Cooking with Champagne Tips and Hints

Champagne is not uncommon at New Year's celebrations and parties year-round. For a delightfully different theme, try a dinner using a bit of the bubbly as an ingredient in each course, from salad to dessert, using some of the featured champagne recipes.

Champagne Cooking Tips

• Using champagne in your recipes is much like cooking with any wine. You need not use expensive champagne, and leftovers will work fine as long as they are not over a week old. Wine tends to turn to vinegar quickly after opening, and you do not want a sharp, vinegar flavor to pervade your finished product.

• If you do not get a chance to use that leftover champagne within about a week, all is not lost. Save it to use as champagne vinegar.

• Domestic champagnes are just fine for cooking.

• You may also substitute corresponding non-sparkling white wines for most of these recipes, if you don't want to splurge on champagne.

•The majority of any alcohol content will burn out during cooking processes, but be aware that even a tiny amount may still be enough to trigger reactions in those sensitive to alcohol.

Try some of these tasty recipes using champagne.

More About Champagne

• Champagne History
• Champagne Varieties
• How to Open Champagne
• Champagne Cooking Tips
• Champagne Recipes
_{Champagne Photo © 2007 Peggy Trowbridge Filippone, licensed to About.com, Inc.}