Cognac ◆

Cognac

What it is

Ugni blanc makes a wine too thin and too acid to drink, around nine percent, which is precisely what the charentais still wants - and it is now very nearly all that Cognac plants. The angels' share, two or three percent of each cask lost to the air every year, feeds a black fungus called Baudoinia on the town's walls, so the ageing cellars can be found by their soot.

In the kitchen

Flambe off the heat and away from the extractor: pour, let it warm for a few seconds, then light it, because cold spirit hitting a hot pan will not catch. In a sauce, reduce it almost to dry before the stock goes in, or the finished sauce keeps a raw spirit edge that nothing later will cover.

Goes with

Lobster Foie gras Cream Shallot Butter Prune Tarragon Chestnut

Same species

Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale DOP Amontillado Armagnac Banyuls Brandy de Jerez Champagne vinegar

Also used with

American lobster Seville orange Lobster coral Pork liver Calcium lactate gluconate Lobster mushroom

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