Substitution for Cooking Sherry Wine

[SusieQ]

I have a marinade recipe that calls for 1/4 c cooking sherry wine but I was looking for a substitute. I found some on the internet but it wasn't clear to me. There were different substitutes for "sweet" sherry and just "sherry" and I have no idea what cooking sherry is considered to be. :? For substitutes given, respectively, were oj, apple j, pineapple j, peach syrup (as in the syrup in a can of peaches?) and vanilla. How does that translate to my recipe? Does that mean I just replace the sherry with any of those? Where does the vanilla fit in? I realize this will change the flavor of the marinade. Thanks for your help! :P

[kitchenelf]

First and foremost when cooking with wine NEVER use a wine labeled "cooking wine" - just buy the sherry. Cooking wines are so full of sodium and don't taste anything like their counterpart - ok, I feel better :oops:

I just buy Dry Sherry to cook with. Or if you fiind one just labeled Sherry - I don't use Cream Sherry though. Out of curiosity, what is the dish you are making? The bottle of Dry Sherry that I buy to cook with costs under $5.00 to buy and lasts a VERY long time.

I then buy some ginger, peel it, slice it, put in jar/bottle just big enough to hold it and cover with some of the sherry. Your ginger will last for months and months....I've used mine 6 months later and it was great!.

Is it an Asian dish using ginger and garlic also? Sherry would be a very difficult thing to substitute unless you just didn't want to use alcohol. But like I said in the beginning, don't use cooking Sherry. :)

[SusieQ]

Thanks kitchenelf. Especially for such a quick reply. :D I know very little about cooking. I just take recipes from friends. I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to throwing spices and such together. I failed to mention I was looking for a non-alcohol substitution :? I don't believe this is an Asian marinade, it was just a recipe given to me from a friend. She uses it on her meat for kabobs. It contains oil, soy sauce, worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, dry mustard, pepper, dried parsley flakes, garlic powder, meat tenderizer and of course the dry cooking sherry. I know that I won't get the same flavor I was just wondering of the substitutes I listed before, how am I supposed to substitute it? For example, it calls for 1/3 cup of the cooking sherry. Do I use 1/3 cup oj instead? or 1/3 c apple juice? of that 1/3 c do I put a tsp of vanilla in? I found the substitutes at this website: http://whatscookingamerica.net/alcoholsub.htm It may seem self explanitory but it still confuses me. Thanx for your help

[kitchenelf]

Hi again SusieQ,

Well, I think I would substitute either orange juice or pineapple juice. You already know you won't get the same flavor but either one of those choices would be good. Just use the same amount as you would if you were using the sherry. My first thought would be to go with fresh-squeezed orange juice.

Hope it works!!!

[SusieQ]

Thank You so much for clarifying that for me. And thanx again for such a quick response. I'll have to try them each once and see which one I like best. Have a great rest of the week! :D