Good Taste / August 2006

Cheers to Dinner

Cooking with wine intensifies and enhances the flavor of meats, fruits and vegetables. Great chefs create exotic recipes with wine, but wine is a user-friendly addition that can lift ordinary dishes to a savory new level.

Don’t be afraid to experiment, but novices should start out simple. The more experience a cook gains with wine, the more she can predict how the wine will affect the flavor and presentation of dishes.

It isn’t necessary to use expensive wine, but sometimes a very cheap wine won’t bring out the best characteristics of the dish and the cooking process will bring out the worst in an inferior wine. An acceptable drinking wine, (just forget about ‘cooking wine’ which is quite salty) will provide the same flavor to a dish as a premium wine. Save the good stuff to serve with the meal (or to reward the cook).

Novices should start with good quality, well balanced, young and powerful wines, that they enjoy drinking. The core flavor of the dish will reflect the wine. If the wine doesn’t taste good, neither will the dish. If a wine is extremely fruity, sour, or unsavory, the characteristics will be emphasized during cooking.

To preserve flavor, cook the wine slowly, don’t let it come to a boil and don’t simmer too long. The good quality wines will stand up to higher temperatures and longer cooking time. Wine needs time to impart its flavor, so wait ten minutes or more to taste before adding more wine. Too much wine will overpower a dish. A wine that is simmered for a short time on low heat will impart a different flavor of that same wine simmered at high heat for an extended period of time.

For best results, wine shouldn’t be added just prior to serving; it should simmer with the food or sauce, to enhance the flavor. Added late in the preparation, wine can impart a harsh quality.

Champagne in recipes is generally more for effect rather then flavor. It’s best to use flat champagne, which is like a dry white wine, just more acidic and a little dryer.

Use nonreactive cookware, like enamel, not aluminum or cast iron, when cooking with wine.

Recipes with wine often call for deglazing, which is simply the process of loosening and reducing the residue left in a pan after meat has been sautéed. After cooking, the meat is removed from the pan and a liquid, like wine, vinegar, stock, or juice is added to the remaining meat juices and bits. The flavorful residue combines with the liquid to produce a sauce or gravy. The longer the liquid is cooked, the thicker the mixture gets as the liquid evaporates and reduces. Cream or butter is often added to create a smoother sauce.

Soups or sauces may call for reducing, which is to thicken and intensify the flavor of a liquid by boiling, uncovered, to evaporate excess liquid.

Using wine in deglazing and reducing creates intense, complex sauces that turn standard fare into memorable meals.

Choose dry wines for sauces. The “fruity” taste of sweet wines is destroyed during the cooking process, leaving a highly acidic sauce.

The amount of time spent reducing the wine, may be dependent on the color of the wine. White wines are cooked for a shorter period of time, just long enough to burn off the alcohol. Red wines are usually cooked longer to turn the rich purple color of the wine into a rich red which blends beautifully deliciously the deep brown color of meat.

To start cooking with wine, when a recipe calls for water, use wine instead. Try adding a light, dry white wine to melted butter and baste grilled, broiled, or baked fish. Stir in a couple tablespoons of a full-bodied red wine into brown gravy and let it simmer for a very rich gravy, good with almost any red meat. Try mixing wine with flavored oil to baste meat and poultry. Freeze leftover drinking wine in ice cube trays for future cooking use, like with sauteed mushrooms.

Conversation about food and wine usually revolves around which wine to drink with dinner, not what wine to put in dinner, but it’s never too late to change that. A little wine, like a little love, improves the flavor of any meal.

 

 

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