Blog Sample - Cooking with Wine: 5 Basics to Know

Wine isn’t a limited drink, bound by a glass, a bottle, or even a bucket. Instead, it branches out into the culinary world, serving as an ingredient in many a’ dish!

This isn’t exactly stop-the-presses, spit-out-your-food news - cooking with wine has been around forever. But, as we learn more and more about alcohol’s benefits, it makes sense that wine finds a more prominent place in the kitchen. So, fashion a tiny chef’s hat on top of your bottle of Sherry - we’re about to dig in!

Red versus White

It seems like we’re always choosing between red wine and white wine, with everyone looking down on the idea of mixing them together to drink something pink. In cooking, once again, we must make this choice, saying yes or no to the vino.

So, let’s start with red, first…..

The main job of red wine is to marinate, ultimately bringing out the food’s natural flavors. Reds also enhance a dish’s essence and color while making the food drier and less sugary.

Red wine is a very versatile option and people can alter recipes to make red wine steak sauce or red wine BBQ sauce. When used in cooking, it follows the same rules as red wine paired with food. It works best in dishes that include red meat, lots of vegetables, or hearty meals like stews.

White, on the other hand, has a different kind of palate partnership: It doesn’t enhance a food’s flavors as much as it alters them. This doesn’t mean that pouring an entire bottle of Chardonnay on your mother-in-law’s terrible garlic chicken will suddenly make it edible, but it will add acidity, making the dish more tart. This is usually subtle, with the flavor alternation slight yet noticeable. White wines work best when cooking with fish, chicken, or cream sauces.

The Cost of Cooking with Wine

The wine that you use in cooking should be wine that you’re willing to drink…..and not on a drunken double dare. You don’t need to add a Domaine Ramonet Montrachet Grand Cru to your fettuccine sauce, but bad wine will translate to bad food. A good rule of thumb is to add quality wine but not something that should be reserved for a special occasion. 

But what about cooking wine?

The sole purpose of cooking wine is to be used in food as an inexpensive addition. This isn’t the kind of wine you’d want to consume while sitting on a beach or having happy hour with your girlfriends; drinking it is akin to drinking a glass of salt. Adding it to your dishes risks adding its terrible flavors, too. And this is why true wine connoisseurs throw the recipe book in its direction.

The Wines to Choose

So now that you know cooking wine is out, what vintages are in? Fortified wines, like Sherry, Marsala, Port, and Madeira make excellent choices as do crisp and dry whites (like Pinot Grigio) and red wines that go easy on the tannins (like Merlot).

Wines that are especially flavorful, like sweet, sweet Riesling, aren’t the most versatile choices, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find a dish they go well with. Part of the fun of cooking with wine is experimenting.

Can Food Made with Alcohol Get You Drunk?

Some people assume that a meal made with alcohol will cause mayhem in the kitchen, as the dish, engaged in poor judgment, runs away with the spoon. However, eating food made with wine isn’t the same thing as drinking wine; in other words, it shouldn’t cause inebriation. Not all the alcohol disappears, something to keep in mind if you’re cooking for kids or people who don’t drink. But, the longer something simmers, the more sober the food becomes.