Wine has the ability to add a great flavour to the food you’re cooking. You can use either red or white wine, depending on what the recipe calls for. Not only can you use wine for cooking, you can also use it in desserts. You can buy cooking wines in your supermarket. While there’s nothing wrong in using this, it is much better to use a good wine, the sort that you can also drink. The alcohol in wine will be cooked off, so you’ll be left with the aroma and gorgeous flavour.
Let’s take a look at how to cook with wine:
1. Use Wine You’d Drink
One mistake people make is to cook with a wine they would otherwise not drink. It would be much better to use a wine for cooking that you would also drink, and one that you enjoy. It does make a significant difference. If you would not serve a wine with food or if you will not drink it from a glass, then do not use it when cooking. You can use many decent white or red wines to cook with.
Sauvignon Blanc is a fine example of a good white wine that you can buy and cook with. The same thing can be said of red wines like Cabernet Sauvignon or Chianti. The problem with “cooking wines” is the additives and salt content, so if you can, keep away from those.
2. Quantity
When cooking with wine, you need to consider the quantity used. It is just like any other ingredient you would use. You would not use less or more of a specific ingredient, right? Think of wine in the same way. Too little and it may not make a difference to the dish. Too much can cause the dish to kind of go overboard. The right amount is key. Remember, just like when you cook anything, if you put more of something, you can’t take it back. So, add small amounts slowly. If you need more, then you can add more.
3. Be Like Jesus!
A long time ago, there was someone named Jesus. You may have heard of him. He had the right idea about turning water into wine. So, if your recipe calls for you to add water, use wine instead. Water adds moisture, but so does wine. Besides, whatever you are cooking, it is going to add quite a nice flavour to the dish. Try it. You wouldn’t dare argue, would you?
In fact, you can also use wine to marinate foods before cooking. Before you cook your veggies on a grill or roast them, marinate it in wine first. Marinating meat with wine can tenderize it, but it is important to make sure the wine used should be at room temperature.
4. Flavour
If you want to get the best flavour from using wine, especially when making a sauce, reduce it slowly over low heat. One other trick here is to warm the wine first before adding any food to the pan. When you heat wine first, before adding food into the vessel, it can actually add more moisture to the food. It also ‘prepares’ the vessel for cooking.
5. It Takes Practice
Just like anything, cooking with wine does take practice. You need to experiment, make errors and then after that, you will get good at it. You can use wine in so very many recipes. For extra flavour in your gravy, you can add wine; you can baste meat when roasting, with wine. You can even use wine with oil or melted butter. You will get to a point when you will know how much to add and you can even begin to predict flavours and tastes. If you’d like to know how to cook with wine, keep at it. You won’t regret it!
