![]() If the wine tastes even remotely like vinegar, you’ll need to pour the bottle of wine down the drain.Īgain, if a wine doesn’t taste good to you, I can guarantee you won’t like the final dish! Cooking Wine vs. Taste leftover wine before adding it to a recipe. Marsala wine - Most often used in desserts, but also in classic chicken marsala.Ībsolutely! Store leftover wine in the fridge, tightly corked or sealed.Sparkling wine or Champagne - Don’t fret, the bubbles cook off! You can use sparkling wines as a white wine substitute in most recipes for this reason.Dry Sherry works well in dairy-rich recipes. Sherry - Just a dash added to a finished soup or sauce brightens the flavor of the dish. ![]() Red and white wines are the most common wines for cooking, but a few other varieties to be familiar with include: If it’s labeled as a dry wine, that should work! Other Types of Wine for Cooking You’ll often find a description of the flavor somewhere on the bottle. Dry red wine varieties like a Merlot, Pinot Noir, or Cabernet Sauvignon are good choices. Similar to cooking with white wine, I also recommend cooking with a dry red wine. Save the sweet wine for pairing with your dessert course, or as a dessert by itself. Not necessarily the flavor profile I’m going for when making a savory recipe! Sweeter white wines often caramelize or even burn when cooked for long periods of time, plus they impart a stronger, sweeter flavor. Unless a recipe specifically calls for a sweet white wine, I tend to avoid cooking with one. ![]() If a recipe calls for white wine, a safe bet is to purchase a Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc, or Chardonnay. These dry whites have the right aromatic character for cooking with lighter dishes.ĭry white wines are generally the most versatile, so buy one of the varieties listed above if you have no idea what to get for your recipe. Now that we’ve covered the basics of what the “best” wine for cooking is, here are some general guidelines on how you can select the right wine for whatever dish you’re cooking. I’ll cover this more later in this post, but also keep in mind that you should NEVER cook with anything labeled as “cooking wine.” Instead, when wine is used properly in cooking it enhances and rounds out the other ingredients of a dish, adding a nuanced depth of flavor you couldn’t otherwise achieve. That said, if you make a recipe correctly, the wine likely won’t be the star flavor. Save the expensive wine for drinking with your meal. A good quality wine with a middle of the road price range is usually sufficient. Similarly, you shouldn’t choose the cheap wine on the bottom shelf. There’s no need to buy the most expensive bottles of wine for cooking with, however. Think of it this way: if you don’t like the taste of a certain wine, you won’t like the flavor it imparts into a certain dish - wine enhances dishes, the flavor doesn’t get masked by other ingredients! The amount and kind of wine you’ll need for any given recipe will vary based on the dish and your personal preferences.Īs a general rule of thumb, you should only ever cook with a wine you’d happily drink. Spoiler: there is no single “best” wine for cooking. This is a long post, but I’ll answer all of these questions - and more! If you have additional questions about cooking with wine that I don’t answer in this post, leave me a comment below so I can help you out! Selecting the Best Wine to Cook With Other questions you’re probably asking about cooking with wine are: what type of wine should I use for which dish, does the alcohol in wine cook off, can wine be substituted, and what’s the difference between regular wine and cooking wine? I’ll list the main ways you can cook with wine later in this post. Wine can be used in marinades, sauces, soups, and more. Wine acts as a seasoning in any recipe the point isn’t to make a wine-flavored dish, but rather to add some acidity and depth to the overall flavor profile. ![]() Using wine in cooking may sound intimidating or “fancy,” but think of it like you would any other ingredient. If you’ve never tried cooking with wine, you are missing out!
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