Vermouth—Most Useful Wine?

Posted by Alan Boehmer Nov 25, 2007

They used to call it French Vermouth (from France and white) or Italian Vermouth (from Italy and red).

In graduate school I learned that the famous philosopher Karl Barth preferred Vermouth as his beverage of choice. Assuming it was the Italian (red) variety, it became my drink of choice since I admired Karl Barth. I soon learned to drink it on the rocks with a twist of lemon and a splash of bitters. Great cocktail. Rather like a Manhattan but softer on the punch.

Red Vermouth quickly found its way into the kitchen for a component of sauce reductions, mostly for game meats or pan sauces for scallopini. Don't do a straight reduction of red Vermouth, however. It needs to be combined with meat stock or pan drippings.

But the star of the Vermouth show is the white version. All Vermouths are wines infused with a variety of herbs. That makes them perfect for cooking. When a recipe calls for white wine (they never tell you what kind in cookbooks or on the TV cooking shows) use white Vermouth. Julia Child recommended it three decades ago as a standard white wine for cooking.

White Vermouth also makes a very nice apértif. Just pour it over the rocks. Or add a few drops of bitters, making it a low alcohol version of Pink Gin.

Enjoy!