Chicken Marsala (Pollo al Marsala) [Alcohol]

ARTICLE

ALCOHOL
	Chicken Marsala is an Italian dish of chicken breasts cooked in a sauce of fortified Marsala wine . Try our halal version of The Olive Garden's recipe for Chicken Marsala!

Spotlight Halal:
Chicken Marsala ( Pollo al Marsala )

Spotlight Halal is a collection of food and ingredient articles on IsItHaram.com.

WHAT IS IT?

Chicken Marsala a classic Italian dish of chicken breast cutlets and mushrooms cooked in a Marsala wine sauce. Chicken Marsala is one of the more popular chicken dishes in Italian American restaurants.

A similar dish, filetto di manzo col Marsala , is made using beef filets in place of chicken.

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Halal Recipe: Halal Chicken Marsala

HOW IS IT MADE?

Chicken Marsala is prepared by lightly frying flour-coated chicken breast halves in olive oil and then braising them with butter, olive oil, onions, mushrooms and herbs in a sauce of Marsala wine . The Marsala wine sauce thickens to nearly the consistency of a syrup while the chicken is slowly cooked and flavored by it. Marsala wine is frequently used in Italian cooking — in risotto recipes, and to produce rich Italian desserts such as zabaglione , tiramisu and shortcake .

Marsala is a sweet Sicilian red wine that has been fortified with ethanol (ethyl alcohol) , the kind of alcohol found in all alcoholic beverages . Because it is fortified, it has an alcohol content of around 20% , compared to an alcohol content of 12% for the typical wine . It is similar in flavor and strength to Port Wine .

The typical recipe for Chicken Marsala calls for 1 cup of Marsala wine .

-- Try our halal version of The Olive Garden's Recipe for Chicken Marsala --

WARNING LEVEL: LOW

Muslims who insist on zabiha meat would likely opt for seafood or vegetarian dishes, instead of chicken, while dining at Italian restaurants . Also, most restaurant menus list Marsala wine as an ingredient in Chicken Marsala. It can, however, be a danger area for Muslims who are not familiar with Italian cuisine.

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AMNA RECOMMENDS

This dish cannot be made without wine . Unlike Shrimp Scampi , where white wine is added during the final minute of preparation, Chicken Marsala is actually cooked in and flavored with the Marsala wine sauce from the beginning. You can, however, try our halal recipe for this classic Southern Italian dish at home in your own kitchen.

SPECIAL NOTE: ALCOHOL AND COOKING

AMNA classifies any food that has been made with an alcoholic product as ALCOHOL , even if it has been sautéed, simmered, baked or set on fire. The conventional wisdom accepted by just about everyone is that all the alcohol you add to a dish evaporates during cooking. It’s wrong.

In fact, according to a study conducted by the US Department of Agriculture’s Nutrient Data Laboratory, you have to cook something for a good three hours to remove virtually all traces of alcohol. After it has simmered for 15 minutes, 40% of the alcohol remains in the Chicken Marsala – around two thirds of a cup.

-- Learn about Alcohol cook-off times on the IsItHaram.com web site at --

WHAT DOES ALCOHOL MEAN?

ALCOHOL is the rating that we give to any food that always contains alcohol or an alcohol-derived product . AMNA Muslim Food Advisor, a service of IsItHaram.com , rates Chicken Marsala as ALCOHOL because it is always cooked in a fortified red wine sauce.

At IsItHaram.com , our Guiding Principle is to provide the diverse Muslim communities living in Western countries with practical information about the wide range of food choices they face on a daily basis, but from an Islamic perspective. We don’t say a food is haram or halal ; we say: "This food is made with alcohol and pork," or, "That food normally contains chicken."

Whether or not you insist on zabihah , our flexible and informative approach allows you to make informed decisions on what to buy and eat.

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