Cooking With Wine: Basics, Tips, and Tricks.

To put it simply; wine is fermented grape juice. However, to many of us, it is so much more. To the winemaker it is a passion, a way of life. He spends his days nurturing and growing the grapes, picking them, crushing and fermenting them, and finally bottling them. To food, wine is a companion. Some restaurants serve a different wine to compliment each individual course. When used in the actual cooking of the food, wine enhances the flavor. To the enthusiast, wine is a sublime pleasure, bordering on obsession. They speak, breathe, and dream wine. They will travel to the ends of the earth and pay any amount for the perfect bottle of wine. To the rest of us, wine is a simple indulgence for the end of a long day, a lovely dinner, or whenever the mood strikes. It's one of of the key ingredients to the glues that bind many a friendship. Tears are shed, laughter echoes, and love is discovered over glasses of wine.

Wine is a must-have for any kitchen. It's low-fat, and its' complex flavors and aromas lend depth and intensity to your dishes. Once you gain an understanding of how to use wine in your cooking, you realize that you can cut down the amount of oils and fats you use exponentially.

I was hesitant to use wine in my food for many years, mostly because of a few poorly cooked meals I've had at restaurants. If you use too much wine in a dish,  or you do not give it time to cook down and mature, it will taste boozey and unappetizing. If you give yourself some room to experiment with an open mind, you will discover that using wine in a recipe creates moisture and lots of flavor.

The most important thing to remember when cooking with wine is this; do not use any wine in your food that you would not drink. This does not mean that you need to buy a $30 bottle of wine exclusively for your next dinner, but I do discourage the use of so-called "cooking wines" that can be found with the vinegar at your grocers. This wine is generally too salty and of poor quality. I've been perfectly content with many a $12 bottle for my cooking with a glass or two leftover to drink!

The type of grape used to make the wine as well as how and where it is grown shapes the flavor, as do the tannins, acids, sugar and alcohol contents in the wine. Tannins are responsible for the bitter tastes in wine, and acids the sharpness. Also dry wines will have less natural sugars and more alcohol, and sweet wines the opposite. You may recall people mentioning certain flavors while discussing wine (i.e. blackberry notes in a merlot). The subtle flavors are what you want to think of when choosing wine for your recipes, as well as the aforementioned dry and sweet characteristics. You wouldn't want to use a dry wine in a dessert, nor would you cook a bold and savory dish using a sweet one. This is all expanding on the basic "red wine-red meat, white wine-white meat (poultry, fish, etc.)" rule.

Look for these subtle flavors in wines to compliment your recipes:

White

Vanilla, cloves, rose, caramel, pear, melon, mushroom, citrus, honey, butter, nutty, and herbs.

Red

Chocolate, cherry, blackberry, currant, plum, coffee, pepper, oak, and cinnamon.

The longer you try different wines and use them in your cooking, you will begin to discover these flavors and more.

Wine helps to dissolve fats and release flavor molecules in cooking. The alcohol starts to evaporate around 178 F, the longer you cook at this temperature or higher, the more alcohol will evaporate, bringing out and intensifying different flavors. Generally, you will need to cook red wines longer than white.

The two best ways to cut down on the fat in your cooking are to sauté and marinade your foods using wine. When sautéing, use very little olive oil and around 1/2 c of wine. Be sure not to cover your pan while you are cooking, so that the wine can reduce. This brings out the flavors just as well, if not better than sautéing in fat.

Try using wine as your base in soups and sauces rather than cream to cut calories, and also in place of stock for a deeper and more complex flavor. Stews can also benefit from the use of wine.

Using wine as the base for your marinade is another excellent way to lessen your use of oils. The acids in the wine help to tenderize tougher cuts of meat, and also works to compliment and deepen the flavors of the meat. Again, you will want to stick with robust red wines for beef, lamb, and duck, and white for delicately flavored fish and white-meated poultry.

Try basting meats (and veggies!) with wine rather than fat while roasting and baking. It should keep the meat from drying out just as well as oil while adding a delicious flavor.

Finally, when braising meat, you can't do better than a nice wine that compliments the meat as well as whatever herbs and vegetables you may be cooking with. I guarantee it will melt in your mouth with unforgettable flavor.

Whatever you do, don't stress over what wine to buy. Experimenting is the only way to find out what tastes you enjoy in your wine. Not everyone follows the rules to the t, and neither should you.

Cooking With Wine: Basics, Tips, and Tricks.