We usually think in terms of drinking wine with lunch or dinner, but of course you can also cook with wine. If you’re frugal, you can save any “leftover” wine to create a sauce for tomorrow’s dinner.
A good wine will help digestion, bring out the flavors of the food and if it is a red wine, assist you in keeping your heart healthy. There are many schools of thought as to what wines to combine with what foods. However, the modern rule of thumb is that if it tastes right, it is right. There are, indeed, some gourmands who may argue with this. In any case, there would seem to be truly very little downside in combining food and wine in this manner.
How to cook with wine
The art of cooking with wine is perhaps exhibited best in the French and Italian modes of cooking. In both styles of cooking, combinations of food and wine include using reds in meat sources and bastes, and the use of sweet white whites in the preparation of certain deserts and vegetables. This is a vast oversimplification, but in general wines add depth to flavor and can help in tenderizing certain meats and vegetables. In most cases the combination of food and wine in this manner does not result in alcoholic tasting food as the cooking of the food typically boils away the alcohol or changes the way the alcohol itself is constituted. Any age may eat this wonderful combination of food and wine.
Cooking with the wine you’re drinking with a meal
This is by far the most fun of all the combinations. Though of course with this degree of fun there is always a risk and a downside. One must be careful when combining food and wine with wine drinking to take care in not drinking too much to forget how to cook. Perhaps even worse would be to drink too much and actually combine the wrong food and wine. This has been many the undoing of some of the great chefs. Too much imbibing and not enough sense can lead to real drama in the kitchen.
[tags]food, drink, wine, cooking[/tags]
