Kosher wine isn’t just for drinking! Try it out the next time you have a recipe that calls for wine, or, get a headstart and cook up this dish:

Filet Mignon With Peppercorn Sauce

You’ll need:

4 Kosher filet mignon steaks (about 2” thick)
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
6 tbsp brandy
2 tbsp dry red kosher wine
1 to 2 tbsp green peppercorns
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
¾ cup whipping cream
½ cup finely minced shallots
½ teaspoon fresh tarragon leaves

Cut any excess fat off the steaks. Melt the butter with the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the steaks and cook uncovered until browned. Add brandy and set aflame. Shake the pan until the flame dies out. Set aside, keeping a lid on the pan to keep steaks warm.

For the peppercorn sauce, add the leftover liquid from the steaks to a small frying pan. Add the shallots and cook until soft. Rinse peppercorns and drain until there’s no excessive moisture. Add them to the pan, along with the whipping cream, Dijon mustard, tarragon leaves and kosher wine. Bring to a boil and cook for 3 to 4 minutes until thickened and shiny bubbles occur. Salt the meat and heat it until it reaches its desired doneness. Pour the sauce over the filets and serve with roasted potatoes.

I like kosher wines. I like them a lot. I try to always have a bottle on hand to cook with or serve with dinner. My problem is, I’m not very knowledgeable about what I’m buying. I know the basics: the white kosher wines form the red kosher wines. And I know that a Riesling is sweet, and a Chardonnay is a little more dry. I know that I really like Cabernet and Merlot, I’m sort of on the fence about. But I don’t really know a lot about the details of wine. Things like where a certain type of grape is grown, what region the type of wine is  native to, what notes to look for when tasting a certain variety of wine.

That’s why I was elated to find that LiquorsGalore.com has a Wine Guide and a Wine Map on their website. The Wine Guide is a comprehensive wine encyclopedia, if you will. It answers the most common questions that a wine newbie would need to know and even has a breakdown of the different white and red varieties. The Wine Map is equally as handy. It breaks down the different varietals by country of origin, and further details them by the region of each country.

Here’s my dilemma, and maybe you can relate. In my neighborhood, there is one nice wine shop (the kind that has that extra -pe on the end of shop, you know, a wine shoppe), and one discount liquor store of the variety that involves handing money through a small opening in a large plexiglass window,  and receiving the purchased wine or liquor in kind. I am a little too poor for the shoppe, and a little tired of squinting through plexiglass to try to make out what’s on the shelves behind the proprietor.

What I need is a discount liquor store that sells good kosher wines whose labels I can read without a telescope and a bottle of Windex. Is this too much to ask?

Well, let me make it a little more complicated, since we’re here already. For the sake of economics, efficiency, and not having to carry heavy things down several blocks and up five flights of stairs in my apartment building (what, I’m lazy?), I also really wish this discount liquor store of my dreams would deliver boxes of the kosher wines and liquors I long for to my door.

Know anyone that could make my life easier in all of these ways? Oh, wait, I guess I do, too…

Hogarth’s Gin Lane.

Gin is an interesting drink. It is flavored with juniper berries, and was invented in Holland in the mid 1600’s. Popularized in England when William of Orange became King, it spread into vastly inferior forms, often flavored with turpentine.

Gin became widespread among the poor in England because it was so easy to make. Unfortunately, many abused the liquor, and England passed two Gin Acts (1736 and 1751) to control the pervasive sin in the streets.
In Britain’s tropical colonies, gin was used to hide the flavor of quinine, an anti-malarial agent. Quinine was often mixed with water to produce tonic water, which yielded the famous “Gin and Tonic.” Today only trace amounts of quinine can be found in tonic water.

Gin is an excellent part of liquor gift sets and along with kosher wine, can be found in any discount liquor store. Perhaps its most well known incarnation is the martini, which adds vermouth to produce an intoxicatingly delicious drink.
Some people react negatively to gin, and can become aggressive or flushed. This may be because they are allergic to the juniper berry.  If you don’t like gin, this may be the reason. On the other hand, if you do, Tanqueray is an excellent gin that can be found at your local discount liquor store.