Secrets to Cooking with Wine

You have those bottles of wine that you bought because they were cheap, and you now wonder what to do with them. You can cook and bake with wine, and I have the answer. It’s unlikely that you would want to cook with a particular wine, but wild-card bottles are sitting in your pantry.

Wine is a great substitute for fat in my recipes. This may seem odd, but I use wine more often to cook than it is as a drink with dinner.

You will usually need to add another ingredient to make the difference when you remove some fat from dishes. These are just a few examples of wine’s ability to do this:

• Instead of sautéing vegetables in lots of butter or oil, you can saute them with a small amount of oil and some wine to add flavour and moisture.
• Instead of using 1/2 cup oil in a marinade, reduce the amount to 1/4 cup oil and add 1/4 cup wine.
• Instead of adding 3/4 cup oil to a cake recipe, you can add 3/4 cup white or dessert wine.

These are my top picks for wine-light cooking.

• Wine can be used to flavour and cook fish. Deep-frying fish in tartar oil and sauce is a way to ruin the nutritional value of fish. Wine can be used to flavour fish and add moisture without adding fat. While the fish is simmering, you can add wine to the pan and poach it over a saucepan of boiling water. Or drizzle the fish with a few drops of wine before baking it in foil.
• Wine makes a wonderful addition to marinades. Wine is a basic acid ingredient that helps tenderize the meat’s outside. It also has lots of flavours. Wine-based marinades help keep seafood, poultry, and the meat moist as they cook.
• Wine can be used to cook and simmer. Wine can be added to dishes you are cooking on the stovetop, in a slow cooker or the oven. It can be added to any dish by being incorporated with it.
• You can also use wine in baking! Using wine or sherry instead of fat in certain cakes adds complementary flavours.

7 Tips for Cooking with Wine

Are you ready to get started with wine cooking? These are seven things you need to know.

1. Enjoy the subtle flavours of wine.

These subtle flavours can be reminiscent of food, and you might want to add them to your dishes.

• White wine: Pear, melon, pineapple, pear and citrus.
• Red wine: Berries, peaches and currants, plums. Cherry, plums, plums. Oranges. Chocolate.

2. Choose dry or sweet

Very dry wines have very little natural sugar left and are usually higher in alcohol. However, the sweeter wines still have a higher percentage of natural sugars from the grapes. You should choose the wine that best suits the taste of the dish.

3. Acid and Tannins

Red and white wines can be described by acid. It refers to the wine’s sharp taste (much as you would with lemon juice or vinegar). Acid can bring out the natural flavours of soft foods like fish. This is why you often have fish served with an acidic wedge from a lemon. Red wines are usually rich in tannins. This is similar to the bitterness found in strong teas. Red wine’s tannins pair well with strong-flavoured foods and hearty dishes, such as a juicy steak. Marshall Rimann, the host of the Wine Cellar, a radio program originating from Kansas City, Mo., says that tannins can act as palate cleansers when paired with high-protein foods like meat.

4. Which wine type should you use for cooking what type of food?

It is generally believed that light-flavoured wines go well with delicately flavoured foods. A bold-tasting wine may pair well with a boldly flavoured food.

You are free to experiment with your pairings. However, light-coloured meats such as chicken and fish are generally paired well with white wines (white), while dark-coloured meats such as beef are best paired with red wines (red). What about “other white meat?” Riemann says you can have red or white pork with any other white meat. Riemann says red dinner wines are best paired with rich or seasoned food like beef, pork, goose, duck, goose, and other pasta dishes. White dinner wines work well with chicken, turkey and shellfish dishes.

5. Take into account the preparation

Roman suggests that you consider the type and preparation of the meat when selecting a wine for cooking or serving at the table. A dish with a lot of spices, for example, will require a wine that is full-bodied to support it. A light or creamy sauce requires a dry, lighter wine.

6. The last tip for cooking with wine? Have fun!

You are free to play with wine when baking or cooking. Try new combinations of flavours and get creative. After creating something amazing, don’t forget about writing down your thoughts!

These are just a few recipes to get you started.

7. Merlot & Onion Roast

2 lb beef top round roast or something similar. This roast is typically already trimmed of any visible fat.

Salt and pepper

8-10 garlic cloves

1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil or canola

3/4 cup French onion soup condensed from a can (such a Campbell’s).

3/4 cup Merlot (or another mellow red wine).

• If you have a rolled roast, take the mesh and ties and roll it up. Place the garlic cloves in an even layer on top. Sprinkle freshly ground salt over the top. The roast should be rolled up, but no mesh or ties added.
• Heat the olive oil or canola in a large nonstick skillet on medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add the rolled-up roasted to the pan. Let the bottom brown for about a minute. Flip the roast and cook for a few more minutes. Place the browned roast in a slow cooker. Make sure it is still rolled up.
• Pour the onion soup concentrate over the top. Cover and let it cook for approximately four hours on LOW.

Yield: 6 servings

Serving size: 240 calories, 33.5g protein, 2g carbohydrate. 7.9g fat. 2.5g saturated oil. 3.5g monounsaturated and 7g polyunsaturated. 7g polyunsaturated fats. 7g monounsaturated. 78mg cholesterol. 0.2g fibre. 285 mg sodium. Calories from fat are 30%

Chardonnay Spice Cake

1 box (18.25 oz.) white cake mix

1 package (5 oz) instant vanilla pudding mix

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

3/4 cup fat-free sour milk

3/4 cup Chardonnay (or any other white wine).

2 large eggs

1/2 cup egg substitute

• Pre-heat oven to 350°F. Spray the bundt pan’s interior with canola cooking oil, and then dust it with 2 tablespoons of flour.
• Mix the cake, vanilla pudding, and nutmeg in a bowl. Use an electric mixer at LOW speed to mix well.
• Mix the egg substitute, sour cream, wine, eggs and eggs in a bowl. Beat on medium speed for 5 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl every minute.
• Bake for 50 minutes in a prepared bundt pan or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool for 10 minutes on a rack. To release the cake, carefully invert the pan onto a serving plate. Serve.

Yield: 12 portions

Per serving: 259 Calories, 5 G Protein, 48 g carbohydrates, 1 g Saturated Fat, 1.5 g Monounsaturated Fat, 1.9g Polyunsaturated Fat, 35m cholesterol. 0.6g Fiber, 440mg sodium. Calories from fat are 23%.