Cooking With Wine

Recipes

Written by Elke Probkevitz

Thursday, 29 July 2010 10:49

When talking about food and wine, the topic of conversation usually revolves around what wine pairs well with dinner. However, another question would be what wine to use to make dinner. Wine is not only a good accompaniment to food, but cooking with wine can enhance the flavors and elevate your meal to a whole new level. Choosing a wine is not only a question of red versus white. Wine variations can be complex with many nuances.

Choosing your wine. The most important rule when cooking with wine is to only use wines that you would drink. If you do not like the taste of a wine, you will not like the dish you choose to use it in, so never use a wine that you would not drink. An expensive wine is not necessary, although a cheap wine will not bring out the best characteristics of your dish. A good quality wine that you enjoy will provide the same flavor to a dish as a premium wine. Save the premium wine to serve with the meal.

Cooking wines, which are not meant to drink but only to cook with, are typically poor quality wines and include salt and other additives that may affect the taste of your dish. These products should be avoided even if it means not using wine at all. Instead, use wine that has been opened and not finished from a meal. Itâ€™s a great way to use up your leftover wine without spending the money on a whole bottle just for one recipe. You can also open a bottle to cook with and then drink it along with the meal. This way you are guaranteed a perfect pairing of wine with your meal.

Another class of wines that donâ€™t fall into the red or white category is fortified wines, such as Sherry or Port. Additional alcohol is added to the initial wine before a very long aging to help preserve the wine and develop some of the complexities through the increased aging. Each of these wines has individual categories that range from dry to sweet, so make sure to choose the right one.

How to cook with wine. The function of wine in cooking is to intensify, enhance, and accent the flavor and aroma of food. Just like any seasoning, wine should be used in just the right amount to achieve the best results. Using too much can mask the flavor of what you are cooking and overpower the dish.

Wine can be used throughout the cooking process. Wine used as a marinade can serve to tenderize the meat before cooking, which will help soften and take less time to cook and develop rich flavors for cooking methods such as braising. The most common use of wine is in deglazing a sautÃ© pan and using that as a base for a sauce. This process uses the wine to remove all the caramelized bits of food from the pan to incorporate it into a sauce. The amount of time to spend reducing wine is mostly dependent on the color of the wine. White wine needs to be reduced just a small amount to burn off most of the alcohol. Red wine should be reduced until it is almost gone to prevent your food from turning purple.

Wines can also be used at the very end of the cooking process. Marsala, for example, is added at the end to finish the sauce when making veal marsala. That way the sweetness is not overpowering, but the subtle aromas are heightened by the heat of the dish. For the same reason, Sherry is added to a cream soup right at the very end. This is usually the procedure for fortified wines, so those subtle notes from the prolonged aging come out in the aroma.

Wine Pairing with Cooking. As in pairing wines with your meal, there are specific types of wines that pair well when cooking as well. For red meats, red sauces, soups with root vegetables, and beef stock it is best to use a young, full bodied red wine that is robust and earthy. Dry white wine or dry fortified wine (such as Sherry) pairs well with fish, poultry, veal, and lighter cream sauces. Sweet white wine is best when making sweet desserts.

As you get more accustomed to using wine as an ingredient in your dishes, you can start to play around with which wine you want to use. Sauvignon Blanc, known for its herbaceous quality as a wine, would work well in a dish highlighting herbs. Zinfandels have a berry or cherry character, which would be a nice background to a fruit sauce for poultry. A Chardonnay is the perfect base for a buttery sauce. The more you learn about the characteristics of your favorite wines, the more creative you can be with how you cook with them.

Braised Chicken Marsala

Ingredients:

4 skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs (about 1 1/4 pounds)
4 chicken drumsticks (about 1 pound)
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
1 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
2 red onions, peeled and quartered through the stem
2 plum tomatoes, cut into 1-inch pieces
6 sprigs thyme
3/4 cup Marsala
1 1/4 cups low-sodium chicken stock

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400Â°F. Rinse chicken, pat dry with paper towels, and season both sides with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large, high-sided sautÃ© pan over medium-high. Brown chicken on both sides, turning once, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer chicken to a platter and tent loosely with foil to keep warm.

After all chicken is browned, pour off excess fat. Add onions, tomatoes, and thyme to the pan. Cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, about 4 minutes. Pour in Marsala; cook until reduced by half, about 5 minutes. Return chicken to pan and pour in stock; bring to a simmer. Transfer to oven; cook until chicken is cooked through and tender, about 35 minutes. Transfer chicken to a platter, and cover to keep warm.

Skim off excess fat from liquid in pan; simmer liquid over medium-high until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Serve chicken with pan sauce.

Eating quality, delicious meals is easy when all the work is done for you. Hire a personal chef to prepare your dinners, Shabbos meals, or small parties. For more information, contact Take Home Chef personal chef services by calling 516-858-0215, writing to elke@TakeHomeChef.net, or visiting www.TakeHomeChef.net.