Wine is an incredible drink with levels of flavor that can introduce many ways to enhance your food. Many people have a cheap bottle of wine lying around their home and are still wondering what to use it for, but those same people overlook the use of the bottle in cuisine. Most people don’t know that you can use wine in cooking and baking, but you shouldn’t use a superior bottle of wine. You should be using a very cheap bottle because the alcohol will disintegrate as you cook with it. Most people also don’t realize how universal wine can be especially when substituted for fat in recipes, but there should still be a little bit of fat introduced to the wine as well to make sure you get a better consistency. Many people will use half wine and half fat to enhance any food’s flavor. Wine is a very universal tool in the world of cooking and should be used more often and here are some ways you can use it:
Wine can help to cook and add flavor to fish:
Most people that eat fish are eating fried fish which takes away all of the nutritional purposes of eating a lean fish. A very easy way to introduce more flavor without compromising nutrition, but simmering wine and some fat in a pan can add an amazing level of flavor that penetrates deep into the fish. Cooking can be an incredible way to enhance skills in your life and implementing nutrition and flavor into your cooking can be an amazing thing.
Wine’s uses in Marinades:
Wine is a very acidic ingredient that has the ability to tenderize the meat. The wine based marinade can add a depth of acidic fruity flavor that will transition to a creamy sauce when the meat is cooked and has released fat in the pan to combine with the wine. Adding other spices such as garlic, thyme, rosemary, and more can complement the flavors of the wine no matter if it is white or red.
Use Wine to Make Both Types of “Gravy”:
There are many types of gravy in the U.S., but both can be benefitted by the addition of wine. For the east coast variation of gravy, it is a term for red sauce or a meat sauce, most red sauces have a little bit of wine in them depending on who makes it. Reducing the wine and cooking off the alcohol before adding the tomato sauce is how you can avoid the alcohol flavor that comes off. Other people will be more familiar with gravy being a brown sauce made from flour and browned butter, but when you add wine to your turkey sauce it transforms it into a complex flavor rollercoaster.
Deglaze your pan with wine to make a powerful sauce:
The process of deglazing a pan is when you have fat or certain particles still sticking in the pan from cooking something just before deglazing. Then adding wine will release the fat from the pan with the acidity, scraping the brown bits off the bottom of the pan will create a flavorful sauce. Adding fresh herbs is the last thing you need to do to make this sauce just that much more delectable.
Wine in Risotto cuts the Richness of the butter and cheese:
Adding wine to a risotto will add some sweetness and acidity that cuts through the richness without overpowering the natural flavors of the risotto. Risotto is already a very simple dish and just by adding one ingredient it can elevate this dish amazingly. Try implementing wine into your dishes.