Distilled from ethyl alcohol, it's a bit too harsh for most recipes, but it does a great job with pickles. Be careful if you're substituting another vinegar in a pickle recipe--to adequately preserve, vinegar should have an acidity level of at least 5%.

White wines are more delicate than red wines and are always served chilled. Dry (i.e., not sweet) white wines include Chardonnay, Chablis, and Sauvignon Blanc. These are normally served with fish, poultry, veal, blue cheeses, and anything with a cream sauce. Sweeter white wines are often described as "fruity" and include Gewürztraminer, Johannisberg Riesling, and Chenin Blanc. These are good with spicy foods, fruit, and desserts.

This is a moderately tangy vinegar that French cooks use to make Hollandaise and Béarnaise sauces, vinaigrettes, soups, and stews. It's also an excellent base for homemade fruit or herb vinegars.

This is the most popular blush wine, and it goes well with pork, poultry, and spicy dishes. It's not at all like ordinary Zinfandel, a dry red wine.

Wine is an alcoholic beverage made from the fermented juice of fruit, usually grapes. There are four broad categories: table wines, sparkling wines, fortified wines, and fruit wines. Table wines are the most common, and they're grouped by color--red, white, and blush, which is sometimes called rosé. A red wine should be served at room temperature, and it goes well with hearty, meat-based dishes like steak and spaghetti. White and blush wines should be served chilled, and they go best with lighter fare, like fish and chicken. Many wines, called varietals, are named after the variety of grape used to make them. Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, and Pinot Noir are popular red varietals, while Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, and Johannisberg Riesling are popular white ones. In Europe, some wines, often blends of different varietals, are named after the place where the wine is produced, like Bordeaux, Burgundy, Chablis, Rhine, and Rhône. These European wines are often superb, but American wines that have borrowed these regional names, like California Chablis, are almost always mediocre. If you're buying a domestic wine, it's often better to go with a varietal, like a California Cabernet Sauvigno

Wine vinegars are milder and less acidic than cider or white distilled vinegar, so they're a good choice for salad dressings, sauces, and marinades. There are several varieties, ranging from mild champagne vinegar to the tangy white and red wine vinegars to the dark and assertive balsamic and sherry vinegars. The milder vinegars go best with more delicate dishes, like salads, which stronger ones are best for deglazing pans, marinating meats, and adding tang to sauces. Rice vinegar, though it's sometimes called rice wine vinegar, is made from fermented rice, not rice wine.

This is milk that's cultured with bacteria to make it thick and tangy. Ready-made yogurts are made from whole milk (with up to 4% butterfat), lowfat milk (with up to 2% butterfat), and skim milk (with up to .5% butterfat). Health buffs prefer brands that contain active cultures, which help keep their intestines populated with friendly bacteria. Many brands are heat-treated to destroy these cultures and increase shelf life. Yogurt often comes with added flavorings and thickeners. Flavored yogurts are made with artificial sweeteners to reduce calories. Lactaid makes a lactose-reduced yogurt, but many people with lactose intolerance can tolerate ordinary yogurt, especially brands that contains active yogurt cultures. Larger markets also carry yogurt made from soy milk and goat's milk, but these don't work well in delicate desserts. Organic yogurts also are available.

This is a hearty red varietal wine that's especially good with sausages and barbecued meats. Don't confuse it with white Zinfandel, a fruity blush wine that wine snobs abhor. California Zinfandels are often excellent.