Being able to use the best red wine for cooking will radically change the flavors of your cooking. Red cooking wine is a must in your kitchen if you want to elevate your cooking and be interested in cooking global cuisines.
What Should Be Considered When Picking Red Wine for Cooking?
Our first piece of sage advice for cooking with red wine is avoiding (at all cost) the red wine sold in supermarkets specifically for cooking. This might sound counterintuitive, but the reality of it is that these red wines have had a lot of compounds removed already, including the natural salts present in wine.
We also do not recommend using old red wine that has been opened too many times before. Toss these old bottles instead. Freshly-opened wine is best for work in the kitchen.
Using old wine is a bit like gambling with your food. You never know how the old wine is going to affect the food in the first place.
If you have your preference for red wines, why not use these instead? Quality red wine that you can finish in one draught will likely produce excellent flavors when cooked.
And as a final point – many inexpensive red wines do the job beautifully. There’s no need to overspend on this ingredient. Basic red wines like pinot noir or your classic cabernet sauvignon are fine with cooking.
What Dishes Are the Best Match with Red Wine?
Nearly every dish can be cooked (and matched) with red wine. Different kinds of proteins will fare better with the natural acidity and added sweetness of red wine. Red wine can also slightly improve the color of your food, for obvious reasons. Use red wine in adding flavor and tenderizing lamb, pork, beef, or even chicken. Red wine in barbecue sauce for chicken wings or pulled pork? Why not?
