Like others, I avoid oaky wines and also wines with a bit of RS which can be the issue with some cheaper whites. I rarely use what I’m drinking, although sometimes I might if I’m having a glass of rose.
-Al
The time when I’m most likely to cook with the same wine I’m drinking is when I’m cooking with a nice but not very $$$ Zinfandel. So the Zin goes into the dish (usually something like a braised dish/stew) and there’s plenty leftover to enjoy on its own.
Bruce
We have a section in the cellar of cooking wines - mostly odds and ends of appropriate reds or whites (not too much oak, not too sweet etc.) that would be a bit past their prime for drinking, or that we accumulated over the years accidentally and don’t care to drink.
+1… I almost always have a bottle in the fridge that I only got through a few capfuls of (martinis) before it went past its best.
For whites we often have a box wine in the fridge for cooking. For reds, always a supply of reasonably fresh, corked bottles.
My wife sells wine to restaurants, including the very high-end spots. You wouldn’t drink anything they cook with.
We never cook with anything we drink, there’s way too much plonk around our house for that.
Craig Claiborne, in his New York Times Cookbook, says that the classic vin for coq au vin is Chambertin and then adds “but any good dry red wine will do.” The Chambertin part always struck me as nonsense… Coq au vin is family cooking, isn’t it, something nice for Sunday dinner, and how many French families would even have, let alone think of using, a grand cru Burgundy for cooking?
Cook with the best, drink the rest…or, cook with the best, and drink the best. Either way, cook with good wine. Just my bias.
Mom is French, still has the house in Fleurie, and can very much afford non-hyphenated Burgundy, but the French won’t pay the price because they don’t much agonize over wine, it’s simply what’s for dinner. This is why all of the “storied” French wine gets exported, the French themselves, laugh at these prices. Same for the Italians (Dad). The only people in France, agonizing over wine, are the various AOC’s. Believe me, plenty of French people could cook with, and, drink Chambertin, all day, everyday, for the rest of their lives and the next 10 generations. Sorry for the rant.
I made a chicken heart risotto with an oxidized and undrinkable bottle of Montrachet at a dinner that Lettie Teague attended, but was late to, so she missed the fact it was not drinkable.
Welcome to the Forum, Smanlin.
Corked wine is ideal for cooking, because it will impart flavors which cannot be had with non-oxidized wine. It’s not so good to drink, but the best “vinegar” comes from the best wines, and corked Montrachet would be an excellent choice. Nobody would drink “vinegar”, save for the ancient Roman soldiers, they did, they drank it diluted, but everybody would cook with the best vinegar. And the best vinegar comes from the best wine. I do not know Lettie Teague.
Anyway, welcome to the Forum, it really is a great place, full of diverse opinions and experiences, lot of good debate, lot of good information, and no hard feelings.
I mainly use leftover wine or wine that I’m going to drink - or wine that I’m going to drink while I’m cooking.
In restaurants I either used stale wine from the BTG or jug/box wine. It doesn’t make a bit of difference.
A friend once opened 2 bottles of '90 de La Tour Clos Vougeot (along with several other Vougeot) 1 went in the glasses, 1 went in the Boeuf Bourguignon.
Depending on how long something is cooked, I’ll use a cup or so from good bottles I’ve opened for drinking that night.
This thread reminds me of about the time one of the country clubs here requested an Opus One reduction sauce… so the kitchen reduces down a whole case of Opus for a freaking sauce.
Seems like you could have reduced 11 bottles of something else then added one bottle of O1…
Fancy Folks have crazy requests in country clubs.
I’ll never forget one day when a guest came in with a wild boar he shot and asked if we could cook it for him that night.