Yes, vermouth is so yummy in cooking. But maybe it's not the wine that is the problem but the method. What is the problem exactly? Does the food end up tasting too much like wine? Is it bitter? Is it sour?

If I had to take one guess I would say use higher heat. Get the ingredients and the pan hot enough so that almost all the liquid has evaporated, and then add the wine so that it sizzles and all the alcohol evaporates. Then add your other liquid ingredients. That is just one example of a solution but it might not be the right one for you.

Cooking with wine is the best! I hope you don't get turned off from it.

I beg of you to keep trying. When done right cooking with wine can be so heavenly. Please just do a little research on cooking with wine and don't give up. I became a chef at the age of twenty because of a white wine chicken I had at the age of 10.

oh, and fyi the Galloping Gourmet uses non-alcoholic wine now that he doesn't drink. But I still think removing wine will not improve the dish.

I'm not making anything in particular at the moment. I have made some dishes in the past calling for white wine....and one pot roast recipe calling for a burgundy wine. I was just curious. Thanks for everyones help! :)

All of the previous answers are correct in their way. But what is it you are really trying to cook here?? Does "dark" wine mean port or does it mean claret or plonk? What I'm getting at is this; are you braising a chicken or just finishing the sauce?

Wine really gives a special flavor that can't be duplicated. I'd reccomend that you work on using the wine rather than the subs. The dish will be flatter in flavor with the subs.You can try using Vermouth instead of white wine, Julia Childs did. Usually with white wine you cook it down in the pan until it is nearly evaporated, So yeah, you can use a little chicken stock, or, depending on the dish, white wine vinegar, or apple juice. Are you trying to make something in particular now?

For red wine, usually you are using a larger quantity, like in a braise, so there isn't really any substitute, you just need to choose something else to make. You could use beef stock if you must, maybe combined with a little red wine vinegar. But braised dishes with red wine are very easy to prepare. The long, slow cooking does the work for you.

You want to pick a liquid that will complement the other ingredients in the recipe. Stock/broth fits the bill for a lot of things, but perhaps fruit juice, or adding a little sherry vinegar to some stock, etc... Depends on the recipe and your taste.

For white wine, you can sub dry vermouth. Not sure about an equivalent for red, it would depend on what the other flavors in the dish are.