Using Wine To Prepare Food

Do you know you can use wine to cook? Not to partake in but to add it to your meals. Wine in your meals intensifies and enhances the flavor of food. I am not a sommelier but I can confirm that cooking wines are typically salty and include other additives that may adversely affect the taste of your chosen menu. If you want to use cooking wine, adjust your recipe to reflect the salt that is already in the wine.

Adding  flavor to a dish with premium wine.

If you are intending on cooking with the wine today evening, do not simmer the wine for a long length of time. To preserve a reasonable part of its flavor, simmer  the wine and do not let it come to a boil. If wine is extremely fruity, sour, or unsavory, these characteristics will be emphasized during cooking. Wine needs time to impart its flavor, wait ten or more minutes to taste before adding more wine. Be careful not to put too much wine, it might overpower the dish. Go for your favorite wine, the one that you would drink. The core flavor of the dish will impact the flavors of the wine chosen. Therefore, if you do not like the taste of the wine, you will not like the final results.

Recipes that call for champagne are more for effect rather than flavor. It is best to use a flat bottle of champagne. Flat champagne is much like a dry wine but has more acidic and tends to be dryer.

Using wine to make a sauce

We deglaze through the process of loosening and reducing the left residue in a pan when meat has been sautéed. When you cook, the meat is extracted from the pan, and a liquid such as wine, vinegar, stock, or juice is added to the remaining meat juices and bits. This flavorful remainder combines with the liquid to produce a sauce which is gravy for the meat. The longer the liquid is cooked, the thicker the mixture gets. Cream or butter can be added to create a smoother sauce. Do not use light or fruity wines to make the sauce, because fruitiness is terminated during the cooking process, leaving great acidic sauce. If wine becomes overly acidic during deglazing or reduction, add fresh/dried fruit to counteract.

In Conclusion,

The time spent reducing the wine depends on the color of the wine. White wines are cooked for a shorter period, long enough to burn off the alcohol. Red wines are usually cooked for a longer period to turn the typically vibrant purple color of red wine into a rich red color. The red color blends beautifully with the dark brown color of meat.

Enjoy your meal 🙂