Cooking with Wine

"I always cook with wine," goes the joke. "Sometimes I even put some in the food."

Using wine as a cooking liquid goes way back in culinary time. The West's first "cookbook," compiled in the first century, "De re coquinaria" ("On Cooking"), included dozens of recipes that used wine.

The Romans so fancied wine for cooking that they prepared a concentrate of grape must (unfermented grape juice) called defrutum, which was kept around the hearth and used both to color and sweeten foods. In the East, centuries of Japanese and Chinese cooks have made wine from fruits or rice and used these liquids in cooking.

The ways of wine in cooking are legion: to marinate, macerate, saute, poach, boil, braise, stew, reduce or deglaze. Some cooks use wine for stir-fries, steaming or blanching. A splash of it straight out of the bottle is an added flavor in many a vinaigrette or other cold sauce.

Cooks use wine instead of mere water because of the flavors wine adds to dishes. But just as the four vinegars made from cider, sherry, red wine or white wine each differ from the other, both in taste and their effect on a dish, so do wines differ in what they add to — and especially how they affect — food preparations.

"Wine adds acidity to sauces," says Jeff Mosher, chef for the Robert Mondavi Winery. "Food that has a level of acidity goes better with wine than food that is flat."

Acidity, in truth, lifts flavors in food, much the way salt lifts savor.

It's important to find a wine that compliments your dish, is of reasonable quality, tastes delicious on its own and is a good value. Right away you can eliminate anything labeled as "cooking wine" since it probably earned that title by being unfit to drink.

A careful cook, however, needs to consider the cooking preparation when utilizing wine. That acidity, for example, could concentrate into an unwelcome tartness after boiling down a marinade into a sauce. So, likewise, would any sweetness in wine; too much can cloy.

And beware of distilling down the tannins in blockbuster reds. "It's best to use red wines that don't have huge tannins," says Mosher. "When reduced, they leave a bitter flavor. I usually cook with merlot or pinot noir ... never all cabernet sauvignon."

For the same reason, be loath to use "cooking wine." Not only are such wines often oxidized, but they are also packed with salt. Concentrated, they'll render a dish saline.

Finally, it isn't necessary, as the adage has it, to cook with the same wine that you will serve. The flavor compounds and nuances of a finely etched wine simply don't survive the heat of most cooking. For example, preparing boeuf bourgignon or coq au vin doesn't require expensive red Burgundy. For these classic French dishes, any of the world's well-made, balanced, medium- to full-bodied red wines will serve.

Dry vs. Sweet

This tip is simple. If you are making a savory dish buy a dry wine. Fruit- forward does not mean sweet. If a label describes it's wine as fruity, that just means concentrated fruit flavor it has nothing to do with sugar. For dry whites go for Chardonnay. For dry reds, you have more to choose from: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot or Pinot Noir (though this last category will be harder to find something sippable under $20) For sweeter whites look for Riesling, Semillon and Muscat and for even sweeter look for labels that read late- harvest and ice wine. For sweet reds, Lambrusco (a fizzy sweet Italian wine) or Port (technically a fortified wine because it has the addition of Brandy) will work great in your dessert recipes.

Traditional Formula for Pairing Wine with Cooking

Keep in mind that wine needs to simmer with the food you're cooking to enhance its flavor. Don't add it at the end of cooking or you'll risk serving a dish with a strong, overpowering flavor. The longer you cook the wine (over low to medium heat), the more subtle the flavors.

As with most seasonings, take the attitude of "you can always add more" rather than pouring it on full-force from the start. If your taste buds tell you to add more be sure to wait about 10 minutes after your first taste so the wine has time to be absorbed.

 

White Wines

Dry white wines are commonly used for cooking when you don't want to add sweetness to the dish. As you cook the wine the alcohol will evaporate. This extracts the flavor profile of the wine and adds it to the dish. You'll want to be careful not to over-extract the wine or add too much to the dish making it difficult to reduce. Using a drinking wine also makes it a convenient wine pairing with your meal as the flavors already naturally compliment one another. As a general rule, dry white wines for cooking should be matched to lighter dishes such as chicken, pork, veal, soup, seafood, shellfish, and vegetables.

