10 Tips For Cooking With Wine

When wine becomes an aromatic ingredient

Cooking with wine is creative, aromatic and challenging. However, you definitely don't have to be a star chef to give dishes a special touch with one or two fine wines. The 10 practical tips in this article will help you with your first attempts at cooking with wine!

Tip #1: Professionals only cook with wine they would drink

Do the same! Inferior wine makes a correspondingly inferior dish. Classic base wines without a superficial note of wood or intense fruit aromas are best.

Extra tip: When cooking, use wine from the country that's playing the leading role in the cuisine (example: Italian wine for Italian food, etc.).

Tip #2: Think of wine as a spice and use it as such

The amount of wine used largely determines how your dish will taste in the end. When you're not cooking from a recipe, treat the wine like a spice. The following applies:

too little: wine does not come into its own
too much: wine dominates the meal
properly dosed: Wine gives the food a special flavour

Note: You can always "spice up", but it's not possible to reduce the distinctive wine flavour once it's been added.
To make sure that your food tastes good the first time, use the following guidelines (when cooking for four people):

Rich sauce dishes: 200 to 250ml of wine
To deglaze a dish: 100ml is sufficient

Tip #3: Cook with wine instead of water or stock

Use wine as a water or stock substitute. It won't bring any additional liquid into the food, "only" change the aroma of the dish - and it's extremely tasty!

Tip #4: Be sure to reduce the wine over a low heat

Reduce the wine over a low heat, otherwise you'll literally cook the aroma out! Go slowly and at the end of the reduction stir in a piece of cold butter with a whisk. This gives you a fantastic sauce, whether with red or white wine.

Tip #5: Red wine for dark sauces, white wine for light ones

Follow this basic rule at the beginning. Later you can also test opposites - i.e. put red wine in light and white wine in dark. Refine the sauces spoon by spoon when cooking with wine - until you achieve the desired taste.

Extra tips:

Tomato-based sauces (e.g. for pasta): red or white wine, depending on taste
Risotto: dry white wine or Prosecco
Powerful sauces (e.g. for veal liver or duck breast): port wine

Tip #6: Wine as a marinade for meat or vegetables

Wine makes both meat and veg more tender before you cook it. It is also worth sautéing meat or vegetables with a mixture of wine and oil. Whether you use white or red is up to you. Experiment with different variations.

Extra tip: If you are preparing meat in the oven, pour wine over it - either pure or mixed with stock or melted butter.

Tip #7: Refine cakes and desserts with wine

Cakes and other desserts can be refined with sweet and dessert wines. Examples: Sherry is wonderful in the batter of baked goods, Madeira is lovely over creamy vanilla ice cream and fruits marinated in port wine (peaches, pears, plums, etc.) harmonise perfectly with pancakes or warm tarts.

Tip #8: NO white wine combined with lemon or vinegar

White wine is very acidic. Combined with lemon or vinegar, your food will become extremely acidic.

Tip #9: Protect red wines rich in tannins from harsh influences

Red wines rich in tannins tend to leave behind a bitter note, especially after a long reduction period. Counteract this tartness by adding cream or other high-fat ingredients.

Tip #10: Get rid of alcohol when cooking with wine

If you're cooking for children or adults who don't want alcohol in their food, try a stew. It takes a very long time for the alcohol in the wine to evaporate: