Use a drinkable red wine for beef stews, tomato sauces, and pot roasts. It's so easy to use wine this way because in most cases all you do is pour in wine after deglazing
an aromatic diced vegetable saute. I like to use dry or fruity white wines (but as ChefJune says, no oaky chardonnays) to use as liquid bases for simple baked or poached fish, and also to deglaze and build a light butter sauce for stove top chicken dishes.
My favorite way to use wine is at the beginning of any soup/stew recipe. Saute your onions, garlic, celery, and other hard veggies. Before adding any other liquid pour in a couple splashes of wine (white for chicken/veggie soup and red for beef/tomato based soups). The wine will give a satisfying sizzle and pull off the caramelizing from the pan. It binds all the flavors together and gives you a good foundation for the soup/stew. Another good tip is to saute some fennel or anise seeds with the vegetables. When you add the wine it releases the sweet flavor of the spice.
Remember that as the wine reduces, its flavor components become more pronounced. This makes oaky chardonnay and tannic Cabernet Sauvignon less good choices for cooking, as those flavors don't reduce favorably. Go for fruity wines for cooking.
Risottos, spaghetti sauces, maybe a coq au vin. Those are the first thing that comes to mind when cooking with wine. The main thing to keep in mind is that you never want to cook with something that you wouldn't drink. The alchol cooks out (for the most part) so what's left is the flavor. It's not a scary thing to cook with at all. Mostly you're just tring to get a reduction and some good flavor.
The very easiest is to use it as part of the liquid in potroast or any kind of beef braise.
But I really love this recipe for fish with a white wine butter sauce. It is very simple. Just get everything prepared and sitting on the counter before you start to cook. Your dinner guests will think you are a pro--the presentation and flavor are lovely.
Wine adds wonderful flavoring. If you don't want to drink a wine, don't use it for cooking. Here is a recipe that we love which uses red wine. http://www.food52.com/recipes/2962_secret_ingredient_beef_stew
Rule of thumb for cooking with wine is white for fish and delicate flavoring like sauces and red for beef and pork - red meats including elk etc. Cooking with wine is about experimenting! Enjoy. Also you can use wine for marinades and in sauces.
This is the first recipe I ever made (by myself) with wine:
http://www.cookingwithpatty.com/italian/recipe/milan-style-risotto-alla-milanese/
It's super easy, you really can't ruin the wine part, and it shows the simplest technique that I know of for cooking with wine. It also turns out delicious and rather impressive to people who aren't used to eating risotto. Just remember the most important rule: never cook with a wine of a quality you wouldn't drink. (I've been known to completely ignore this rule on a budget, but wine quality truly does impact the flavor.)
I've had the best results with chardonnay, Viognier, and sauvignon blanc in this recipe.
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an aromatic diced vegetable saute. I like to use dry or fruity white wines (but as ChefJune says, no oaky chardonnays) to use as liquid bases for simple baked or poached fish, and also to deglaze and build a light butter sauce for stove top chicken dishes.
But I really love this recipe for fish with a white wine butter sauce. It is very simple. Just get everything prepared and sitting on the counter before you start to cook. Your dinner guests will think you are a pro--the presentation and flavor are lovely.
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Seared-Halibut-with-Haricots-Verts-Scallions-and-White-Wine-Sauce-104104
Rule of thumb for cooking with wine is white for fish and delicate flavoring like sauces and red for beef and pork - red meats including elk etc. Cooking with wine is about experimenting! Enjoy. Also you can use wine for marinades and in sauces.
http://www.cookingwithpatty.com/italian/recipe/milan-style-risotto-alla-milanese/
It's super easy, you really can't ruin the wine part, and it shows the simplest technique that I know of for cooking with wine. It also turns out delicious and rather impressive to people who aren't used to eating risotto. Just remember the most important rule: never cook with a wine of a quality you wouldn't drink. (I've been known to completely ignore this rule on a budget, but wine quality truly does impact the flavor.)
I've had the best results with chardonnay, Viognier, and sauvignon blanc in this recipe.