Question on cooking wine.

I was reading one of the many wine magazines recently. They had a question and answer column and a person posed this question. Is there a go-to red and white wine that you use for cooking? The answer was the standard drivel, you know, good enough wine that you can drink it, not too sweet unless called for, yadda, yadda. Well, what say the learned people of this board? Do you have a favorite cooking red and white?

Do you have a favorite cooking red and white?

I don't mean to give you the usual yada, yada, Harry, but I never cook with a wine that I would not drink. I usually have plenty of gassed samples sitting around, so I choose one that is reasonably tasty -- usually a Syrah, Merlot or Cab for red, and a Sauvignon Blanc or Riesling for white. You?

Hi Harry,
I hate recipes that say simply 'white wine' or 'red wine'. There is so much variation, especially in white.
I've cooked pork in sauvignon blanc which was quite tasty and the other night I used pinot gris for a wine butter sauce for fish.
I prefer unoaked whites when cooking with white wine, but am conscious of the flavour and acidity of the wine. I think that is why pinot gris works quite well - as it is often quite neutral.
As for reds, depends on the dish. Pinot noir for lamb shanks is a favourite.
These are all wines I would drink, by the way. Usually leftovers from a tasting unless it's a special occasion.
Cheers,
Sue

Well, I DO go with the conventional "yadda yadda".

I don't have any particular go-to wine for cooking.

For white wine, I generally go with Julia Child's advice in "The Way To Cook". The traditional recipes call for a rather acidic white wine, by usual US and other New World standards. Julia says this is why she recommends dry white French Vermouth. I'll go with any cheap but palatable US sauvignon blanc or whatnot. I avoid cooking with US chardonnays because they tend to be too low in acidity.

But I'd never cook with Ripple, Night Train, or Boone's Farm.

Ditto on the red side. Expensive reds would certainly work, but they'd be a waste of good wine. But you want something at least palatable. Mad Dog 20-20 or Manischewitz would be right out.

It's worth observing here that even for legendary dishes such as Coq au Chambertin (where Chambertin is used in place of the generic Bourgogne), the wine used in cooking was the inferior press wine, left over after the fermenting vat had yielded the grand vin.

So choose something reasonably good, but don't sacrifice any wine that's exceptional in its own right to the cooking pot.

-Paul W.


-Paul W.

But I'd never cook with Ripple, Night Train, or Boone's Farm.

Ditto on the red side..... Mad Dog 20-20 or Manischewitz would be right out.
-Paul W.

Are you implying that you don't drink these fine crus?

I drank two bottles of Ripple the night before I left for Vietnam and fell off the pier in Oceanside, CA. The problem was that the tide was out.

[Robin Garr]

Do you have a favorite cooking red and white?

What the others said, mostly. I might cook with a little of the wine I'm going to open with dinner (but usually not). More often I'll pull the cork of something modest but drinkable in the group of wines that will probably never rise to the head of the tasting queue.

While I don't really disagree with Sue's point about varietal wines making varying contributions to the dish, I don't find any huge difference among most dry reds. I might think twice about using a really aromatic wine and ponder whether it will work with the specific recipe, but by and large, "yada yada" really does work for me.

Now that I think about it, for a wine geek I do surprisingly little wine cooking anyway, beyond a splash to deglaze or a frequently cooked dish that features it, most notably linguine with white clam sauce.

The perfect solution... I've just put some cubed game on to marinade for a day in 1998 Cantina del Pino Barbaresco Ovello. Surely a waste of a good wine? Perhaps. However for the price we picked them up for at auction (£111.75 for 23 bottles), then I can afford to cook with it!

Will be adding some local picked mushrooms (courtesy of the brains of the operation) sometime later today. Will start a slow cook tomorrow.

regards

Ian

I agree with Paul for using Dry Vermouth when white wine is called for. When the quantities are low, say 1/4 cup or so, and the directions are for "red wine", I use an opened bottle of Taylor's Tawny Port. Also keep a case of something cheap around for recipes calling for a cup or two. As a matter of fact I just got a Beef a'la Mode going in the crock pot, and used a cup from the second to last bottle of an inexpensive Syrah we picked up a case of last summer.

