Sherry

Sherry (vino de Jerez) is the fortified white wine of Jerez in south-west Spain, and in the kitchen it is a workhorse cooking wine prized for a nutty, oxidative, dried-fruit depth that little else supplies. Styles run from the bone-dry, flor-aged fino through the nutty amontillado to rich oloroso and sweet cream, but for cooking most recipes reach for a dry-to-medium, amontillado-style bottle: walnut and almond, dried apricot and raisin, a whisper of caramel, and a warming lift of alcohol. It is the classic finish for a pepper sauce, lobster bisque, she-crab soup, consommé and mushroom cream sauces. NOTE: this is the fortified WINE you cook with — not sherry VINEGAR (the soured, sharply acidic condiment made from it, the usual acidic alternative when a dish wants tang rather than body) and not the Sherry Cobbler cocktail.