When Dom Pérignon, the Benedictine Monk who invented champagne in 1670 declared “Hurry! I’m drinking stars!” as he enthusiastically tasted his first finished batch of rendered still wine by inventing the process of champagnization, he couldn’t have possibly known the wonderful future this special wine would have in a world replete with champagne wishes and caviar dreams.  He also transformed the name of his home province into a beverage.  The fresh flavors and frothy bubbles of a sparkling wine is a sensation that cannot be duplicated by any other spirit.  It is the embodiment of luxury and an element that spells special occasion.

Since there is such an abundance of terrific sparkling wines and reasonably priced champagnes now available, I often use them as an ingredient in baking and cooking.  Not only as a perfect accompaniment to a sweet bread as a dessert, Champagne is a wonderful liquid addition to a dough, as a base for sour starters, as well as an ingredient for syrups and glazes.  It is good in stews, as a reduction sauce, as champagne vinegar, fondues, and sorbets. And you don’t have to open a new bottle just for cooking; you can use flat champagne just fine (that means leftover party libations).

"There comes a time in every woman’s life when the only thing that helps is a glass of champagne." Bette Davis in Old Acquaintance

Champagne is the wine produced in the small area of France called Champagne, near Paris. The primary species is Vitis vinifera, and of the thousands of cultivars only around 30 are regularly cultivated, of these only a dozen or so are considered to be premium. The wine of the area has long been some of the best in France, probably served at the crowning of French kings at Reims, the major city of the province.  It is also just next door to Burgundy, another premier wine-growing area.  It is the only sparkling wine that can legally be called champagne and is produced by a traditional method known as méthode champenoise; simply having a second fermentation in the bottle.  Champagne is imported and boasts some wonderfully evocative names like Moët & Chandon, Perrier-Jouet Grand Brut, Pommery, Mumm’s, and Veuve Clicquot.  While other wines can be made by this process, they must be called a sparkling wine since they are not made in Champagne. Finally the situation is clarified.

A sparkling wine has been infused with carbon dioxide gas bubbles created during the fermentation of the grape juice.  California makes superb ones, meant to have a similar character, quality, and finesse as their French relative.  A blanc de blanc, or white from white, is a sparkling wine made only from Chardonnay grapes, and a blanc de noir, white from black, is a sparkling wine from a red grape like a Pinot Noir.  Piper-Sonoma makes a consistently fabulous Blanc de Noir, which is more full-bodied than a blanc de blanc. like Gloria Ferrer and Mumm Napa Valley.

Each sparkling wine is categorized further by the amount of natural sugars and sugar added during the wine-making process.  Extra dry is less sweet and brut is the driest available, like in the domestic and very inexpensive: Cook’s Brut or Tott’s Brut, and the dramatic black bottle of Freixenet Cordon Negro.  Don’t skip these Spanish sparklers for baking, all produced by the method champenoise, the “fermented in the bottle” technique.  There is also Paul Cheneau Blanc de Blancs and Cordorniu Brut Classico.  I seem to have alot of these leftover from parties and keep them for baking/cooking.  Use whatever you have and can afford in these recipes.  There is always a feeling of culinary security knowing you have a few bottles stashed for your cooking a la momento.

My favorite semi-sweet sparkling wine is Asti Spumante, and I call for it in many recipes (its great in fondue).  The name Asti, in reference to the Piedmont region of Italy, and Spumante, which translates to sparkling, is a wonderful tart-sweet wine from Muscat grapes that is low in alcohol, and tastes flowery and fruity like fresh peaches. I always buy the imported Martini & Rossi brand. Prosecco is an Italian dry sparkling wine and was produced during Roman times. Well, it is more popular than ever and a less expensive substitute for champagne due to a slightly different production method. It used to be interchangeable with Asti Spumante, but is now produced either the fully sparkling (spumante) or lightly sparkling (frizzante, gentile) varieties. It is lower in alcohol than champagne. It was the original main ingredient in the Bellini cocktail and in the Spritz cocktail, and it can also replace Champagne in other cocktails, such as the Mimosa.

