wha wine do you use for cooking?

[rasczak]

looking for specific red/white wines. names and years would be great.

 

[TuxDave]

I use the cheapest wine that I have.

 

[Tiamat]

Generally, if you use a small portion of the wine you will be drinking with your dinner, it helps to bind the flavors together. It also forces you to open the bottle and allow the wine to air and open up prior to dinner for a win-win.

Otherwise, I use fortified stuff like dry vermouth or brandy, both of which are inexpensive (~9$ per 1L), to loosen up the fond and make a little sauce.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Use the cheapest wine you can buy. Never waste good wine on cooking.

Whatever they have on the bottom shelf at the supermarket for less than $5 a bottle.

 

[Fritzo]

Merlot, any Cab, or chardonnay with meats. Use a muscat, a late harvest riesling, or burgandy for deserts and fruit.

Poached pears with riesling around Thanksgiving is a favorite of mine.

 

[tenthumbs]

Depends on what your cooking. Some foods lend themselves better to red over white and vice versa. Also, I wouldn't suggest you cook with fancy, expensive wine but I wouldn't put in cheap wine either. If I wouldn't drink it, why would I put it in my food? It's not like all wines become equal once you put it in a saucepan. If you put in two buck chuck, you're going to taste two buck chuck...

 

[Oil]

Depends on what your cooking. Some foods lend themselves better to red over white and vice versa. Also, I wouldn't suggest you cook with fancy, expensive wine but I wouldn't put in cheap wine either. If I wouldn't drink it, why would I put it in my food? It's not like all wines become equal once you put it in a saucepan. If you put in two buck chuck, you're going to taste two buck chuck...

This

 

[JulesMaximus]

Depends on what your cooking. Some foods lend themselves better to red over white and vice versa. Also, I wouldn't suggest you cook with fancy, expensive wine but I wouldn't put in cheap wine either. If I wouldn't drink it, why would I put it in my food? It's not like all wines become equal once you put it in a saucepan. If you put in two buck chuck, you're going to taste two buck chuck...

Of course you want to use wine that is drinkable but pretty much anything other than cooking wine is drinkable. You certainly aren't going to be able to taste the subleties of the wine over the other ingredients you are cooking with though.

Here are some tips for selecting a wine to cook with:

The first thing to know about cooking wine is that you should probably avoid it. High levels of added salt make cooking wine unpalatable for drinking. Therefore, there are no age restrictions on purchasing cooking wine, and you can find in any grocery store. Unfortunately, it doesn't add the flavor of wine to your cooking. Instead, it too often adds the flavor of salt. However, this doesn't mean that you can't find a good wine appropriate for cooking. In fact, any good drinkable wine is a good cooking wine. You just need to know what to look for.

-Shop where drinking wine is sold if you want to use a grape wine in your cooking. If only liquor stores sell wine in your state, forgo the grocery store and head to the liquor store instead.

-Consider the recipes you'd like to make with the wine to choose the best type. Generally, red wines are best for hearty dishes and red sauces, while white wines are best for lighter sauces and flavors. Overall, you'll want to choose dry wines for cooking---unless you're using the wine in a dessert. In that case, a sweet wine may be ideal.

-Peruse the less expensive wines to find one for cooking. Though you want to purchase drinkable wine, there's no need for you to buy expensive wine. Much of the subtlety of the wine's flavor will dissipate as it's cooked.

-Find the boxed wine or gallon sizes for economy, especially if you plan on using wine often in your cooking. Unlike wine for drinking, you don't need to use cooking wine quickly; its flavor will still be good for cooking after a few weeks. However, if you know you won't use that much wine in a month or two, purchase a smaller bottle.

-Visit an Asian supermarket or specialty shop if you want to use mirin in your recipes. Unlike Western cooking wines, this low-alcohol sweet rice cooking wine generally has little salt and few preservatives in it. Mirin does, however, have high sugar content. Read the labels of the mirin offered at the store to find one with the fewest and most natural ingredients.

 

[silverpig]

A little bit of whatever you are drinking with dinner, or a lot of cheap stuff.

Does it make sense to add nice wine to the cheapest tomato sauce you found on sale? If you've already spent money on "the good stuff" for your meal, then you might as well use good wine.

 

[TuxDave]

Depends on what your cooking. Some foods lend themselves better to red over white and vice versa. Also, I wouldn't suggest you cook with fancy, expensive wine but I wouldn't put in cheap wine either. If I wouldn't drink it, why would I put it in my food? It's not like all wines become equal once you put it in a saucepan. If you put in two buck chuck, you're going to taste two buck chuck...

