Man oh manischewitz. What do I do with bad leftover wine?

July 3, 2009 12:57 PM

What can I make that uses up a large quantity of crappy wine?

So we've got a couple gallon jugs of Manischewitz left over from Passover. I've given my dad a couple quarts, since he's the only person I know that legitimately likes the stuff. But after that, and making all the charosset one can stomach, what else can you do with it? It's too syrupy sweet to drink casually, and while I cook with wine occasionally, the rule I generally follow is not to cook with something I wouldn't drink. (This is not to say I have good taste in wine, just not a fan of really sweet wine).

So...what can I do with it? Make vinegar? Kill slugs? I think the varieties we have are concord grape and cream red concord.

posted by electroboy to food & drink (27 comments total)

crappy vinegar, Coq ou Vin, poached pears...
posted by Gungho at 1:00 PM on July 3

crappy mulled wine (water it down).
posted by availablelight at 1:04 PM on July 3

Desserts? There are recipes for sorbets and granitas that call for red wine. You could just cut the amount of sugar to compensate for the sweetness.
posted by booknerd at 1:05 PM on July 3 [1 favorite has favorites]

Sangria?
posted by crunchtopmuffin at 1:12 PM on July 3 [2 favorites has favorites]

sangria?
posted by reddot at 1:12 PM on July 3

Fruitcake! Well, at least part of the recipe calls for it.
posted by FauxScot at 1:13 PM on July 3

Seconding sangria. It's supposed to be sweet. Basically, it's what the Spaniards do with old cheap wine.
posted by musofire at 1:15 PM on July 3

Mix it with something less sweet. Experiment. It'll be fun.
posted by Ingenting at 1:16 PM on July 3

Sangria. notyou's better half has been on a sangria kick lately. Martha Stewart's recipe is pretty good.
posted by notyou at 1:18 PM on July 3 [1 favorite has favorites]

Bathe in it. Seriously. I just read an article (can't find it at the moment) that recommended adding whine you don't want to drink to your bath water. (It promised that the wine will not stain your tub.) Supposed to make your skin nice and smooth. Can't vouch for it myself, but might be worth a try.
posted by unclejeffy at 1:21 PM on July 3

Uh, wine, not whine.
posted by unclejeffy at 1:21 PM on July 3

It's annoying me that I can't find it, but I saw a food blog that called for Manischewitz wine, frozen and scraped to make an apparently pretty decent ice/sorbet dessert.
posted by mhz at 1:36 PM on July 3

I stopped in to say sangria, but that's already been offered.

I'll come over to help you drink it, too.
posted by rokusan at 1:48 PM on July 3

I was going to suggest Beef Bourguignon, but I don't know if that would work very well with Manischewitz. It works well with crappy red table wine, though. If you had a piece of stew meat around that you didn't mind risking, you could give it a try.
posted by Kadin2048 at 1:52 PM on July 3

Spaghetti All'Ubriaco (Drunken Spaghetti). It might actually work well with a wine as sweet as Manischewitz.
posted by thisjax at 1:58 PM on July 3

I'd say make haroset. Chopped apples, walnuts, wine, raisins or dates, maybe some honey... whatever recipe you like, I think you've got the perfect wine for it!
posted by belau at 2:09 PM on July 3

I don't know whether they're any good, but Manischewitz itself has recipes.
posted by Phanx at 2:44 PM on July 3

Maybe do the trashy wine and cola thing if you're ever having a wild party or know someone who is?
posted by ishotjr at 2:52 PM on July 3

OK, it has just been drawn to my attention by Mrs Phanx that you said you didn't want to cook with stuff you wouldn't drink - a sound principle.

She tells me, however, that you can use sweet wine to make fly traps, either by putting some in a jar covered with clingfilm which has holes just big enough for flies to get in, or better by running a bent pipe into the neck of a bottle with an inch or so in it. The flies are drawn in by the smell, but are too stupid to get out (or drown anyway). Whether you have a fly problem of these dimensions or would like bottles full of dead flies around your house... well.

So I'm also told white wine is good to clean windows or even windscreens.

Finally I'm told as a last resort it's good for compost, or if diluted, possibly even good for plants.
posted by Phanx at 3:06 PM on July 3

It's sweet, you can't really cook with it for French recipes. I'd say Sangria. Or reduce it with fruit to make a dessert topping.
posted by Nelson at 3:40 PM on July 3

When you make sangria, you might want to cut down or leave out the sugar. I don't like sweet wine or sweet drinks, and leaving out the sugar gives it more of a citrus taste than a sweet syrupy taste.
posted by raisingsand at 3:45 PM on July 3

You could make a batch of wine jelly.
posted by jocelmeow at 3:51 PM on July 3 [1 favorite has favorites]

give it to your local neighborhood wino
posted by pyro979 at 4:52 PM on July 3

The rule about wine is that you shouldn't cook with things you *can't* drink, not things you *don't* drink. That originated when people were using salted wines (that you don't need to be 21 to drink) and rotten wine.

The flavor profile is going to change dramatically when you cook with it, don't dismiss it!
posted by bensherman at 6:07 PM on July 3

I totally missed the point of your question - sorry about that. I have no idea what you'd use wine like this for if not for eating/drinking. If it's still sealed, why not see if you can donate it to a synagogue? You can call first to find out if they'd even want it...
posted by belau at 7:12 PM on July 3

Sangria and sorbet are definitely the frontrunners so far. I've got a Kitchenaid ice cream maker that I'm itching to try a few new things with. I imagine I might be able to sub it in for port, since they're both equally syrupy sweet.
posted by electroboy at 8:00 PM on July 3

Pears poached in port are pretty pleasing. Manischewitz might make 'em mouthwatering.
posted by pseudostrabismus at 8:29 PM on July 3 [1 favorite has favorites]