Many people are intimidated by the idea of cooking with wine. It sounds a little too fancy or even gourmet (that’s Greek for complicated). Maybe they are feeding a family and don’t like the idea of serving the little ones something with wine in it. However, often it is just a case of people not knowing how to cook with wine. It really is very simple and can be incorporated into anyone’s recipes.
Some of the advantages of cooking with wine include:
- very little makes a huge difference to the flavor and aroma of your dishes
- it instantly produces a richer, more complex taste to recipes
- you can easily experiment with it for different results
- if you choose to replace it in a recipe, it can be easily done with chicken, beef or vegetable broth
The first step for beginners wishing to cook with wine is to try adding it to spaghetti sauces. Red wines like Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, Bordeaux and Merlot are wonderful in spaghetti sauces that are vegetarian or beef based. If the sauce is being served over chicken or is made with ground poultry, white wine works better. Even as little as 1/3 of a cup of wine adds a rich flavor to the entire batch of sauce that will cause people to come back for it time and again.
Another great and easy way to incorporate wine into your cooking is to create a sauce from the little bits of food left in the frying pan after frying meats. You simply pour in wine and gently scrape the pan as it cooks on the stove. This is actually a real cooking technique called deglazing. It makes a fantastic rich sauce to pour over vegetables or meat. An added bonus is your pan will also be easier to clean afterwards.
If you are cooking in the slow cooker or baking in the oven, you always need to add liquid. Wine is the perfect cooking liquid. It adds flavor and richness. White wine adds an irresistible intensity to fish baked in it. Red wine is wonderful to add to the slow cooker with a roast or in beef stew.
As you get bolder with your use of wine in cooking, explore some different recipes using it. They are very easy to find. Just a simple online search will provide you with numerous recipes. There are soups, desserts, main dishes, pastas, appetizers and more that feature any of a variety of wines in their ingredient list.
So remember to keep at least one red and one white wine on hand to give a little extra flavor to the dishes you prepare. Even inexpensive wines will add a little extra je-ne-sais-quoi in your food. (That’s French for yummy)
An important point to remember for anyone who brings it up, is that the alcohol in the wine burns off in the cooking process, leaving you with flavor and no intoxicating effects. It also doesn’t add any extra fat to the meals you are preparing. You will astound your friends with how sophisticated your cooking has become because of the great results wine produces in even every day dishes.
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If you’re into homemade wine, you know the importance of getting some good homemade wine recipes. Just throwing some fruit juice and a fermenting agent in a jar and letting it sit for awhile will get you nothing but nasty fruit juice. You can of course try your own mixtures if you’re adventurous, and of course doing so is part of the fun of making your own wine, but especially if you are a beginner you’ll want to follow the easy wine recipes to the tee. Once you’re a bit more experienced, you can start experimenting with different fruit mixes and sugar levels, and who knows - you may even come up with some of your own homemade wine recipes over time! But to get you started, here are some basic recipes you can try.
Mulled wines are a great alternative to hot cocoas, ciders, and other such drinks. They are very easy to make, and once you get the hang of it, you can come up with your own mulled wine recipes. Usually you just take one regular bottle of any red wine and put it into a large stewing pot. Add a quarter cup of brandy, about 10 cloves, 2/3 cup of sugar, some whole cinnamon sticks, and about a teaspoon of ginger or allspice. Let it simmer over very low heat, stirring it occasionally, until the sugar is dissolved. You can experiment with this type of easy wine recipe by adding some favorite pureed fruit or fruit juice, or by using honey instead of sugar as a sweetener. By using different types of red wines, you’ll also be able to get either stronger or mellower flavors.
Apple wine is also a favorite for homemade wines, and while these easy wine recipes are a bit longer, they yield a very good product. Your wine mix is merely 2 containers of frozen apple juice (thawed) and 4 cups of sugar, more or less to taste, with about 2-1/2 quarts of water. As with most easy wine recipes, you boil the sugar in about a quart of the water until it is dissolved, and add this to the apple juice. Add about 6 teaspoons of acid blend, a campden tablet, a quarter teaspoon of grape tannin, a half teaspoon of pectic enzyme, and a package of wine yeast. You then prepare it as you would any other wine. Since this is one of the most basic homemade wine recipes there is, you can experiment with it by mixing the apple juice with other fruit juices. Half apple juice and half grape juice is good; cherry or blackberry juice works well too.
You can also adjust this homemade wine recipe by eliminating the apple altogether and using half grape juice and half grapefruit juice.
The important thing to remember when mixing up the fruits that you use in your homemade wine recipes is that you don’t want to use all tart fruits or all sweet fruits. A good way to remember this is to think of the colors of the fruit, and use two from different colors. For instance, grape and apple, banana and cherry, and so on. These types of mixtures usually make the best easy wine recipes for homemade wines.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/food-and-beverage-articles/some-simple-easy-wine-recipes-316216.html
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Alyssa Nair has written articles on the finest wines and accessories. Read the helpful tips and advice about homemade wines, how to grow your own grapes or building your own wine cellars.