Cooking with wine

Dear Wine Ladies,

I am a culinary student and am part of a group project that is looking at cooking with alcohol. What are some of the reasons for cooking with wine, what does it do to the food and does the acidity in wine play a role?

Cynthia

Brampton, Ontario

Ask The Wine Ladies- Please submit your questions to info@thewineladies.com

Dear Cynthia,

 A splash of wine or definitely a cup or two depending on the recipe can definitely add another dimension to the gastronomic experience. Cooking with wine adds extra flavour; it acts like a turbo booster, just as garlic, salt, pepper and even lemon does. It can also add extra body, complexity and texture. It is great for adding acidity to rich dishes, can serve to tenderize and impair flavour as well. A few hints we’ve garnered over the years from award winning chefs include;

1.       Make sure you let the wine cook off before adding another liquid such as stock. If you add them together the result will have an “uncooked wine” flavour.

2.       Reserve the better wines for the finishing off of a dish when the flavour will be more present, for dishes that require longer cooking time such as braising, a lesser wine will be fine.

3.  For a winning combination using our iconic icewine try this recipe we  found “Vineyard Leg of Lamb with Icewine Fig Compote. It can befound in the book Icewine, by Donald Ziraldo and Karl Kaiser, foundersof the beautiful, award winning winery Inniskillin.

4. To “save” a dish in which you’ve used too much wine, re-establish  balance by adding more butter or olive oil.

Submit your questions to The Wine Ladies, Georgia and Susanne to info@TheWineLadies.com