Cooking with wine

Change that slightly, Allie, to not cooking with a wine that you wouldn't drink, and you'd be closer to the mark.

We don't drink a lot of wine here, either. But when choosing a cooking wine I shy away from the really cheap stuff that, to me, tastes cruddy. I ask myself, "would you drink this with what you are preparing?" If the answer is "no" then I know better next time.

Still and all, there are numerous wines selling for less than ten bucks that serve you well. You just have to experiment a little to find ones that suit you.

For whatever it may be worth, I have settled on two for my day-in, day-out cookery. For whites I go with an Australian Pinot Grigio. For reds its a Shiraz.

Some recipes do specify the kind of wine, and for those do not substitute. Madaira, Sherry, and Marsala, for instance, bring a particular flavor to the dish, and should be used where specified. But otherwise, find one of each that you like, and adopt them as your house wines.

I'd agree with KY, but would like to add that an opened bottle of wine, no matter what techniques you use to keep it "fresh" will have a limited shelf life. If you don't drink much wine I'd suggest buying 375ml bottles instead of the larger bottles. Another option is to freeze the unused wine if it won't be used in short order. It'll keep a lot better properly frozen then left in the bottle. You can even freeze it in zip-lock bags.

Finally, while I wouldn't suggest buying "plonk," some great bargains can be found, and a good wine can sometimes be had for as little as $5.00 or $6.00 a bottle. Look towards Chilean wines as a possibility, and believe it or not, there are some good wines to be had that have their origin in Arkansas as well as other states generally not associated with grape growing and wine production.

I've been satisfied with Trader Joe's Merlot when used in a spaghetti sauce, although in the future I'd probably opt for something a little better. But it wasn't bad.

Oh, one other thing - If you're having wine with dinner then it may be a good idea to use the same or a similar wine in the cooking of that dinner.

Have fun exploring the posibilities ....

Shel

First of all start drinking wine. Good fo ya body good fo ya soul. And all it takes is the effort to try different brands and types. You can get an affordable bottle that tastes great and is good to cook with also. Although wine can be useful in cooking it's stature in a dish or sauce depends on the degree that you're using it. If it's an up front flavor component use something good if it's merely a background flavor, say you only really need it for some acidity. Any random inexpensive wine should do. The restaurant I work in for most marinades and basic sauces we use box wine.

I agree with robot. I wouldn't even necessarily drink the wine I'm cooking with lol. There were some tests done and the cheap stuff actually won out over so called "good" wines. Box wine works pretty good. I also use Dry Vermouth alot when white wine is called for. I use it for most of my weekday pan deglazing needs. Then I recap it and return it to my cool pantry till the next time! I keep Taylor dry sherry for the same purpose! We just end up drinking the bottles of red we open for cookin lol! So there's never any of that left open! We also have a small bottle of cognac that I keep in the kitchen for cooking. So those 3 items are a basic part of my pantry along with vinegars and bottle sauces like Worcerstershire, herb, spices, salt and pepper etc.

Try out recipes which name the wine

Try out recipes from cook books that give out the name of the fine first, whether it is Marsala or Shiraz or even just cooking wine. Once you get to know the tastes and understand the wine, then you can try out recipes of your own.

have you ever tried pisco instead of wine??? it really taste good.

Pisco is a liquor made predominantly in Peru, Chile, and, to a lesser extent, Bolivia. A famous drink is the Pisco Sour - it's considered by many to be the "national drink" of Peru and Chile.

I forget just what grapes are used to make Pisco, and never cared enough to remember the ingredients that go into a Pisco Sour.

I'm not much of a drinker, but when I was in Peru I made it a point to sample a few Pisco Sours. The most enjoyable one was in a the As de Oro restaurant in the little town of ... Pisco, which, in around 1550, was where wine grapes were first planted in the Western hemisphere.

Shel

Perhaps you should go to places that offer wine tasting. That way you don't buy a bottle unless you know you like it first. If it tastes bad by itself, there is nothing you can do to make it better.

My dad started drinking wine at 70 years because the doc said it was good for his heart (he had 4 stents put in). I found it amusing seeing my missionary minister dad getting a little woozy:D I visited my parents in NJ a couple weeks ago.

When I started trying red wine I found Merlot and Marechal Foch very nice. They are 2 of my favorite varieties now. The Marechal Foch I got from Serendipity Winery in Western Oregon.

I visited France a few years ago with the attitude that I was sure France would fall short of the hype about wine, cheese, bread, food in general. After just a day there I had to admit it was fantastic. And it's hard to go wrong with French wine, even a 5-dollar bottle, in my experience.

I think some of the best wines for Cooking for under $10 bux are from Columbia Crest Winery... you can find them everywhere..

mavrud

I was wondering is some of you have tried a wine called Mavrud - I heard it's very nice cooking ingredient.

My rule of thumb is just to use a wine I like. Generally though for cooking I won't spend more than $10 a bottle but it still has to be something I will like. I am from Australia and most Australian wines are excellent. I haven't had a bad one yet...even the cheapies.

Wine & Chicken?

What is the best "overall" wine to use when cooking with chicken dishes. I'm sure there are hundreds of choices, I'm just looking for a good overall wine.

Thanks

Chicken Whine

Short answer: There is none. It really depends on the dish, but often it just comes down to whether you want/need a white or red, sweet or dry wine to get the proper results. FWIW, Cook's Illustrated tested a number of wines for cooking and concluded one of the wines in a box, with the collapsable plastic bladder, was a "best choice." I'll use what's handy - If I'm opening a bottle to have with dinner, I'll use that. Other times Trader Joe's Two-Buck Chuck ($3.00 in NY State) is often a go-to wine. For red I've had good results with their Merlot

Recently while watching a well known chef prepare a lamb dish, I heard hims say, when asked a similar question, that "it doesn't matter." At least it didn't in the case of the dish he was preparing. He used two bottles of red as a braising liquid, and they were different wines.

Now, that said, there are some dishes that may require a specific wine or wine type, but usually the recipe will tell you that.

So, the short of it is, don't fret about it.

shel

Price isn't necessarily indicative of the quality of a wine, just find one red and one white you like and stick with them maybe to start. It adds another dimension to the flavour. Where would a coq au vin or a beef burgundy be without it? I like to add cabernet sauvignon to my beef and tomato sauces to go over pasta.

The tartness you taste will lessen somewhat with the cooking process as most of the alcohol cooks off - add some sugar into the dish if its still too tart, especially if you're cooking a dish with tomatoes. It really does make a difference. You might enjoy a sparkling wine if you're looking to start growing a wine pallette (champagne if the budget allows!). It can also be handy in cooking, and its nice to have while you're cooking!

If you're looking for Australian wines, some good areas are Barossa Valley and Coonawarra, Clare Valley also, all in South Australia, Hunter Valley in New South Wales, Margaret River in Western Australia. There are many good areas, but these spring to mind.