From TastingTable.com…
Wine: You know it, you drink it, you love it. But isn’t it time to stop treating wine like any other drink? Think about it: You could be adding it to your marinades, skillet dishes, and reductions! Wine can be used in so many different ways while cooking, and it can add a wonderful complexity to the flavor of countless dishes in your repertoire. However, you shouldn’t just be dumping wine into everything you make — instead, you should know how, when, and why to add wine to the things you make.
We know it can be challenging to get the wine-cooking answers you’re looking for, so we’ve compiled these tips you need when cooking with wine. With these suggestions, you can ensure you won’t end up with drunken risotto or a weird acidity in your French boeuf bourguignon stew. Here’s what you should know before you start cooking with wine.
Don’t cook with wine you wouldn’t drink
You’ve probably already heard this rule a hundred times, but it still bears repeating: Don’t cook with wine you wouldn’t want to drink. You know those wines — you take a sip, and they instantly register as too sweet, too acidic, or just too … blah? While you may think a creative way to dispose of that wine is by pouring it into your food, you’re not doing yourself any favors when you do. According to The Guardian, the age-old saying is true: If you wouldn’t drink it, it’s probably not going to taste that good when you put it in your food either.
While cooking breaks down some of the alcohol and taste of wine, Serious Eats writes that it’s not going to entirely change the boldest aspects of the wine you use. So, if a wine leans more acidic or sweeter, that will likely come through in a concentrated flavor, per the cooking site. The last thing you want to do is take a bite of your meal and realize that an off-taste has translated to the food, making your meal too sugary, tart, or worse. It’s a better idea to open a bottle you like and pour from there — your food will be made all the better.