Surprisingly enough, Champagne should not be paired with chocolate; the fat in the chocolate reacts with the inherent acidity in the wine, affecting the delicate flavor.  Save the red wine, port, and coffee for the chocolate desserts.

Post Script: How To Pop A Champagne Cork

I consider removing a champagne cork a bit of an art. Once I catered an appetizer party and without a bartender, my assistant and myself were left to not only prep the food, but open the Champagne as well. It was like running a race you can’t win with the glasses drained before we could open enough bottles and pour more. Our hands were raw so we used bar towels to hold the cork while turning the bottle, which is a minor physical feat when you are talking a dozen cases. The moral of the story: for a medium to large party, have someone for just opening the bottles and keeping things tidy for there are corks, foil, and wires galore.

You will need bigger hands for opening the larger sizes of Champagne bottles. As you can imagine, the larger the bottle, the more unwieldy it is to open. They make a great impression for special occasions on a shelf or dotting the room, but realistically, they get progressively more difficult to open. The Double Magnum (jeroboams-4 bottles) is about the largest bottle that a non-expert is likely to feel comfortable pouring with style and panache. Large and small bottle sizes do have benefits, but take special handling at the winery. Therefore, they are usually more expensive by volume than a standard bottle. But they are showstoppers for sure.

Technique: Remove any foil and wire surrounding the cork.  Cover the top of the cork with a thick cloth napkin or dishtowel.  Holding the bottle at a 45º angle away from your body and with one hand on the cork, slowly rotate the bottle with your other hand.  Your thumb and forefinger will ease up the cork as you are turning the bottle (not the cork).  Using this method you will hear a dull pop, rather than a loud one, and the wine will not overflow, although I do this outside or over a sink, just in case.  I think this is the same technique for opening all sorts of bottles and magnums

The person who named the different sizes of Champagne bottles must have been a Bible freak since the line up is like something out of an ancient middle eastern Babylonian king’s royal ransom:  jeroboams (four-bottle size), rehoboams (six), methusalems (eight), salmanasars (twelve), balthazars (sixteen), and nebucadnezzars (twenty)*. Good way to learn your history lesson.

Second from the left is a standard bottle

*Historical Key

Magnum (double the volume of a standard bottle. From the latin GREAT—easier to remember: TV private detective, 1980’s).

Jeroboam (Founder and first king of Israel, 931-910 BC)

Rehoboam (Son of Solomon and a grandson of David-and King of Judah, 922-908 BC)

Methuselah (Biblical patriarch who lived to the age of 969 (96.9 solar years), oldest person in the Hebrew Bible and grandfather of Noah of the Ark)

Salmanazar (Warrior King of Assyria, 859-824 BC)

Balthazar (Co-Regent of Babylon, 553BC, son of Nabonidus, who left his throne to worship the moon in the desert, or one of the Three Wise Men)

Nebuchadnezzar (King of Babylon and historic leader in Iraq, 605-562 BC, credited with creating the Hanging Gardens of Babylon).

Special Occasion Champagne Menu

The following recipes are all made in the slow cooker, except for the sorbet, which uses an ice cream maker.

Champagne Fondue

Veal Stew with Champagne

Champagne Risotto with Leeks and Celery

Champagne Pink Grapefruit Sorbet

Lithograph by Alphonse Mucha, one of my favorite artists

You want nice tangy-fresh juices for this sorbet and don’t strain them, leaving any bits of floating pulp in for texture. This light and refreshing dessert featuring winter’s best seasonal citrus is adapted from a recipe from one served in the dining room at the Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, W. Va., which ran in the San Jose Mercury News over a dozen years ago as a requested recipe from America A La Carte. It’s a keeper.

Makes 1 1/2 to 2 quarts

Ingredients

• 3 cups good-quality champagne of choice

• 1 cup sugar

• 1 1/2 cups water

• 1 cup freshly squeezed pink grapefruit juice

• 1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

Instructions

Pop the cork from the champagne bottle and let stand on the counter 1 to 2 hours to reduced the effervescence. Gradually pour the flat champagne into a 2-quart Pyrex measuring cup or deep container. Set aside, uncovered.

