Wine to Cook with

little_lil

Hi

I was just wondering which wines you use to cook with, for example i always buy lambrini to cook with if a white wine is needed (it makes lovely chicken gravy:drool: ) and it is the cheapest white i can find in tescos.

If i need a red i just grab whatever is in the cupboard as i don't know one red from another (once used the most expensive and OH was not impressed)

Does the type/cost of wine make much difference to the end result of the dish you are cooking?

lil

moggins

I always learned that you never put anything in your cooking that you wouldn't pour directly down your throat

squeaky

My lad, the chef, says "If it isn't good enough to drink it's not good enough to cook with".

competitionscafe

If I only need a glass or so for the cooking I would use whatever I was drinking with the meal.

For chicken a glass of dry vermouth (eg: Noilly Prat) works well. It keeps for ages too so you can just use it as you need it. For lamb, (dry) Marsala is nice - also makes a good mustard sauce for pork with cream/creme fraiche, grain mustard, salt, pepper. Madeira goes well with pork too. Marsala is nice in an onion gravy too, eg: to go with bangers and mash - gives a rich taste.

If I needed a whole (or most of ) a bottle for cooking I would still use something that was at least drinkable (after all you don't want to add a whole bottle of vinegar to your food!) but never anything expensive! I always taste it first, also to check if it's corked (off).

Agree with the 2 comments above - if it's too foul to drink it's not going to do your food any favours!

tootles_2

I use red wine to put in Spag Bol, the gravy for Lamb, sausages and anything with beef in it, also for pork chops. white wine for chicken, anything from Tesco thats around £2.79 - £3.00 a bottle, we usually drink it with the meal, you can use a splash of brandy with chicken if you are desperate and I cook onions with white wine, it caramalises wonderfully.

Asti spumate can be used with gelatine to make a jelly for fresh peaches that have been lightly cooked in syrup to make an excellent fruit jelly, brandy and black pepper with strawberries and of course pears poached in red wine and allowed to go cold delicious...........

jenster

hello all

wanted to ask whats the best "cheapest wine for cooking"

just to make spag bols ect

what wine do u all use ?

odds-n-sods

only advice I can give you is to use a wine you would drink, if you wouldn't drink it, don't cook with it, whatever you make will taste worse than if you hadn't added it.

thriftlady_2

I tend to use cider more than wine. I use a good quality one but even so it is much cheaper than wine -and has the added bonus of being locally produced. It works really well in all those French classics like boeuf bourgignon (except you have to change the name )

If I want to add a splash of wineyness to a spag bol I use dry sherry- just an own brand bottle. I also use vermouth for risottos and things that need a splash of white wine. Both sherry and vermouth can be stored after they've been opened. A disadvantage of a bottle of wine for me is that I'd drink the rest -no self discipline:o

When I really want some wine in a dish I buy one of those cans- not the best quality but I'vealways had good results.

HTH:)

lynzpower

I find the tescos soave ( white) at 2.50 a bottle lovely both for cooking & drinking good for sauces with chicken/ turkey etc

DrFluffy

odds-n-sods wrote: »

only advice I can give you is to use a wine you would drink, if you wouldn't drink it, don't cook with it, whatever you make will taste worse than if you hadn't added it.

Couldn't agree more. That said, I usually only use whatever wine is half price in Tescos! :cool:

Newgirl_2

I use anything I would drink but I never buy wine just for cooking.

I don't drink it very often and, typically, there will be some left in a bottle. So the best thing to do is freeze it in ice cube trays (you can pop it out and into food bags or a container when frozen) and use that for cooking. Saves waste and stops you drinking a bottle in one sitting when you know you really shouldn't! :beer: Helps when I have red wine, as there is usually only me drinks it. OH will occasionally have a glass of white.

Hope that helps

Newgirl