by Neil Nicol

Created on: February 03, 2009

Wine can be an excellent addition to a great many recipes and cooking projects but if we are not sure of which wine to add to what and in what quantity, there is a great deal of scope for things to go drastically wrong. The idea is that the wine compliments the flavour of our principal ingredients, not overpowers them, and adds something extra to the finished dish. There are therefore several tips which we should bear in mind when so much as contemplating cooking with wine.

The choice of which wine to use is important not only from a flavour or perhaps colour point of view but also from an expense point of view. There is absolutely no point whatsoever adding an expensive wine to a sauce or dish. It is quite simply a waste of money. I am not saying that we should scour the budget supermarkets and stores for the very cheapest vintage we can find but any acceptable budget bottle of wine is fine for cooking with. Save the expensive stuff for drinking as an accompaniment to the meal!

As a general guideline, by no means a hard and fast rule, it is more likely that red wine will better accompany such as beef or game and white wine such as chicken or fish. This is of course a theory which is most often practised when deciding which wine to drink with a meal but applies equally well to cooking. The simple reason is that the red wine is likely to have a more full-bodied flavour than white and could overpower the flavours of chicken or particularly fish. One famous exception to this rule is of course the traditional French peasants' dish, Coq au Vin.

I remember once hearing a mother say that her child could not have a dish containing a wine sauce as they were not allowed any alcohol. As I pointed out on that occasion and will do so again, when we cook with wine, there is no alcohol in the served meal. Alcohol has a much lower boiling point than water, therefore it evaporates long before the meal or sauce is cooked and is lost in its entirety. This is a scientific fact so parents should not be concerned in any way in this respect.

There are a great many ways in which to make a delicious wine sauce so I will share with you one such recipe which I often prepare. This goes especially well with chicken.

You will need:

1 cup of white wine

cup of full or double cream (do not use single cream as it will split and ruin your sauce)

1 clove of garlic (crushed or finely chopped)

4 medium sized mushrooms (finely chopped)

Put the wine in to a small non-stick pan and bring it up to a gentle simmer. Add the mushrooms and the garlic and simmer until the wine has reduced by half. Add the cream and continue to heat until the mixture just begins to simmer. Serve immediately.

I hope this article has helped you in your desire to cook with wine and that you now may do so successfully and with confidence.

Learn more about this author, Neil Nicol.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.