Sweet Sherry substitute

Substitutes for Sweet Sherry with ratios

1. 2Tawny port, sweet Marsala or Madeira

   Different taste

   Use the same amount

   Fortified wines aged in contact with air, all tasting of dried fruit, caramel and nuts.

   What changes

   Best for

   trifle, tiramisu, soaking sponge and dried fruit, pan sauces

   All three sit in almost exactly the same flavour family as sweet sherry, because they are made the same way: fortified, then aged with air contact until the fresh fruit turns to fig, raisin and walnut. A trifle made with Madeira tastes slightly sharper and more caramelised; one made with tawny port is a shade richer and more figgy; sweet Marsala is the Italian equivalent and is what a tiramisu uses, tasting a touch more bitter-almond. Any of them can be swapped in without adjusting quantities. Check the Marsala bottle, since dry secco Marsala is more common in shops and needs a teaspoon of sugar per quarter cup.

2. 3Pedro Ximenez

   Taste and texture differ

   ⅔ the volume, made up with water or orange juice

   The sweetest sherry style, made from sun-dried grapes into something close to a raisin syrup.

   What changes

   Best for

   over ice cream, trifle, soaking dried fruit, chocolate desserts

   Superb but very concentrated, and using it measure for measure will make a dessert sickly. It is dark, thick and almost molasses-like, tasting of raisin, date, fig and coffee, with far more sugar than a cream sherry. Two thirds of the volume topped up with water or orange juice puts it roughly in the right place. Used correctly it is arguably better than the original in a trifle or over ice cream, where the depth of dried fruit is a real asset. Also cut back on any other sugar in the recipe and taste, because the sweetness is easy to underestimate before it is diluted.

3. 4Dry sherry plus sugar

   Different taste

   Use the same amount plus 1 to 2 tsp sugar per ¼ cup

   Ordinary dry sherry sweetened up, using amontillado or oloroso rather than fino if you have the choice.

   What changes

   Best for

   trifle, gravies, mushroom sauces, using what is already open

   The most likely pantry fix, since dry sherry is far more common in kitchens, and it works with one caveat about which dry sherry. Amontillado and oloroso are aged with air contact, so under a spoonful of sugar they taste convincingly like sweet sherry: nutty, raisiny and warm. Fino and manzanilla are aged under a film of yeast and stay pale, bone dry, briny and slightly yeasty, and sugar does not cover that; in a trifle the result tastes oddly savoury and salty-sharp. Stir the sugar in until it dissolves before adding the sherry to the dish, and taste it cold, since sweetness reads differently warm.

4. 5Raisin infusion with vanilla and lemon

   Taste and texture differ

   For ½ cup: steep 2 tbsp raisins in ½ cup hot water or apple juice for 20 min, blend, strain, add a drop of vanilla and a squeeze of lemon

   The alcohol-free build, aimed at sweet sherry's raisin note rather than at grapes generally.

   What changes

   Best for

   alcohol-free trifle, soaking sponge, cooking for children, puddings

   The best non-alcoholic approximation, because it goes after the flavour that actually defines sweet sherry: dried grape. Steeping the raisins and blending them gives you sweetness, body and that unmistakable raisin aroma, the vanilla adds warmth and the lemon supplies the acid that keeps it from tasting like syrup. Strain it well through a fine sieve or it will be gritty. Where it falls short is complexity and lift, because there is no alcohol to carry aroma, so a trifle made this way tastes pleasantly fruity but reads as a fruit trifle rather than a sherry trifle. Make it fresh, since it will not keep.

5. 6Cooking sherry, which you should not use

   Different taste

   Not recommended

   The salted, shelf-stable bottle sold in the grocery aisle rather than the drinks aisle.

   What changes

   Best for

   knowing what to avoid, savoury dishes only, with the salt cut

   Named here so you do not make the mistake, because the bottles sit close together and the labels look similar. Cooking sherry has a large quantity of salt added so it can be sold and stored outside the liquor section, and a salted trifle or a salted Christmas cake is not recoverable. In a savoury dish it can be pressed into service if you halve the quantity, top up the volume with water, cut the recipe's salt by half and never reduce it to a glaze. In anything sweet, do not use it at all. Taste any bottle straight before you cook with it, and if it tastes of brine, you have this one.