Dishes with strong wine, Madeira - 1 cooking recipes

It owes its origin to chance: during the long transportation of barrels of strong wine in the holds of ships in a tropical climate, this wine acquired hitherto unknown taste qualities. Madera, unlike other strong wines, is stronger, less sweet and has a developed, rather heavy bouquet. The peculiarity of making Madeira is that fermentation occurs in the presence of the skins and seeds of the berries, and thus a wine enriched with extractives and tannins is obtained. In this wine, the alcohol content can reach 32% and sugar 7%. Strong wine (Madeira) is drunk from special Madeira glasses. It has a bactericidal effect on many pathogenic bacteria and thins the blood. Wine connoisseurs especially value sweet Madeira - Malvasia, which is aged for at least 5 - 6 years. During the time of Peter the Great, the phrase “Tsarist Madeira” appeared, referring to poor quality vodka that was distributed free of charge to St. Petersburg workers. Some punches, cups, grogs are prepared from Madeira, as well as such aperitif cocktails as “Baltimore”, “Brandy-Madera”, “Bittersuit” and others. But recipes with strong wine (Madeira) are limited not only to cocktails. In French cuisine, dishes made from strong wine (Madeira) are quite common. Various sauces, meat, fish and mushroom dishes, vegetable stews include strong wine (Madera) as a flavor-forming ingredient. Recipes for some meat dishes also provide for the following procedure: the finished meat is doused with strong wine or cognac and... set on fire. They also say about this wine: “twice born of the sun.” The first birth occurs when the grapes ripen under the hot sun of the south. The second "birth" refers to the period of maturation of young wine in barrels. Let's cook at home in a sunny way with Madeira!