Meat sauce

[chilichip]

can you use port instead of red wine in sauce,I know nothing about wine or just leave in out.

thanks

 

[Loprraine]

The ports I have are fairly expensive (well, for my budget!!), while we usually have some fairly inexpensive wines in the house. I personally wouldn't sub, but I think it depends on probably what you're making, and what you have on hand. Tell us more!

 

[CharlieD]

I'd say it depends on your taste.

 

[Robo410]

port wine is fairly sweet and heavy and most pasta sauces with meat benefit from a drier red wine. However: if you have not added any sugar (as some cooks do) to your sauce to counter acidity, then the port may be ok ... not too much.

 

[Andy M.]

I'd say you are better off adding no wine at all.

The sauce needs a dry wine. Red or white will work.

Sip the port after dinner.

 

[Jeekinz]

I use half port half cab in my beef stews and goulashes. never tried port in a marinara sauce. For that I prefer a dry red like cabernet or chianti. Port does add a tad of sweetness.

 

[Bilby]

It really depends on what the sauce is. It goes best with the heavy meats/dishes like Jeekinz suggests. I have used it in the past in beef and kidney that was served in a scooped out end of a loaf of bread. It made for a very rich sauce. I have used it on other occasions but that is the recipe that stands out to me the most in my mind at the moment. I use a Tawny Port to cook with though, not a Vintage.

I have also had red meat dishes in restaurants with a port wine reduction and they were super yummy!!

 

[BreezyCooking]

I'd just leave it out. Port is just not a good match for pasta sauce no matter how you look at it.

 

[jennyema]

Port is genrally sweeter and heavier and more expensive than red wine.

I'd suggest not using it in a tomato sauce.

I'm sure it would be lovely in a sauce that is intended to have the taste, sweetness and body or port. Like a marsala sauce.

 

[Bilby]

When was it said that it was a pasta sauce??

 

[auntdot]

Bilby, I think most of us think of a meat sauce as a sauce for pasta. I do.

But good point, if CC is using the term for making a sauce for meat, a port could work depending upon the meat and what the recipe is.

Or maybe the poster is using the term for some other sauce.

 

[Bilby]

Thanks Aunt Dot. I wondered if it was terminology thing. To me, meat sauce doesn't automatically conjure up pasta. To me a sauce is rather runny. I would use a meat in sauce on rice, mixed with vegetables, over potatoes, on bread/toast, so forth, not just pasta. And as you say, it could have referred to a sauce for meat.

I guess the oceans get in the way of the words at times!! ;-)

 

[ErikC]

I have used both red wine and port in meat sauces, and my decision is usually based on two things:

1. What's left over?

2. What meat am I cooking with, or what is the sauce going on.

As has been mentioned, port is much sweeter, but it also should be noted that it has a much higher alcohol content, so it will help release that much more flavor from the meat and other ingredients. However, this extra flavor could be masked by the flavor of the port itself.

My rule of thumb is that pork and duck will benefit from port, whereas beef absolutely does not. Chicken and turkey could go either way as they are relatively neutral flavors to begin with.

And as was said before, port will not match well with tomato, and that is true regardless of which meats you are using.

 

[elaine l]

I probably would not add my port to any sauce. Besides the port I have is too nice to hide in a sauce but I also think it's rather syrup like and sweet.