White Wine Makes These 27 Recipes Shine (2024)

FAQs

What does white wine add to a recipe? ›

Using wine in place of some or all of the vinegar in classic beurre blanc and Béarnaise sauces will make them less acidic and more complex. Wine also adds depth to and cuts the richness of cream-based sauces. You might even want to try whisking a little white wine into your scrambled eggs or omelet before cooking.

Wine's acidity also helps more delicate ingredients stay tender and moist in quicker-cooking recipes, such as poached vegetables or steamed fish. As wine cooks, its flavor becomes concentrated, so it also lends savoriness or sweetness to a dish. Generally, dry red and white wines are recommended for savory dishes.

While marinades can be made with any acidic liquid, wine is a particularly good one; in addition to adding acidity, wine adds complex flavor to the finished dish. Bringing the wine to a boil helps cook off some of its alcohol and concentrate its fruitiness and acidity.

Why Dry White Wine for Cooking? As a general rule, dry white wines (wines that don't contain sweetness) are preferred for cooking lighter dishes such as chicken, pork, veal, soup, seafood, shellfish, and vegetables.

There are a myriad of great choices but we tend to favor pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc. These lighter-style wines will bring out the flavor of your dish without overwhelming it. Avoid robust and oaky white wines like chardonnay. Once the food is cooked, the oak-influence may cause your dish to taste bitter.

Various white wines, like dry, crisp, and unoaked, have seen widespread use in kitchens. This is mainly because of the unique aspects that each can bring to food. White wines tend to have high acidity, a floral scent, and a fruity taste. These qualities allow the flavor and aroma of your meal to be greatly enhanced.

A good substitute for a cup of white wine is a cup of broth or vegetable stock, with a splash of vinegar or lemon juice for acidity. The general rule is to add one tablespoon of vinegar for every cup of broth used. For recipes requiring ¼ cup of white wine or less, it's generally safe to omit the wine altogether.

A lower level of alcohol would burn off quicker. So, a long-simmering food may end up tasting like burnt vino instead of the underlying flavors of the grape variety. Cooking wine also has added salt and a number of preservatives not in normal drinking options.

Choose a wine with depth and acidity. Wines with high acidity levels like sauvignon blanc or chardonnay make excellent cooking companions. Don't use an old white wine.

After cooking aromatics or meat, simply pour a bit of wine into the still-hot pan, scrape up the brown remnants and residue, and whisk into a sauce to add to your dish.

How much wine do you use when cooking? ›

Marinating meat or vegetables in wine, herbs, vinegar, and other flavoring agents, is a great way to ensure what you cook is flavorful and retains some moisture in the cooking process. A good rule of thumb is to use one cup of wine for every cup of oil in a marinade.

It highlights the taste of each ingredient and really rounds out all the flavors into a nice balanced flavor profile. Red wine will also reduce the fats in the sauce, heightening the flavors of other ingredients that fats may dilute. Ingredients like oil, butter or broths cannot do this within a sauce.

If you're looking for something slightly sweeter, fruity, and well-rounded, try the Pinot Grigio. If you're looking for something with higher acidity levels and a little drier, but still on the lighter side, go with the Sauvignon Blanc.

Another good option, white wine vinegar is good as a replacement for dry white wine. It is much more acidic than white wine though so it should be diluted with water or stock. Use a ratio of 50% white wine vinegar to 50% water or stock. You will get flavour from stock but it lacks the acidity of white wine.

Wine adds acidity to foods. You can get acidity from other sources, like citrus juices but those are more astringent than wine and not good choices for deglazing and reducing when making sauces. There are all sorts of pasta dishes that pair well with white wine.

As a reference, here's a helpful rule of thumb: After 30 minutes of cooking, alcohol content decreases by 10 percent with each successive half-hour of cooking, up to 2 hours. That means it takes 30 minutes to boil alcohol down to 35 percent and you can lower that to 25 percent with an hour of cooking.

A new study shows that white wine and lemon juice together is the most effective, natural way to prevent enzymatic browning in dough without using artificial additives or special flour.

It is commonly used in cooking, salad dressings, marinades, and pickling. The acidity of white wine vinegar helps to balance and enhance flavors in a variety of dishes. It can be used as a tangy ingredient in sauces, vinaigrettes, and marinades, or as a preservative for pickled vegetables.