There would be no coq au vin without the red vin, no veal Marsala minus the Marsala. These wines are the defining ingredients.
Cooking with wine is fundamental because wine itself is a food.
It’s used in poaching, steaming, basting, braising, simmering and sauteeing, performing differently but yielding the same result: flavor.
So, skip what’s sometimes dubbed “cooking wine,” invariably mediocre stuff with additives, often including salt.
There’s no need to break out your best vintage wine for cooking.
But there’s also a difference between using what’s inexpensive and what doesn’t taste right.
A poor wine leads to poor results, which is why the oldest advice about cooking with wine remains the most accurate and valuable: Don’t cook with a wine you wouldn’t drink.
Realistically, the wine you’re most likely to use for cooking is what’s still in the refrigerator.
Just avoid using the remains of a big red to finish off a little fish, or choosing that gulp or two of a light white to handle a thick steak. But the chardonnay will work with salmon, as a gutsy red will improve braised beef.
In that sense, using the right wine to cook with is similar to selecting the wine to accompany your main course.
Versatile wines such as sauvignon blanc and Chianti work overtime for cooks, brightening dishes with their acidity and imparting distinctive flavors. Chianti is ideal to enrich tomato sauce; sauvignon blanc complements plenty of seafood.
