I was at the CIA Greystone in St Helena last weekend for a cooking demonstration and the chef was making some onions cookedn in red wine and the question of what wine to use came up. I have read where some folks here say if they are adding wine to their food they start with good wine because it will have a positive effect on the taste of the dish. The chef doing the demo answered this with a simple question, “What happens to wine when it gets hot?”
The consensus was heat ruins wine. Therefor why use good wine when you are going to heat it and ruin it? He said use inexpensive wine because in the end the only difference is what it cost you to make the dish. Made perfect sense to me.
I use considerably more white wine in cooking than red, but I do stick to the “don’t use a wine you wouldn’t drink” idea. But that being said, I normally use inexpensive wines ($5 or less) that are generally unoaked and fairly clean with no obvious technical flaws (ie, it’s drinkable but not very interesting). Normally I use domestic sauvignon blanc because those are generally fruity with no oak and decent acidity. I’ve used some slightly better wines in some dishes, but would never use a really high end bottle. Normally I’m just looking for something to deglaze the fond and add some acidity. You don’t need something expensive for that. Curious to hear about others.
Mega dittoes. I think for me, the question of wine in cooking is answered by saying, “whatever won’t poison you or make you barf.” Trader Joe’s has a $3.49 bottle of Chilean sauvignon blanc that works perfectly.
These days any technically sound, fruity wine would work. Leftover (more expensive) wine works just as well obviously.
A way to improve how your wine performs is to reduce the wine in a separate pan with aromatics for a couple of hours under looooow heat. Then use the liquid in your braise or deglazing.
I use corked bottles, assuming they haven’t oxidized. If it’s corked, I throw it in the fridge and use it within a week or so. After that it goes down the drain. The TCA boils off. I made a relatively delicate mushroom risotto using a lot of badly corked wine, with no hint in the finished dish.
Mega dittos to what Rachel said but I’ve also cooked with corked wine as Chuck mentioned. I will add that if you come across a corked unoaked white wine put it in the freezer until you are ready to cook with it…
I detract from the above posts minus Chuck for red wine. For reds, low tannin wines are the best no matter what. Tannins and “earthy notes” deter from dishes. For white wine, it is completely contextually. When I braise, high fruit and acid is best. That means not SB from a New World Producer. I prefer SW French wines, that are robust in flavor (read fruit) but balanced by acidity. However, for wine centric dishes like buerre blanc, risotto or other dishes that carry flavor, I use Petit Chablis, the mineral is less of an issue but still there. Maybe I am too “old world” but I pour a glass of what I drink into the pot. C’est vrai
I believe not to cook w/ wines you wouldn’t drink on their own. I cook w/ the same varietal as I will be serving/drinking w/ the dish. I think you should match wines with the flavor size of the dish; big w/ big, subtle w/ subtle. You should match the profile highlights of the dish with the wine.
Although I disagree, I’m curious why you think so. Grassy/herbal/fruit, almost all the cheap ones are 100% stainless and no oak or oak chips. Because it’s a less popular varietal, you generally get better quality than some other similar priced cheap whites. What makes it a bad call?
A few weeks is fine. I ignite many dishes and I could never believe a ‘better’ conditioned wine would serve me better. If it goes into a sauce, it’s different; Then I tend to use what i am drinking.
I use wine a lot when I cook. I tend to buy $10 or so unoaked chards for whites and $10 or so cabs or cab blends the most.Cheap stuff distributred by the likes of Polaner.
I have to be able to drink it, but, generally, I don’t use a wine that I would like to drink.
Also, I will sometimes cook wit them having been in the fridge for up to a week or two.