Crane Lake

[Georgie]

I went to make a recipe from Cook's Illustrated that was supposedly Chicken Cacciatore. It had lots of portobello mushrooms, nice herbs that I had in my garden only one can of diced tomatoes, onions, etc. I'd nrver had this dish, believe it or not, so I gave it a whirl. The recipe called for 1 1/2 cups of dry red wine. I found a bottle of Crane Lake Merlot on sale for $5.99 so I used that. The wine wasn't bad considering what I'd paid. By itself in a glass was fine. But when I used it in the recipe it turned everything a creepy shade of purple, as you might expect. Actually it didn't taste bad, but the color was so off-putting we couldn't eat it. The dinner, along with the receipe went in the garbage.

[hotwine]

That's a shame, Georgie. Maybe the grape was the problem, and a dry Italian might have worked better? Would sure stay away from that Merlot in the future..... haven't found one that I would use in cooking.

[VouvrayHead]

Crane Lake's Petite Sirah is drinkable. Used to be a good deal cheaper (like 3.99)

[Thomas]

I don't cook with red wine anymore. Either white or oxidized wines for me when cooking.

[VouvrayHead]

Did you gill the mushrooms? Those can really color a dish unpleasantly.

[Georgie]

No, I didn't gill the mushrooms, and yes they kind of blackened everything....but it was definitely the purple chicken that was gross. Live and learn!

[Thomas]

Next time you do a chicken cacciatore, try Marsala wine.

[VouvrayHead]

Didn't Dr. Seuss write something about purple chicken?

[Thomas]

...and flying purple people eaters.

[Innkeeper]

I would still blame it on the 'rooms. Merlot ain't purple.

[Thomas]

IK, it is after it's cooked and reacts with other things in the pot. Many red wines do this--with certain pairings. But I agree, the mushrooms might have been party of the rainbow.