W ine has three main uses in the kitchen—as a marinating ingredient, a cooking liquid, and by adding a splash to finish off a dish. Make that four—the “chef’s glass”! Wine adds acidity to any recipe, which helps to enhance a dish’s flavours. Fun fact: white wine is usually more acidic than red wine, making it food-friendly for fatty, salty, and sweet pairings! However, white and red wines behave the same way chemically, and can be interchanged for most any dish. When marinating beef, the acidity in wine helps to break down tougher cuts of meat like flank, skirt, or round. Choose a quality red for those flat cuts of beef for tender meat and added depth of flavour. For pork, the tenderloin is the most tender cut, and a quick marinade with wine will allow the meat to take on the intensity of a slightly sweeter red like a lush Merlot. Try adding a splash of “the people pleaser” Cabernet Sauvignon in your London broil marinade to impart a depth of flavour in the less-than-favourable cut—the people will be pleased! Remember, timing is everything when cooking with wine. Adding it during the simmering stage for dishes like stews and tomato sauces, and in braising liquid, will allow you to get the best flavour and cook the alcohol off. Pinot Noir’s fruitiness adds a bold flavour to lean meat stews, and pairs well with the sweetness from added root vegetables. Your stew will still be hearty and comforting, while the spice of the Pinot will give it a warm complexity. Malbec is dry, meatier, and more tannic than Pinot, making Malbec an exceptional ingredient for poached vanilla spiced pears. If you haven’t used wine in your cooking, start simple with a creamy white wine such as a buttery Chardonnay or a crisp Pinot Grigio, and add it to a white sauce for your creamy pasta dishes. Or add a dash of Sauvignon Blanc or a dry Riesling to your seafood dishes like steamed mussels or poached halibut. These wines will easily transform the dishes to the next level. Adding wines without cooking out the alcohol can be tricky. They can often overpower the flavours you were trying to achieve. Sticking to sweeter wines in desserts can be an easy way to incorporate wine without cooking. Some wine desserts include jellied Champagne, wine-soaked berries, or an unconventional wine smoothie. Consider substituting white or dessert wine in place of fats like oil or butter in a cake; it can be wondrous. White wine pound cake and chocolate-red wine cake recipes are widely available. Subbing out red or white wine vinegar for the real deal in a vinaigrette is delicious and uncomplicated. Get creative with wine and how you incorporate it into your cooking. Do you have an opened bottle of old wine that needs to be used up, or maybe it wasn’t the best wine you’ve ever had? Don’t fret, you can cook with it! Wine can be used for up to two to three months after opening—even if you think it’s unfit for drinking. Alternatively, non-alcoholic wine is great for cooking, too!
Cooking with wine is a simple way to elevate a one-dimensional dish. And it’s true—only cook
with the wine you’d want to drink!
Pantry cooking wine is of poor quality and not recommended. The ingredients in cooking wine are high in salt, and the wine often contains sugar and preservatives we really shouldn’t be consuming. A cheap bottle of wine is always better than pantry cooking wine. Good wine, when the alcohol has been cooked off properly, leaves behind beautiful, aromatic flavour compounds. Whether it’s a full-bodied, complex, and bold red, or a light, sweet and tannic white—there’s a wine for cooking that!
Whether your budget allows for a $10 bottle or a $40 bottle, wine makes a great addition to any dish. These are not all masterly ideas—have fun and experiment!
SPRING 2022 www.pei-living.ca
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