What to Do With Leftover Wine: Mulled Wine Syrup
Did you wake up on New Year's morning swearing off the sauce forever? Do you have more half-empty bottles of vino than you know what to do with? Here's a way to repurpose the plonk, without the pain.
Wine that's been sitting out is fine for mulled wine syrup; cheap wine is perfect. You can even use a mix of varietals and vintages, and you'll never know the difference. Spiced with cinnamon and cloves, this garnet-colored syrup can be drizzled over ice cream, poured on pancakes, and folded into thick, full-cream yogurt. My favorite way to serve it is over chilled orange segments, pith removed.
The recipe calls for one bottle of red wine, but it's easily scaled up or down, depending on what's left from your night of excess.
Experiment with your favorite spices. A version containing star anise and black peppercorns could be used to dress a seared duck breast. Or substitute white wine, and scrape the seeds of a vanilla bean into the pot for a speckled syrup that will go well with stone fruits and sorbets.
Mulled Wine Syrup
- makes 1 cup -
Ingredients:
1 bottle red wine
1 cup sugar
1 stick cinnamon
5 cloves
Procedure
1. Place all ingredients into a medium pot or skillet (the wider the vessel, the quicker the process) and bring to a boil.
2. Lower to a simmer and reduce until liquid is one-third of its original volume (about 20 minutes). Look for a lightly syrupy consistency--it will thicken further on chilling.
3. Strain to remove spices and transfer to a container to chill. Refrigerated, the syrup will keep indefinitely.
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17 Comments:
You can also use it to make your own vinegars.
simon at 11:35AM on 01/05/09
how long will this last once it is made?
NYCEater at 11:44AM on 01/05/09
If you put it into a clean canning jar (i.e. boiled for a while) like a Ball or Mason it should last forever in the fridge.
simon at 11:49AM on 01/05/09
@NYCEater - great question! I've edited it in the recipe text. As Simon says (heh), it will keep indefinitely in the fridge. You could skip the canning and still count on it to last many weeks.
Michele Humes at 12:07PM on 01/05/09
Leftover wine? What's leftover wine? Never heard of such a thing....especially not in my house!
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vinovamp at 12:28PM on 01/05/09
Interesting coincidence. I just harvested my first bottle of homemade red wine. I have quite a few lovely bottles that I bought a while back, when I was better able to tolerate red wines. I've been using them in cooking, primarily, and now I've got the vinegar brewing. This gives me yet another option.
dbcurrie at 12:39PM on 01/05/09
This looks delicious, thanks!
Wan Yan Ling at 1:54PM on 01/05/09
I saw this ten minutes ago and I'm already repurposing the HORRIFIC bottle of Amish white wine we opened last week and had no idea what to do with...
I cut the sugar to just shy of 3/4 cup, as the wine was overly sweet to begin, added a cinnamon stick and the scrapings of a vanilla bean. It smells amazing already.
Now I'm eyeing the puff pastry and pitted black cherries in the freezer and trying to come up with dessert for tonight.
kimonkey7 at 2:18PM on 01/05/09
I'm with vinovamp! Leftover wine.. You make me laugh. Nice moniker, BTW.
I have a large bottle of Cab that was corked. We saved it knowing there had to be something better than throwing it out. Woo Hoo! I'm excited to try this.
carolrsfMISSESTEXAS at 6:18PM on 01/05/09
Wow. I so wish this had been posted a few days earlier. I tossed a half a dozen bottles of 1/2 consumed reds in a misguided attempt at a kitchen clean-up. Won't make that mistake again.
RI Swampyankee at 8:43PM on 01/05/09
I'm with you vinovamp, I think this leftover wine stuff might be a myth.
bsouthgirl at 10:55AM on 01/07/09
I freeze my leftover wine in a mason jar and use it for cooking. It doesn't freeze solid so it's easy to scoop out with a big spoon. Works great!
jenjen at 5:34PM on 01/07/09
Leftover...wine? What is that? I
If it's left over, that means no one wanted to drink it. Doesn't that mean it tasted bad and no one drank it in the first place? Wouldn't reducing it to one third it's volume make it worse?
Donnamarie at 6:40PM on 01/07/09
@donnamarie ~~~~~ I thought I was the only one who thought that!!!!
renee59 at 7:49PM on 01/07/09
wish i knew of this earlier! it would have been such a great gift for the holidays!
GrabTrees at 4:23PM on 01/09/09
What is leftover wine? I've never had any.
MikeLM at 5:17PM on 01/09/09
I have a chef friend who uses wine to boil pasta in! Drunken Pasta has been a favorite of mine since then, and I use the leftover wine to make this dish. U can use part wine and water, depending how much wine is available. Toss is some fried peppers, hot and sweet, chopped parsley, grated cheese and enjoy!
krazykook at 1:54PM on 01/14/09