When a recipe calls for Wine??

[Salad]

I often see a recipe that I think sounds really nice and then I see in the ingredients that it calls for either white or red wine which I dont have in the house. What kind of wine do you use and is it possible to maybe use cask wine as I dont drink wine but would love to keep it in the house for cooking.

[Jellyfish]

I usually am boring and just use extra stock (in risotto for example) so that is always an option

[Floweryfields]

You can actually get small bottles of cooking wine in the supermarket. I keep them in the fridge for those cooking moments as I am not a wine drinker either.

[Salad]

thanks so much will add it to the shopping list

[Winter]

Cask wine is fine for cooking, but get one that you would be happy to drink. Nasty wine = nasty flavour in your cooking.

HTH

[Salad]

Thanks girls - but I dont know what would be a nice cask wine to drink

[Visitor7]

I just use a full bodied red wine which isn't too expensive that I keep for cooking with.

[feeb]

I buy ones with screw tops!!!

That way I put a bit in cooking and put away for later!

Tend to only use red wine in cooking as dont often cook things that ask for white wine.

[~Kim~]

next time you go to a bottle shop ask them if they have any single serve pouches or clean skins. Both are made specifically for cooking and keep well.
Both come in red and white.
If you live near any wineries, they will often sell of excess clean skins for next to nothing.

[Bathsheba]

There are some nice small 1 litre casks around. I can't recall the brands... but there is a series with lots of black on the packaging that I know is quite good (had it at a friends for a BBQ).

I find that it's more important that the wine is actually good the more the recipe calls for. If it's just a dash, like in a sauce, then maybe you could get away with an average wine... like in a stroganoff.... which has lots of other flavours vying for attention. But if you are cooking, say, Coq Au Vin where you use the whole bottle it's very important the wine is good!

[Bumperstump Cummerbund]

We bought some wine - thought it was a great deal at the time, until they arrived andwere all Tetra Packs! (basically cask wine without the cardboard box)

I don't generally care what brand the wine is. I use all the tetra packs purely for cooking - I have Merlot, Shiraz and Chardonnay. If I want a full bodied wine taste, I use the merlot; if I want a sweeter taste, I use the shiraz; and if it's white meat, I use the chardonnay.

You'd actually be surprised at how much you can add wine to - my spag bol has a fair amount of merlot in it, and I get requests for the recipe all the time! Just remember, red meat = red wine, white meat = white wine. It generally adds a nice dimensions to the dish, without taking anything away

Hope that helps!

[Salad]

Thanks sunflowa that did help HEAPS

[Rouge]

Ok let me tell you this... If you're making a spag bog its fine doesn't matter at all...

If you're making coq au vin or a Jus IT DOES MATTER!

IMO if you wouldn't drink it then you don't cook with it. There is no such thing as cooking wine unless you are talking about xaoxing wine (Chinese cooking wine).

And the type of wine you use matters too.

Here is a list that would help:

Young, full bodied red wine - Red meat, red meat dishes

Young, full bodied, robust red wine - Red sauces

Earthy red, full bodied red wine - Soups with root vegetables and/or beef stock

Dry white wine or dry fortified wine - Fish/shellfish/seafood, poultry, pork, veal

Dry white wine or dry fortified wine - Light/cream sauces

Crisp, dry white wine - Seafood soups, bouillabaisse

Sweet white wine or sweet fortified wine - Sweet desserts

Dry, fortified wine (i.e.: sherry) - Consomm?, poultry, vegetable soups

Regional cuisine - Regional wine

And I have been known to use dry sherry in place of white wine in cream sauce, or champagne in place of white wine for fish... but don't go overboard either don't use something you need to decanter so nothing older than 3-5 years... IMO anyway.