Wine

Adding wine to food is an excellent way to enhance the flavour of dishes such as poultry, meat, seafood, stews, vegetables and sauces. It may be used to balance both the aroma and the natural flavours of food, and may also add moisture to the foods being prepared. Wine is also an important ingredient in marinades; it infuses food with its flavour, softens the fibres of meat and draws out the juices from fruit. It may also be used to deglaze stock or sauté pans, to become the base for a sauce or stock within the pan.

There are a number of commercially prepared wines, which are designed specifically for cooking. These red, white or golden cooking wines do not in fact contain any alcohol, and they are fairly heavily salted to give them a longer shelf life (they may be kept in a cool place for approximately one year after they have been opened). This preserving salt makes them unfit for drinking purposes, and also means that care must be taken not to add too much salt to any recipe that they are used in.

Table wines, which do contain alcohol, can also be used as a cooking wine. Unlike cooking wines, they do not contain any preserving salt, which means that once they have been opened, they have a limited shelf life. In general (though not in all cases), wines for cooking should be young and dry. Although many people think that it is perfectly reasonable to use poor quality or cheap wines in cooking, some would argue that heating a low quality wine may only serve to increase the poor qualities present. It is probably better to use a wine that, whilst not expensive or very high quality, is one that you could drink on its own. Typical table wines commonly used in cooking include: red wine, white wine and fortified wines such as sherry, port, and vermouth and Madeira.

Red wine may be used in cookery to add flavour to soups, sauces, casseroles and gravies and can also form the basis of a marinade to help flavour and tenderise a joint or steak. Red wines such as Burgundy, Carbernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Zinfandel and Pinot Noir go well with savoury dishes or rich foods, such as beef, duck or lamb, meat stews, and rich spaghetti or fruit sauces.

Dry white wine, such as white Burgundy, Chardonnay, Chablis, Sauvignon Blanc or even Champagne may be added to savoury sauces to serve with fish and chicken, and also adds flavour to fish and chicken soups. Medium or sweet white wine such as Reisling or Gewürztraminer is ideal for flavouring fruits, desserts or spicier foods. For example, apple or pear slices may be poached in medium white wine with brown sugar and cinnamon.

The following table shows some examples of the types of food that may be cooked with red, white or rosé wine or with Champagne.