At a time when we cooked a lot more with wine than we do now because of diet change, we kept 1.5 liters of inexpensive Chilean whites and reds in the fridge for cooking.

Rules:
1. Never buy "Cooking Wine."
2. Don't cook with wine you won't drink.
3. It is not necessary to cook with same wine you are going to drink with the food, particularly it the latter is expensive, but it should be the same type of wine. A good example of this rule is Coq Au Vin. Here one may cook with an inexpensive Pinot, and drink a nice one with it.

I've come to like cooking with sweet rather than dry wines--color doesn't matter, except that most sweet wines happen to be white.

I suppose I like it that way because I eat a lot of spicy/acidic foods and I enjoy the contrast, despite that so many people like acidic wine with acidic foods--a concept of same with same that I find less interesting that contrasting.

Dry vermouth when white is called for, because I always have a bottle of it open and on hand. For red, whatever is open and handy, or if nothing is open, I open what I am drinking for dinner and add that. Never use cooking wine either.....it is NOT wine.
I'm not as fussy about wine as many are here, but then I am not as educated on wines as many are here. It's ok.....no one ever complains.

Harry a credo that I have followed for a lot of years is, that if I have a decent wine under $10 (used to be under $5) that I know to be drinkable, that is what goes into the dish. And that is it, no matter what I am having with the dish.

If you have a Trader Joes, you don't need $10 wine for cooking. I discovered PKNT, a Chilean cab sav that's won several silver medals. It's quite good for drinking or cooking and costs all of $3.

Larry, I agree. Wines really vary if you reduce them. Suggest: reduce cheaper wines and see if they work well with the finished dish.

Somehow, all the flaws we identify as wine lovers, or perhaps some of them, go away, leaving some wonderful elements in the syrup that remains.

Somewhat unpredictible but worth trying with sound wines you don't care for. Surprisingly, concentrated versions may be great.

We've taken to using Franzia wine in a box for cooking. Why? The collapsable bag in box format keeps the wine (?) fresher than a standard bottle with a cork. Plus, I seldom have leftovers when I open a 750 - we'll usually knock off the whole thing with dinner.

I guess I am violating the "don't cook with anything you wouldn't drink" rule, as I would not drink this stuff unless I was desperate. However, in the majority of professional kitchens I visit each day, I see 5 liter boxes of "Chablis" and "Burgundy" from Wm Wycliff and the like - that is what they're using for cooking wine. It works for us.

We've taken to using Franzia wine in a box for cooking. Why? The collapsable bag in box format keeps the wine (?) fresher than a standard bottle with a cork. Plus, I seldom have leftovers when I open a 750 - we'll usually knock off the whole thing with dinner.

I guess I am violating the "don't cook with anything you wouldn't drink" rule, as I would not drink this stuff unless I was desperate. However, in the majority of professional kitchens I visit each day, I see 5 liter boxes of "Chablis" and "Burgundy" from Wm Wycliff and the like - that is what they're using for cooking wine. It works for us.

I use Franzia in a box to marinade whatever I am going to cook in the smoker, and then I use the wine as part of the liquid for the smoker. Works well, except for having to wear that mask when I go into the retail shop to buy the stuff...

The perfect solution... I've just put some cubed game on to marinade for a day in 1998 Cantina del Pino Barbaresco Ovello. Surely a waste of a good wine? Perhaps. However for the price we picked them up for at auction (£111.75 for 23 bottles), then I can afford to cook with it!

Will be adding some local picked mushrooms (courtesy of the brains of the operation) sometime later today. Will start a slow cook tomorrow.

regards

Ian

<UPDATE>
Well although it tasted good, I'm not sure the wine played that strong a part and as an exercise I'll probably resort to something a bit simpler for next time.

The perfect solution... I've just put some cubed game on to marinade for a day in 1998 Cantina del Pino Barbaresco Ovello. Surely a waste of a good wine? Perhaps. However for the price we picked them up for at auction (£111.75 for 23 bottles), then I can afford to cook with it!