You must be some master food taster because I highly doubt you'll tell the difference. (and of course when I said put in cheap wine, I didn't mean put in rancid stuff)

 

[Brainonska511]

The only recipe I make with wine in it uses ~3/4 cup, so I just use what I'm going to drink. I don't buy wine that often either, so it would go bad if I had multiple, open bottles sitting around.

 

[RagingBITCH]

If you're cooking with it, who cares?

 

[BurnItDwn]

Ehh ... cheap brand dry sherry here usually ... whatever they have at the liquor dept in the grocery store ... That said, I don't use wine in my cooking much. Much more likely to use Beer (chilli, chicken, or brats especially!)

 

[Tiamat]

The only recipe I make with wine in it uses ~3/4 cup, so I just use what I'm going to drink. I don't buy wine that often either, so it would go bad if I had multiple, open bottles sitting around.

Exactly my thoughts as well. I just can't be bothered to have a set of cheapo wines in addition to the wines I drink.

 

[nerp]

Uhhh, if you wouldn't drink it and enjoy it, don't fucking cook with it. I can't grasp the logic behind using the cheapest wine possible. Go with something affordable and tasty you already like, namely, the wine you've got on hand and are drinking.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Uhhh, if you wouldn't drink it and enjoy it, don't fucking cook with it. I can't grasp the logic behind using the cheapest wine possible. Go with something affordable and tasty you already like, namely, the wine you've got on hand and are drinking.

If you're just cooking with it you don't need to buy expensive wine. There is no benefit to the dish to use a $15 bottle of wine to cook with. A $4 bottle will do just as well.

If you are drinking a bottle of dry red wine and a recipe calls for a dry red wine then go ahead and use what you're drinking but if you are just buying wine to cook with don't waste your money on an expensive bottle.

Same thing with making Sangria, use a cheap bottle of dry red wine...an expensive bottle of red wine will not make the Sangria taste better.

 

[AreaCode707]

Anything that is a cheap, palatable but flat wine. So something that doesn't taste like crap but usually something that lacks the body and subtlety I like in a drinking wine.

I typically have a decent enough selection of those unremarkable mediocre wines because I buy a lot of value wines shopping for the occasional bargain. If I don't like something enough to finish a glass I'll cork it up and use it for cooking.

But then again, I'm sitting in the approximately $20 range for most of my drinking wines right now and it's a bit hard to throw $10 straight into the food.

 

[zinfamous]

whatever was opened the day before. Failing that, whatever can be found in box form.

for whites, I only ever use Grigio. I like Cab or Syrah/Shiraz for red.

 

[DrPizza]

Depends on what your cooking. Some foods lend themselves better to red over white and vice versa. Also, I wouldn't suggest you cook with fancy, expensive wine but I wouldn't put in cheap wine either. If I wouldn't drink it, why would I put it in my food? It's not like all wines become equal once you put it in a saucepan. If you put in two buck chuck, you're going to taste two buck chuck...

Wrong. Cheap wine works just fine for cooking. I personally use Lake Niagara white wine - a gallon of it is only $10ish. Oddly, it's quite palatable for its price.

 

[KeithTalent]

I generally just cook with what I am drinking, unless I am making something that requires a lot of it, like a beef bourguignon or a daube, then I'll buy a couple of bottles of ~13-$15 stuff.

The style of wine really depends on what I am making.

KT

 

[szechuanpork]

 

[nerp]

I find that using cheap wine makes for food that tastes like it was made with cheap wine. The poor taste doesn't go away just because I've cooked with it.

 

[bignateyk]

Whatever I have open at the time usually. Cooking usually only requires a splash or two.

 

[lozina]

I use my regular wine to cook with.

I can definitely taste the difference if I use some cheap foul tasting wine or whether I use a wine I prefer to drink in a glass.

It's such a blatant difference I have to wonder at the people who suggest using the cheapest wine to cook with.

 

[nerp]

I use my regular wine to cook with.

I can definitely taste the difference if I use some cheap foul tasting wine or whether I use a wine I prefer to drink in a glass.

It's such a blatant difference I have to wonder at the people who suggest using the cheapest wine to cook with.

Maybe they're the type of people that think Olive Garden or TGIFridays has good food. Who knows.