What Is Sherry and How Can I Use It?

Sherry is a fortified wine from the Jerez region of southern Spain, made from white grapes (mostly Palomino) and strengthened with grape spirit after fermentation. That extra alcohol, plus aging under a film of yeast called flor or out in the open, gives sherry its signature nutty, savory character.

It runs a wide range from bone dry to dessert sweet, which is exactly why cooks reach for it. A dry sherry adds a roasted, slightly briny depth to a sauce; a sweeter one brings caramel and dried fruit to a glaze or a cake.

The style on the label tells you what you are getting, and it matters more than the price.

Cream sherry is the sweet, dark end of the sherry family: a fortified Spanish wine blended and sweetened until it pours like liquid toffee. It starts as the same oloroso-style base wine as drier sherries, then gets back-sweetened with grape concentrate or sweet Pedro Ximenez wine.

The result is rich and raisiny. The flavor reads of dried fig and brown sugar, with a warm, walnut nuttiness underneath.

It is meant for sipping after dinner. That same depth makes it a quiet workhorse in the kitchen.

Do not confuse it with the "cooking sherry" sold beside the vinegar. That product is salted and harsh. Cream sherry is a real drinking wine, and it tastes like one.

Cooking sherry is sherry wine that has been salted, and sometimes sweetened, so it can be sold in the grocery aisle rather than the liquor store. The added salt and preservative make it unfit to drink.

That is exactly the point: the salt lets it dodge liquor licensing so it can sit next to the vinegar.

It still carries the nutty, slightly oxidized flavor that real sherry brings to a sauce or a braise. But the salt changes how you have to use it, and that single fact is why a lot of cooks keep their distance.

Treat it as a salted flavoring rather than a wine, and you will get along with it fine.