Will be adding some local picked mushrooms (courtesy of the brains of the operation) sometime later today. Will start a slow cook tomorrow.

regards

Ian

<UPDATE>
Well although it tasted good, I'm not sure the wine played that strong a part and as an exercise I'll probably resort to something a bit simpler for next time.

Ian, will you please tell me a bout the slow cook you did on the meat and mushrooms. I can do slow cooking on my charcoal grill, and I think this would go well cooked over charcoal. Thanks.

Ian, will you please tell me a bout the slow cook you did on the meat and mushrooms. I can do slow cooking on my charcoal grill, and I think this would go well cooked over charcoal. Thanks.

Bob
Others will I'm sure give many many variations and compared to some I've heard of this was probably fast food As this ended up as a pie, then I'm not sure tit will be of much help, but here it is anyway:

Various diced pieces of game, plus some herbs marinaded in a half bottle Barbaresco for just short of a day. Took the meat out & patted gently dry with a couple of sheets of kitchen towel. Meanwhile, the dried mushrooms (local mixture), were placed in the marinade to rehydrate.

Fried (browned) the meat in a little oil, then removed and replaced with onions and bacon which were fried gently. Then put all of this in a large pan with the mushrooms and marinade (I'd planned to do this bit in the oven, but this ended up being easier). Gently simmered for ~3 hours, with some carrots lobbed in part way through, allowing the liquid to reduce. Then put puff pastry base into a large dish, added the contents of the pan (plus a sliced lightly fried leek) and topped with puff pastry, with egg brushed over the top. 10-15 minutes in the oven on high, then down to about 150C for about 30 mins.

In hindsight I'm keen to try a lower and longer heat, as some if the meat was still fractionally tough (though much less so than normally from the same source).

Loosely based on a Silver Spoon recipe, with the timings elongated and dried mushrooms instead of fresh - different seasoning as well (I used a little bush tomato and pepperberry, together with the suggested sage).

regards

Ian

It's Franzia in the box for us as well. What I find nice about it is that it encourages me to add white wine to dishes when I won't otherwise be opening a bottle. We've found the sauvignon blanc to work well with cooking and to be unflawed and fairly correct (although I don't know that I'd ever drink it by the glass).


Mike

I sometimes use a rose for deglazing if I am doing a pork or chicken with cream sauce. I usually drink what's left with cooking and have another bottle with dinner .

As for whites there is a French sauv blanc called Domaine des Cassagnoles that I like a lot. It is $8.99/btl at my store.

Red is usually an inexpensive Languedoc as I usually have some around and the acidity is good.

rwj

More than a few "gourmet" restaurants use box wines or gallon jugs for cooking. I never do.

The only wines I buy for cooking are Marsala and an occasional dessert wine for poaching.

Every other wine I cook with is a remains of the bottle of something I already had open, or an inexpensive Cote du Rhone or simple white that I sacrifice for the pot. But every one is a wine I bought to drink, not cook with.

We've taken to using Franzia wine in a box for cooking. Why? The collapsable bag in box format keeps the wine (?) fresher than a standard bottle with a cork. Plus, I seldom have leftovers when I open a 750 - we'll usually knock off the whole thing with dinner.

Another trick is to put wine in plastic water bottle and collapse them before storage. Voila. No air. You can also freeze wine.

OK.

Let me try you guys out on this: Can't you cook with all wines?

OK.

Let me try you guys out on this: Can't you cook with all wines?

No!

As I mentioned, many dishes need a wine with a good bit of acidity. This disqualifies most run-of-the-mill US white wines.

I once made Coq au Vin with Bonny Doon's Clos de Gilroy (a very nice grenache-based Rhone-style blend from California). The dish tasted and smelled wonderful, but the wine dyed the dish a lurid pastel purple color! So I won't be cooking with Clos de Gilroy again--I'll reserve it for the drinking glass, where it performs admirably.

-Paul W.