Everything You Need to Know About Cooking with Wine

You see it on cooking shows all the time, “just add some wine”. While it looks easy and it is simple to pour wine into your favorite sauce or dish, there is more to cooking with wine than you expect. Many home cooks find themselves having a difficult time choosing which specific wine to use for their meal. The good news is there are a few rules that you should keep in mind when cooking with wine that will make your meals taste extra delicious.

Ingredients

Wine contains tannins, sugars and acids that will affect the taste of your dishes. It is best to consider wine as an ingredient, just like salt and pepper, in order for you to balance out the flavors in the dish.

So, if you are cooking a fish dish that requires lemon juice and you plan to use an acidic white wine in your recipe, you will want to cut back on the lemon juice to make room for the wine. Otherwise, the final result will be too citrusy.

Balancing your ingredients with the notes in the wine will help create a flavorful dish.

Wine Choice

One rule to follow when you are deciding to cook with white or red wine is to use the wine pairing for the dish (Ex: Fortified reds for chocolate desserts and off-dry wines for spicy dishes). This will assure you will be complementing the flavors in the dish, in addition to being able to serve the remaining wine with the meal.

Also keep in mind that red wine contains tannins that can become harsh in reduction sauces. Wines with high quantities of tannins are best used with meat, since the proteins found in meat work well with the tannin content.

If you’re basing your dish off of a recipe that calls for dry white wine, a great go-to is Sauvignon Blanc. If it calls for a dry red, opt for light to medium bodied wines, like Chianti.

Now comes the question of what kind of quality wine to buy for the dish. The main rule of thumb is that you will want to use the same wine you would drink with your meal. Do not purchase wine that is cheap in cost and expect it to taste great in your cooking. Just remember, if you aren’t able to enjoy drinking the wine by itself, it shouldn’t be used for cooking purposes.

Do you have a favorite recipe that you add wine to? Share it with us below.