The deliciousness of wine in a glass can be echoed on your stove top. Cooking with wine boosts flavor, augments other ingredients’ flavors, enhances savoriness or sweetness, and bolsters depth and complexity. Simply put, wine makes food taste better. Additionally, wine’s acidity helps tenderize tougher cuts of meat, break down fats, and retain moisture.
This season, if a guest brings a vino that you don’t particularly care for, save it for cooking! If you followed our Thanksgiving Dinner Wine Pairing guide and have leftover, open bottles, don’t let them go to waste! Or if you are just hoping to step up your holiday meal game, pick up a bottle at your favorite Trail winery. (Look for holiday sales at individual Trail wineries.)
Choosing Wines for Cooking
In researching this article, we didn’t come across a single source that advocated using “cooking wine” over regular wine, for two primary reasons: 1) The quality of cooking wine is markedly lower than that of regular wine. 2) Cooking wine is loaded with preservatives, salt, sweeteners, and other ingredients that affect the taste of your dish.
So, we’ve established that “cooking wine” is a no-no. But does it matter which regular wine you choose? Chefs are divided on this. Some say that as long as the wine is not faulted (having an unpleasant look, smell, or taste), any vino will do. Those who disagree say that you should only use wine that you would drink.
However, the wine you eat in food does not require as sophisticated a palate as that which you drink. If you re-cork and store opened bottles on their sides in the refrigerator or freezer, you can use them for cooking long after they are no longer suitable for drinking. The wine’s subtleties are altered as it cooks and less pronounced as it meshes with the other ingredients. Alcohol in the wine will be partially burned off; and as the wine reduces, its flavor will intensify and may take on a stewed, baked or burnt note.
Red vs. Rosé vs. White
In a previous blog post, Refreshing Summer Wine & Wine Drinks on the Chesapeake Bay Wine Trail, we debunked the myth that red wine is only for meat and white wine is only for fish. The same goes with cooking; though some choices will better enhance the flavor of your dish. Plus, it’s best to avoid oak-heavy wines, which may become bitter when cooked.
Dry red wine is a popular choice for savory dishes because it adds depth and flavor. Try Shelter Dog Red from Trail winery The Dog and Oyster for hearty beef dishes, braising, and deglazing a pan.
A lighter red, Pinot Noir, is great for tenderizing stewed meats and adding flavor to chicken dishes without overpowering the dish. Since Pinot Noir is similar to Chambourcin, we recommend Caret Cellars’ Rivah Red, a blend of 95% Chambourcin and 5% white Niagara.
Rosé is often substituted for white wine in recipes, because of their similar weight and texture. But cooks must carefully consider the flavor profile of the dish they are creating. Sweet Sue from Rivah Vineyards at the Grove, a blend of Chambourcin and Concord, will be sweeter than the Chardonel, Chambourcin and Cabernet Sauvignon blend of Red Reach from Good Luck Cellars.
Dry white wines bring structure and acidity to meals. Chardonnay, with its smooth, buttery flavor, is versatile and brings out the richness of cream sauces used for chicken, seafood, and pasta dishes. Sparkling Chardonnay, like General’s Ridge Vineyard’s Sparkling Semper Fi, usually has higher levels of acidity and adds more brightness.
The floral and citrus notes and lush fruit flavors of Albariño combined with the slightly sweet and fruity profile of Muscat Ottonel make Ingleside Vineyards’ October Harvest ideal for adding to lightly sweet desserts like panna cotta, fruit tarts, poached pears, granita, or even to a sweet glaze for ham.
Vino Dolce, a Zinfandel with cocoa and cherry flavors, from Jacey Vineyards is so versatile that you can use it to add sweetness to beef, pork, or lamb dishes, or in desserts such as Italian biscotti, cookies, chocolate cherry cake, wine soaked chocolate covered cherries, or brownies. (Vino Dolce is especially fitting to enjoy during the Trail’s annual Wine & Cherries Weekend event held each February.)
Cooking with Cider
Hard cider is a fall favorite; and incorporating it into your holiday meals makes the season even more festive. Cider can be substituted for white wine for a warmer flavor or in place of beer in recipes that call for it. Consider cider for caramelizing onions or to give salad vinaigrettes a little kick. Find a variety of hard ciders on the Trail at Ditchley Cider Works or Monroe Bay Winery.
Find more wines available at Trail wineries by reading our blog post Unique Wines on the Chesapeake Bay Wine Trail.
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