"I cook with wine. Sometimes I even add it to the food."
- W.C. Fields

Are you looking for ways to enhance your cooking? Cooking with wine is a simple and fun way to intensify the flavours of your food. It’s best to start with a small amount, give it a taste and add more as needed.

Be very selective with the wines you choose to cook with. Only use wines that you would drink because the cooking process will bring out the worst in an inferior wine. A good quality wine is all that is needed to enhance your food. It will provide the same flavour as a premium wine would, so save the premium wine for serving. Also, avoid “cooking wines” as they are usually salty and full of additives that will alter the taste of your dish.

Begin with popular white and red wines but stay away from ones that have been flavoured with oak because they will add some bitterness to your food. Likewise, if a wine is really fruity, those characteristics will be emphasized through the cooking process. The trick is to experiment. While you will eventually become better at predicting how a certain wine will enhance your food, you will find that reds bring colour and a bit of dryness, whereas whites tend to be more acidic. Keep in mind that the alcohol content in your dish will depend on the length of time and the way in which it was cooked.

Cooking with wine is an excellent way to shake up your recipes. Add a splash or two to your next meal!