In a large saucepan over medium heat, combine the sugar and water and stir to dissolve the sugar. Set aside to cool. (Can be made the day ahead and refrigerated.) If the citrus juices are not cold, refrigerate 1 to 2 hours.

To the champagne, add the cooled sugar syrup, grapefruit juice, and lemon juice. Pour into canister of an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s directions. Transfer to a covered container and freeze at least 1 hour or as long as 3 days before serving.

Poster for France Champagne 1891, Pierre Bonnard/Copyright © 2001 National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.

While you can use any champagne or sparkling wine, such as Prosecco, it can be fresh from the bottle or leftover flat dregs. I heat the champagne first to burn off a bit of the alcohol. This is has a good proportion of wine, so the flavor will be marked. If you want your risotto to look pristine, be sure to use white pepper. Scoop a small amount on your dinner plate or shallow bowl, then ladle the veal stew on the side. This was adapted for the slow cooker from a recipe I saw by Nigella Lawson, British food writer and personality.

Cooker: Medium or Large Round

Machine Setting and Cook Time: High Heat: 2 to 2 1/2 hours

Serves 3 to 4

Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, divided use

• 1 rib celery, minced

• 1 medium leek, white only, washed well, and finely chopped

• 1 1/3 cups Arborio or Carnaroli rice

• 1 1/4 cups brut champagne, simmered 5 minutes

• 3 cups chicken broth

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• Freshly ground black or white pepper

• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan, plus more for serving if you like

Instructions

In a sauté pan over medium heat, melt 4 tablespoons of the butter.  Cook the celery and leek until soft, 3 to 4 minutes; do not brown.  Add the rice and cook 1 minute, stirring, until glossy.  Scrape with a heatproof rubber spatula into the crock of a medium or large slow cooker.  Add the hot champagne and broth.

Cover and cook on HIGH for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, until all the liquid is absorbed, but rice is still moist. Add the remaining butter, salt, pepper, and 1/2 cup of the Parmesan. Stir to incorporate. Adjust seasoning to taste. Serve immediately. Risotto will keep on KEEP WARM setting for an hour or so.  Serve hot.

With that leftover bottle of Champagne, impress guests with this simple fondue. Remember to allow about 4 slices of bread per person and, when dipping, swirl and stir the fondue each time.  If the fondue is too thick, add a bit more Champagne.  Be sure to get some crust on each cube of bread if you can so it will stay on the fork while dipping. If a guest drops his or her bread into the fondue, there is a penalty; for a man, he must pay for the drinking wine, a woman pays with a kiss.  Serve with paper-thin strips of prosciutto alongside and more of the same Champagne for drinking.

Cooker: Medium round

Setting and Cook Time: High for 30 minutes, then Low for 1 hour

Serves 6

Ingredients

• 1/2 clove garlic, split

• 1 1/2 cups extra-dry Champagne or sparkling wine

• 1 pound Emmenthaler cheese, shredded

• 1/2 pound Swiss GruyËre cheese, shredded

• 1 tablespoon cornstarch or potato starch

• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

• 2 to 3 turns of freshly ground black pepper

• 1 to 2 loaves fresh baguette with crusts, cut into 1-inch cubes

Instructions

1. Rub the bottom and lower sides of the crock with the garlic clove.  Pour the Champagne into the slow cooker, turn to HIGH, and cook, uncovered for 30 minutes to evaporate some of the Champagne.

2. Combine the cheeses in a large bowl and toss with the cornstarch and lemon juice.  When the wine is hot, add the cheese slowly a handful at a time, letting each addition melt before adding the next and stirring to keep lumps from forming.  Reduce the heat LOW, cover, and cook until the cheese is melted, about 1 hour. It will keep on Low up to an additional hour before you need to serve it.  The melted cheese will be the consistency of a light cream sauce.

3. Stir in the pepper right before serving.  Set the slow cooker in the entertaining area, set on LOW, leave the cover off, and start dipping.

Excerpted from Not Your Mother’s Slow Cooker Recipes for Entertaining, by Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufmann. (c) 2007, used by permission from the Harvard Common Press.