Good brands of wines, brandies, etc to be used for cooking?

[pennylane]

I'm looking for alcoholic stuff to be used in cooking. red wines, white wines, brandies, etc.

On the cheap bang for buck side though. I'm just learnin to cook and I want to try them out. I probably won't be getting more than one bottle so which type of alcohol thing do you think I should get? Please list approximate prices if you know them.

Thanks.

 

[Cheesemoo]

Well in my opion the price of wine has nothing to do with quality. there are alot of good wines out there for cheap. As for cooking, dont think of using a bad quality wine "cause you are not drinking it" Wines used in cooking should be just as good as a wine you would drink.

 

[OffTopic1]

What is your attention with the cooking wine?
Are you using it for flavoring or using the acid to tame the taste?

Rule of thumb, don't use it if you can't drink it.
Get good wine if you want good tasting food, because it would be better to use vinegar and juice (or beer) for flavoring than crappy wine.

 

[Conky]

It's best to use cheap wine for actual cooking. Using expensive wine would be the equivalent of using expensive bottled water to cook your pasta in. Charles Shaw is a good cheap brand for cooking.

 

[Cheesemoo]

Originally posted by: Crazyfool
It's best to use cheap wine for actual cooking. Using expensive wine would be the equivalent of using expensive bottled water to cook your pasta in. Charles Shaw is a good cheap brand for cooking.

No

 

[Rastus]

You want the driest wines you can find for cooking. It's hard to find cheap wines that are dry though, and if you are serious about cooking with wine, it can get very expensive unless you find a good dry wine that is inexpensive and comes in gallon jugs. Livingstone wines are OK for cooking.

 

[TriStar]

How about Two Buck Chuck from Trader Joe's?

 

[CrackRabbit]

Barringer is usualy a good Price/taste medium if you can find the type you are wanting to cook with.

 

[xSauronx]

Originally posted by: Rastus
You want the driest wines you can find for cooking. It's hard to find cheap wines that are dry though, and if you are serious about cooking with wine, it can get very expensive unless you find a good dry wine that is inexpensive and comes in gallon jugs. Livingstone wines are OK for cooking.

and if you dont like dry wines?

i dont, so i dont use them. i use semi-sweet usually since thats what i like (though i ad mit, ive never liked grape juice to begin with, so im not huge on drinking wine very often), its all in an individuals tastes. grab a couple of ~$10 bottles from a supermarket or try some at a friends and see what you think. but a nasty wine you wouldnt drink is just going to make for a nasty taste that you wouldnt eat, ive made that mistake before, waste of a good steak.

you can find some decent cheapish wine to use, but i wouldnt go too cheap on liquor if youre using it, maybe something middle of the road or at least a couple steps from the bottom, since when youre using liquor its usually just an ounce or two at a time in something but you still want it to taste good.

 

[biostud]

In my opinion it's stupid to use to much money on whine for cooking. $5-6 a bottle maximum, unless you are going to make an exceptional meal.
Same goes for liquor don't waste your money.
When cooking you can doo all kind of "tricks" to make the sauce taste better. Too sour a redwine? add a small amount of sugar, or better boil it with sweet vegetables like carrots, celery root or Hamburg Parsley etc. Also add some cold butter in the end to soften and round the sauce.

 

[OffTopic1]

[Addition]

It also depends on your taste, as to what type of wine & flavor you are after. I personally don?t like extreme dry oak tastes, because I dislike the after taste. I prefer flowery or berry dry taste, therefore I prefer an 80s 0/1 sweetness merlot/sirah/burgundy/zinfandel/gewurztraminer over a 90+ sauvignon/chardonnay/chianti/riesling.