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Dear Frugal Upstate,
What type of white wine do you use in your recipes-specifically in your Chicken Chili Blanco? I was wondering if you could give a better idea of kind and maybe brand of white wine? Thank you so much!
Sincerely,
Theresa
Well Theresa, wine is a great addition to many recipes. It not only adds flavor but it helps enhance and spread flavors throughout a dish*.
Since I’m a frugal gal-hey, it’s the topic of the blog and all-I can’t imagine going out and buying wine just to use in a recipe. Typically I just use whatever wine I have around the house.
Somewhere in the deep files of my mind I have the idea that dry wine is better for cooking savory dishes, but the truth is that Yankee Bill and I prefer fruity whites. Some of them are semi sweet, some are sweet. .. but it is a rare thing to find a bottle of chardonnay or pinot grigio in my home. As a matter of fact, although we buy quite a bit of wine on our annual “wine tasting tour” around the NY Fingerlakes, we do keep a box ‘o wine in the cupboard with a semi sweet white table wine, and that’s normally what I grab for recipes.
So if you already drink wine, I’d say just go with whatever you normally like to drink. But maybe you aren’t a wine drinker, what do you do then? It seems so wasteful to buy a whole bottle for a single recipe. You know wine doesn’t stay good for very long after you open the bottle-even if you refrigerate it-so what do you do with the rest?
Your first option is indeed to head on out and buy a decent but not expensive wine.
If you have no clue what to purchase something like a “Sutter Home” chardonnay would work, or you could just ask a friend who does partake what their recommendation for an inexpensive white is. Once you’ve used the portion you need for the recipe you can freeze the wine in recipe sized portions-say 1/2 C, or even in ice cube trays. That way you’d have wine when you need it right in your freezer. If you remember you have it. And of course you need to label it so you don’t wind up with miscellaneous frozen mystery lumps.
Your second option is to buy cooking wine.
I know, I know. . . every article I’ve ever read out there says “Don’t ever, ever cook with a wine that you wouldn’t drink” and then caution against using cooking wines. Cooking wines are sold in grocery stores and are packaged in small bottles, around the size of a vinegar bottle. They have preservatives added, usually salt. Trust me-no one would drink them. Blech. But unlike drinking wine they don’t spoil so they are good for someone who has an occasional recipe that calls for wine.
I’ve used cooking wine and been happy with the results. I always keep cooking sherry on hand for recipes (french onion soup doesn’t taste like french onion soup without it). I would have absolutely no idea of what kind of sherry to buy, and I’m never going to actually drink sherry, so the cooking version makes sense to me. If that makes me a plebe and a cooking moron, oh well-the folks who don’t like it don’t have to eat at my house.
Your third and final option is either to leave the wine out of the dish or to use a substitute.
Non alcoholic wine, fruit juice or broth can be used in place of wine in recipes-although the taste will of course be different. You can find a full list of suggested substitutions on the Homecooking section of About.com: Alcohol Cooking Substitutions
So there you have it Theresa, that’s how I handle cooking wine! I hope it was of some help to you.
PS- if you are wondering if the alcohol really burns off, according to Chow.com, the answer is no-it all doesn’t.
*Note: Actually any alcohol does this, hence soups with beer etc.
**Note: I have done work on campaigns for Holland House which produces cooking wines-but they are in no way sponsoring or giving me input to this post. All opinions are my own
I always have a “cheap” jug of Burgundy and Chablis on hand for cooking. Carlo & Rossi is a good brand, but there are others. I think “cooking wines” taste gross, too salty. And I can’t bring myself to cook with a really nice bottle of wine.
Hello Jenn and Theresa,
Another route you could go in looking for inexpensive wines is to visit a Trader Joes if you have one nearby that carries wines, depending on the part of the country you live in. The have an enourmous selection of good wines at extremely reasonable rates. I do not like white wine with the exception of Champagne or sparkling wine, when I drink wine I drink Cabernet Sauvignon which is a form of red wine, good with beef, or in my cas,e when I feel like enjoying wine. The brand I like is $5.99 a bottle at Cost Plus World Market, who has a large wine selection there too, probably depending on your area of the country again. I am sure many of the readers will have great suggestions in finding a good white wine for a reasonable price. Have a great day all!
Hi! Just thought I’d put in my two cents about the wine. When we have leftover wine after having friends over, I freeze it in ice cube trays. I’ve never tried to drink it, but it seems to work well for cooking. My trays work out to about 2 oz per cube. A different mix will fit everyone’s taste, but I find 1/4 – 1/2 of the wine with the balance of the recipe in chicken stock seems to work nicely.
Great tip!
Since I tend to use wine in Asian recipes along with soy sauce, a cooking wine with added salt is not ideal. We don’t drink any, so the only wine I have is for cooking. I go to the local liquor store, (which I had to find in the yellow pages, btw) and ask for help. This time around I bought a NYState sherry and it’s great. It wasn’t expensive, and I’ve had it in my pantry for almost a year now and just used it last night for stir-fry – it was fine. Of course, I’m not sure I’d know if it went bad…. oh well!
White vermouth: inexpensive, and even an opened bottle lasts forever. I always keep it handy for when I need a splash in cooking and don’t have an open bottle.
Delia Smith is a well known cook – sort of like Julia Childs was in the US – in Britain. Her book ‘Frugal Food’ suggests using cider in place of wine. It has a low alcohol content, and can be either tart or sweet. I’ve not tried it yet, but thought I’d pass the tip along.
I’ve always wondered what the best, least expensive alternative is for cooking, but having tried cooking wines, I would do everything I could to make sure I use a white. I’m not brand loyal but I typically stick to chardonnays. Because we typically drink red wine, I decided to pay a little more and buy the four packs of white; that way there’s enough for any recipe, a little left to sip while I’m cooking, and the rest of a big bottle doesn’t go to waste!