White Meat, Cream Sauces, and Gravies

USE: Rich Dry White Wines ex. Chardonnay

Use thicker and intensely flavored dry whites, such as Chardonnay, for making cream sauces, gravy and chicken. There are many white wines that are rich and creamy, however Chardonnay is probably the most widely available. Cooking with wine in a cream sauce or gravy requires a bit more expertise as it's difficult to balance acidity or monitor how much of the wine has reduced. This could lead to a sour sauce or residual alcohol, both of which can ruin a dish. It's especially important in this case to regularly taste your food while cooking.

Seafood and Shellfish

USE: Crisp Dry White Wines ex. Pinot Grigio

Crisp dry white wines, such as Pinot Grigio, add a fruity, mineral character that is perfect for cooking seafood. A little bit of acidity can cut through a fattier fish, but be careful not to get too acidic as it's easy to over-extract when cooking. If you're feeling creative, try any of these other varietals: Vinho Verde, Assyrtiko, Muscadet.

Vegetables

USE: Light Dry White Wines ex. Sauvignon Blanc

Sauvignon Blanc is a classic light wine with fruity, herbal and floral flavors that add an amazing dimension when cooking vegetables. It's among the easiest wines to cook with, just splash the wine in the sauté pan to deglaze. Try artichoke, Mediterranean-style tomato dishes, swiss chard, eggplant, garlic, bell peppers and mushrooms. Add a little butter and lemon for extra deliciousness and the perfect balance of acid! Any of these varietals also have similar qualities: Verdejo, Gruner Veltliner, Viognier

Tips for Cooking with White Wine

 

Cooking With Fortified Wines

The fresh produce, barbecues and rosé wines—the culinary boys of summer—have all gone home for the off-season. Taking their place as the days grow shorter and colder are heartier and richer foods that must be made in the kitchen. And one of the best ways to obtain the additional flavors you desire is to employ fortified wine as a lead ingredient in whatever you might be whipping up.

Often underappreciated as everyday drinking wines, Port and Madeira from Portugal, Sherry from Spain, and Marsala from Italy are all capable of bringing invaluable flavor and an extra level of depth to a range of foods—sauces and dressings in particular.

Bolstered with brandy and higher in alcohol (usually 17 to 21 percent) than table wines, fortified wines stand up well to the heat of cooking. In a nutshell, they are masters at holding onto their core flavors, which are generally sweet and highly concentrated. And because the wines have been strengthened, they will last for several months after opening. Which is no small bonus if you'll be doing a lot of cooking this winter.

Port, which hails from the Douro Valley of Portugal, is a fortified red wine (the others are all made from white base wines). The two types of Port most often used in cooking are ruby Port—a bright, fruity, young wine—and tawny Port, which is aged in wood and takes on a tawny, brown color and more complex flavors of toffee, chocolate and caramel. Vintage Port, meanwhile, is a wine meant for aging and drinking on its own. Late Bottled Vintage Port is also a more refined wine that should be sipped by itself or with food.

Sherry, which comes from the extreme southwest of Spain, is made by many Sherry houses in a number of styles, ranging from the ultra-dry fino and manzanilla up through amontillado, oloroso and palo cortado, and finishing with the sweet, syrupy cream and Pedro Ximénez versions. Amontillado and oloroso are arguably the two best classes of Sherry to cook with, as they both impart clear-cut nuttiness along with mushroom and toffee notes.

Madeira comes from a like-named Portuguese island off the coast of Morocco. The four major grapes used to make Madeira, in increasing order of sweetness, are Sercial, Verdelho, Bual and Malmsey. For cooking, we recommend a Reserve-level wine, which will have been aged for at least five years. A Special Reserve, with 10 years of age, will only intensify the flavor of your sauce or salad dressing. And if you wish to purchase a bottle of Madeira for post-dinner drinking, then we suggest an Extra Reserve or a vintage-specific bottling from a high-quality producer.

Marsala is a product of western Sicily. It comes in dry (secco), semidry (semisecco) and sweet (dolce) styles, and when a dry or semidry version is reduced with pan drippings and then thickened with some cornstarch, it makes a fabulous sauce for breast of chicken or thinly sliced veal.