Wine for cooking, eating with a touch of flavor
The habit of using wine for cooking has an ancient origin and has been known since the Roman times. In fact it was customary for the Romans to use wine as a ‘natural fridge’ as it was used to keep and preserve the meat fresh keeping it inside water for a few days. From this tradition it has come to us the custom of ‘marinating’ the flesh to make it softer and more aromatic.
Wine for cooking: Instructions for use
Cooking with wine tends to scare about its alcoholic volume. Many people think that cooking with wine makes food alcoholic or otherwise change its content. In fact alcohol begins to evaporate when the pot reaches a temperature above 70 ° C, so long before the boiling point of the water itself. However, the wine does not completely disappear, and according to recent studies, a minimum amount of alcohol remains in the cooked food. Of course, the longer the cooking time will be, the less residual alcohol will be. In the case of marinates the problem of wine evaporation does not exist and hence a lower amount will be used to wet the meat.
The quality of the wine to cook
When you decide to prepare a meal, it is good to choose a high quality wine to cook. The aroma, the flavor and the organoleptic properties of wine are able to blend with the ingredients that make up the dish in order to highlight all their qualities.
In order not to risk altering the taste, it is preferable to add a good Italian DOC wine or anyway a foreign product of safe and certified origin. In fact, choosing a great wine, the recipe will be more delicious. On the contrary, if we use a sour wine or characterized by cork taint, it will convey all its flaws to the food spoiling our work in the kitchen instead of preserving its characteristics. So we can simmer the meat or anything else with the same wine that we are used to drink while eating.
The best wines for cooking
The wine to avoid when we decide to cook is certainly a wine mature and old. The problem of this kind of wine is not only the cost of the bottle but also the bad taste that doesn’t suit the various shades of taste of food. It would be better to choose a young or new wine. In addition, the choice of wine for cooking is also linked to the type of ingredients we will use. For example, white wines are used mainly to prepare tasty soups and to flavor fish, white meats, cheeses and various desserts such as biscuits and donuts.
Red wines, however, are widely used to cook red meat, sauces, braised meat and stew beef. Many of the white and red wines are then used to cook delicious pasta dishes and risottos such as the famous risotto with Barolo or Spumante wine. With regard to sweet wines, these are used in confectionery in the preparation of desserts, sweets and delicious creams such as zabaione.
Pairing is important too
Once we finish cooking, the only thing to do is to bring the final result on the table. One important thing to pay attention to is the combination with the wine to drink during the meal. The simplest and most effective rule is to choose the same wine used to cook in order to harmonize the taste between what you eat and what you drink. If you do not have the same wine for cooking it is advisable to drink a wine with more or less similar characteristics to maintain a good balance of aroma and body.
Immagine source: www.charmingitaly.com
http://chicksinaprons.com
www.finewinegeek.com
