About champagne

Thank you all for your wonderful answers. One of the things I love about foodpickle is the education I receive with each answer. All recipes and tips are now stored.

Here's the recipe I used for a Valentine's sorbet; http://www.food52.com/recipes/9579_ruby_heartstealer_valentine_sorbet

The basic formula for a French 75 cocktail calls for gin, cointreau, squeezed lime juice, sugar and finished with sparkling wine. Stirred not shaken.

Amanda beat me to recommending a stopper. I find they work well. A silver spoon set stem down in the bottle will keep the bubbles for one extra day. But sparkly or flat, it's a great pan deglazer for scallops or delicately flavored white fish. And Jean-Michel Lorain, chef/owner of La Côte St. Jacques in Joigny, France (3* near Chablis) shared a wonderful recipe for chicken poached in Champagne.

I use a simple Champagne bottle stopper and have found that a bottle will hold its fizz well for 2 days, and then will degrade over days 3 and 4. By day 5 it's usually pretty much flat.

Think of it as white wine and use it to poach scallops, in vinaigrette, in pierino's sorbet.

Or use it to make thirschfield's candies: http://www.food52.com/recipes/7145_spiced_cider_jellies

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/01/what-to-do-with-leftover-champagne/

Actually a French 75 sounds like a damn good use for it provided you can stopper up the bottle. I also use it in citrus sorbet (or any number of other sparkling wines for that matter). But a week is kind of a long time to hold it as the fizz will be gone...

Leave it in the bottle opened, with some cheese cloth on top. Let it sit at room temp for a few weeks. It will sour/vinegar. (if it wasn't made with preservatives).
Then use it for salad dressing. Mustard, dijon, herbs, the champagne.

This is also good to use with beaujolais nouveau that's soured.