71
votes
Was honey in ancient times different than now?
It's not honey that's changed since ancient times, it's wine! Wine makers in ancient Rome lacked the knowledge and equipment to prevent oxidation and unwanted bacterial colonies, so their product was ...
- 75.4k
69
votes
Can I use cooking sherry instead of red wine in my stew?
"Cooking wine" is unfortunately ubiquitous on US mega-mart shelves. It is notoriously bad. I mean really, really notoriously bad. It starts bad, and then they add obscene amounts of salt so that it ...
- 58.5k
47
votes
What defines cooking wine?
At least in germany "cooking wine" is more a reference to a cheap wine that just does not taste good if drunken (or is of a low percieved quality). For example a cheap lambrusco, which you get if you ...
- 461
41
votes
What defines cooking wine?
Cooking wine has added salt so it is unpalatable to drink and legal to be sold in a store that doesn't have a liquor license in states requiring that.
- 2,281
37
votes
Accepted
What is the difference between expensive wine and regular wine?
There are several factors that increase price. Some are related to the objective quality of the wine, some indirectly linked, other are rather disconnected from quality (but not necessarily irrelevant,...
- 1,396
31
votes
Accepted
What defines cooking wine?
As my answer is quite long, it was suggested to add a summary up front. Here are the main points along with a little more info.
In the US, commercial cooking wines found in the grocery store, usually ...
- 18.3k
27
votes
Is there an acceptable way of cooling red wine?
Putting your bottle of wine in the fridge is fine. Even the BBC says so, as does Wine Enthusiast.
It's even OK if you forget about it, let it get down to 5deg, then take it out and let it warm up to ...
- 61.4k
25
votes
Can I use cream of tartar instead of wine to avoid alcohol in a meat braise or risotto?
There's a few misconceptions there. Tartaric acid, malic acid, acetic acid, and citric acid are all "heat stable" in the sense that they won't boil or decompose at the temperature of boiling ...
- 27k
24
votes
Accepted
How can I increase white wine shelf life specifically bought for cooking?
Freeze it in cubes and use it as required. Wine should be low-alcohol enough to freeze in a regular freezer, although you might find you get 'slushier' parts – if you do, these will have a higher ...
- 11.9k
22
votes
How Does Wine Enhance Flavor?
The other answers make good points, but OP in comments keeps asking whether alcohol helps ingredients "release their flavor" more. And yes, it does.
As to how it does so, one reason is simply ...
- 32.1k
21
votes
Accepted
How should red wine be used in Spaghetti Bolognese?
In general, when meat or vegetables are fried in hot fat, sugar and amino acid particles are formed. To capture this roasted aroma caused by this reaction (called Maillard reaction), you pour water or ...
- 793
19
votes
Safe to cook with alcohol
In general, we can assume that it will never boil off to zero. By a combination of reduction and dilution we can get to undetectable levels, less than in ripe fruit and some breads. The "zero ...
- 43.8k
19
votes
Can you replace red wine with apera/sherry in a ragout sauce for lasagne?
Because the other answers feel awfully prescriptivist to me, and I hate prescriptivist cooking, let me give a definitive
Yes.
You can absolutely substitute a sherry (fortified wine) for red wine in ...
- 1,718
18
votes
Is there an acceptable way of cooling red wine?
There's nothing wrong with using the refrigerator if you remember to take the wine out. Else perhaps run a large volume of cold water (e.g. into an ice bucket or the bath) and put it in that, with or ...
- 1,025
17
votes
What is the difference between expensive wine and regular wine?
Before I provide the following answer, I feel it necessary to preface it by saying that I enjoy all sorts of fine (read: expensive) alcoholic beverages, and some of the best meals in my life have been ...
- 32.1k
15
votes
Accepted
How can I improve the colour of my red wine mousse?
Red wine changes colour with pH. It's slightly acidic, more so in younger wines that are a brighter red. Many fruit and veg compounds act as pH indicators, such as those in raspberries and red cabbage....
- 43.8k
15
votes
Accepted
Is there a device for separating the sediment from home made wine?
The conventional way to do this is Racking (Wikipedia) in which the wine is slowly syphoned from one vessel to another, leaving the sediment undisturbed.
This is better than trying to wash out the ...
- 43.8k
13
votes
What is the opposite of cuvée?
A cuvée usually means that the wine if made from the same batch of grapes, harvested at the same time (year), from a particular plot of land.
A cuvée can either be a single grape varietal , which is ...
- 20.5k
13
votes
How can I increase white wine shelf life specifically bought for cooking?
Small bottles.
These bottles are 187 ml which is 6 ounces each. This 4 pack costs $2. You will use one bottle to cook and discard what you don't use from that bottle. The other 3 will wait their ...
- 6,626
12
votes
Accepted
Safe to cook with alcohol
As a general rule, the answer by Chris H is accurate. Most recipes that involve wine only use a small amount and typically involve cooking in a way that causes most of the alcohol to evaporate (or ...
- 1,677
11
votes
Does red wine vinegar and red vinegar taste same?
Welcome to the site @User3176270. I'm not an expert in Halal but my understanding from my halal friends is that red wine vinegar is halal because the process of turning the wine into vinegar gets rid ...
- 75.4k
11
votes
11
votes
How Does Wine Enhance Flavor?
As you are asking how wine enhances the flavor of foods, the first thing that came to mind for me is that wine contains glutamates, which are flavor enahncers.
Most people would be surprised to know ...
- 18.3k
11
votes
How can I increase white wine shelf life specifically bought for cooking?
There are 'bag in box' wine packages around, easy to find in some places but harder to find in others.
With those no air comes into the container keeping the wine good for a much longer time.
They ...
- 2,072
10
votes
What is a substitute for red or white wine in a recipe?
After a long and frustrating search for wine substitutes, I finally got the guts to create "wine bouillon" and it's producing good results in the kitchen.
Essentially, I've flash-dried wine into a ...
- 101
10
votes
Why are the corks of some of my Muscat wines popping out?
This is generally an indication that the wine is not stable - that is, it is still fermenting, which is a defect in wines not intended to be sparkling (carbonated) wines.
If you made the wine, and ...
- 16k
10
votes
Achieve butter-like aroma in a vegan recipe
Many of the modern "vegan butter-like spreads for cooking" have a passable butter flavor, not like the margarines of yore. You do want to get one that mentions it can be used in cooking/baking, rather ...
- 16k
9
votes
Can I use cooking sherry instead of red wine in my stew?
Another option is to freeze wine - buy a bottle, use what you need this time and freeze the rest in containers of about a cup. Red doesn't freeze completely solid so keep the containers the right way ...
- 43.8k
9
votes
What defines cooking wine?
Other answers have focussed on wine, I'll focus on sake.
"Cooking sake" is a rice alcohol. Sake doesn't have any spices added to it. Cooking sake is just a lower" quality sake. It will also likely ...
- 1,250
8
votes
Possible Wine Substitutions for Sherry When Making French Onion Soup
Yes, you can. (I usually use wine, in fact). Note that sherries are a fortified wine, so you may want to add a small amount of brandy as well; say 1 Tbl to 1/4 cup per cup of wine.
If you are using ...
- 4,081
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible