With not knowing much about wine, it is difficult to cook with wine. When a recipe calls for wine, they almost always assume that the reader knows a thing or two about wine. And some people are not really fans of drinking wine.
Luckily, there are some wine cooking tips that allow you to make those recipes that call for wine even when you don’t know much about it. For instance, some people will assume that they can just use cooking wine and it will be fine. Spoiler alert: It isn’t!
In this article, I will go over some tips to help you cook with wine to make some delicious recipes with it.
1 – Cook with wine you would drink
The lesson about using cooking wine is that it is undrinkable. As such, why would you put it in your food? If you put good wine in, then you will get good food out of it.
When you cook with wine, you usually don’t even use that much so you will still have a considerable amount left in the bottle. After a few days of being open, it won’t be fit to drink any longer so you can’t just store it away for another recipe. Dune Wines are an excellent example of this. They are wines that are very drinkable so they add a lot to the dish and are great to drink during dinner.
Once it is open, you should drink it with your loved ones so make sure it is one worth drinking. This isn’t to say that you need to go out and buy an expensive wine to put in your recipe. In fact, since you won’t pick up many of the nuances of the wine, you shouldn’t spend too much.
2 – Red for richness
Adding red wine to a dish is going to bring some nice acidity to the party, but as it cooks will mellow out and create a rich backdrop for what you are cooking. It is perfectly suited for cooking with meats. It can be added to deglaze a pan after meats have been seared to create a brazing liquid that will reduce to create a deep flavor.
This isn’t to say it has to exclusively be used for meat dishes. Even some vegetable dishes could use a splash of wine to bring out the sweetness. A beet risotto, for instance, would love a little bit of wine to combat the earthiness of the roots.
3 – White for acidity
Dishes that would be too rich with red wine as their base do well when using white instead. The sweetness that is left with a hint of acidity does well with risottos that feature lighter ingredients like artichoke or asparagus.
Chicken dishes often do really well with a white wine reduction that doesn’t overpower the delicate meat. With some herbs added, it is a match made in heaven. Even some stews that are going to cook
