Updated on April 9th, 2023
Every experienced chef knows that wine is an integral ingredient in many cuisines. The beauty of wine in meals is in its flavor, and its ability to give a unique taste without masking the taste of the meal makes it such a loved ingredient recipe. What’s even better is the health benefits of the wine. Wine has great antioxidant properties and has been known to provide a protective effect on the heart.
Cream Sherry refers to a wine category that includes sweetened sherry—a fortified wine made from white grapes. This sweet and thick blend of wine originally came from Bristol and has become the top-selling sherry globally ever since.
Again, although tout is also creamy, it doesn’t have any dairy products in it. Unlike the Dry Sherry counterpart, the Cream sherry is sweeter and dark.
If you’ve run out of cream sherry while making that sweet meal, or you’re looking for a flavored substitute that has no alcohol, then we will be exploring all the other substances that make for great substitutes.
What is Cream Sherry?
Cream sherry is basically a kind of wine made from a blend of a dry wine like Oloroso and a naturally sweet wine like Pedro Ximenez or Muscatel wines. This sweet cherry and dry wine, if mixed, will give a thoroughly sweet taste.
Having a dense and syrupy appearance, this wine doubles both as a core ingredient in meals and can quickly be served as a drink with ice and a slice of orange, called an aperitif.
Unless a recipe explicitly calls for cream sherry, its counterpart dry sherry is usually a more preferred wine in cuisines; most cream Sherry is used as sipping wine after meals. Often Cream sherries serve as a recipe ingredient for Desserts, seafood, and Tapas.
Using Cream Sherry in Recipes
If you’re looking to make a sweetened meal, especially in soups or recipes of chicken or pork, adding cream sherry gives your meal the ideal sweet taste. This burst of sweetness can give a creamy feel to the meal leaving a lasting delight on the senses. For many sauces or soup dishes, cream sherry contributes to the creaminess and can help you choose what range of taste or sweetness you want.
Some of the recipes where the cream cherry is used include soups, sauces, and very mainly desserts, including the famous Trifles; outlined below are a handful of incredible recipes to try out today using Cream sherry:
- Bristol cream sherry pasta sauce
- Quick pork chops with sherried mushrooms
- Spanish Tapas peppers
- Rosemary mushroom soups
- Drunken peach pie
- Chicken Tetrazzini
- Apple nut spread
- Country chicken ragout
- Crepes with fresh berry sauce
- English cherished trifle
- Fresh fig Ice cream
- Sherry cream of mushroom soup.
- Poppyseed cake
- Cream Sherry Bundt cake
- Celery cranberry loaf cake
Substitutes for Cream Sherry
Although, in the absence of cream sherry, recipes that require sweet alcohols can easily have certain dessert wines as a replacement, the distinct flavor that cream sherries give may not be easily replaced.
Most wines come with their own distinct taste, and choosing a substitute means that you’re pleased with the flavor that the substitute provides outside of what is possible with a cream sherry flavored meal. Here are some great substitutes for cream sherry:
Dry Sherry
Although Cream sherry cannot make an excellent substitute for recipes that call for dry sherry, The dry cherry itself can be sweetened to substitute in the absence of the cream sherry.
To use Dry Sherry as a substitute, it must be mixed with dark brown sugar; add two teaspoons of dark brown sugar for every half a cup of dry sherry.
Marsala (Dolce)
This is a sweet fortified wine whose flavor makes it an excellent substitute for cream sherry. The sweet Marsala wine is used in preparing several Italian dishes. Marsala wine comes with varying sweetness levels, with Dolce making it one of the best substitutes for cream sherry.
If the recipe calls for one tablespoon of cream cherry, simply substitute for a tablespoon of dolce, and it should work perfectly.
Tawny Port
If you are trying a nut delicacy, say Pecan pie or almond biscotti, and you cannot get your hands on a cream sherry, then the Tawny port with its sweet characteristics can serve as a great substitute for your meal.
Use an equal amount of towny port in the recipe, and it works just as fine. They possess an aroma that is nutty and oaky and has a lighter shade of color. It makes a tremendous alcoholic sweet wine ingredient in meals.
Frequently asked Questions ( FAQs)
Does cream sherry go bad?
If appropriately bottled and not exposed, cream sherries can last as long as 2 to 3 years, and an unsealed bottle will go bad within 4 to 6 weeks. It’s important to store properly too to ensure that it lasts longer.
What is the difference between Sherry and Cream sherry?
Typically a sherry is blended, not just one vintage wine; it is also fortified and not as sweet as cream sherry. It may be pale, gold, or straw-colored, depending on the type. Cream sherry, an Oloroso sweetened with rich Pedro Ximenez grapes, is usually of a dark mahogany color whose use is ideal in desserts.
Can I substitute regular sherry for cream sherry?
One hack to using sherry as a replacement for cream sherry is by sweetening it; this involves stirring 2 teaspoons of dark brown sugar into ½ a cup of Dry Sherry.
Conclusion
The use of sweet wines in meal preparation remains in practice across the world. Sweet wines essentially give a boost of flavor to meals. Sweet wines like cream sherry are very good in dessert preparation, given their unique flavor and sweetness.
If you’ve always faced the dilemma of having to substitute, whether in trying a different taste or simply running out of a cream sherry supply, the above-listed substitutes are a good way to supplement your cooking without necessarily compromising on quality. Giving your meals the feel of pleasure.