The art of Cooking with Wine: Choosing, Timing, and Quantity
Cooking with wine is a technique that can elevate dishes, adding depth and complexity to flavors. However, simply pouring any bottle into a recipe won’t do. According to Lluís Manel Barba, a professor of enology at the Hofmann School, careful consideration of the wine’s characteristics, when it’s added, and the amount used are crucial for success.
Choosing the Right Wine
The key to pairing wine with food when cooking lies in intensity. “For dishes where you want to intensify the flavor, like beef stew or cheeks in red wine, you can use an intense wine, as that’s what the dish ‘asks for’,” explains Barba.
He specifically recommends wines made with Garnacha (Grenache) – both white and black varieties – as ideal choices. These wines offer sufficient intensity while remaining neutral enough not to overpower the final dish.
For red wines, Barba suggests opting for young wines without oak aging, or older wines where the oak is well-integrated. he advises avoiding wines that are overly tannic or acidic, and those with a high alcohol content (between 13-14%). White wines are particularly well-suited for recipes like fricandó (Catalan beef stew), rabbit with chocolate, or chicken with plums and pine nuts.
Timing is Everything
Selecting the appropriate wine is only half the battle. Adding it at the correct stage of cooking is equally crucial. A common mistake, according to Barba, is adding the wine too late in the process, preventing sufficient alcohol evaporation.“We are interested in the foundation that the wine leaves behind,” he emphasizes.
to maximize the wine’s contribution, Barba recommends adding it early in the cooking process. This ensures complete alcohol evaporation.Furthermore, the initial addition can be used to deglaze the pan or pot, lifting flavorful browned bits from the bottom.
How Much Wine to Use
Generally, recipes call for about one glass of wine. However, for dishes specifically designed as “wine-cooked” recipes, a larger quantity is needed.
If too much wine is added, there’s still a remedy. “We can always add a little water, although we must be careful not to dilute everything too much,” Barba assures.
Source: Hofmann. (n.d.). Vino en la cocina: cómo elegirlo, cuándo añadirlo y en qué cantidad. https://www.hofmannbcn.com/blog/vino-en-la-cocina-como-elegirlo-cuando-anadirlo-y-en-que-cantidad/