Only cook with a wine that is good enough to drink while you are cooking it.
Leftover wine may be frozen in ice cube trays then removed to a plastic container and stored in the freezer until you need it. It does not freeze hard, in fact, I often just place the wine cubes still in the tray, inside a large freezer bag.
Add Wine to your Favorite Recipes
If you want to feature the specific flavors and characteristics of a wine, then cook it for only a short amount of time so as not to alter those flavors too much.
The longer you cook wine and the further down that you reduce it, the more the alcohol and water in the wine evaporates. As the wine cooks, the flavors begin to concentrate and the longer the wine cooks the more intense those flavors will be.
Fruity wines have a complex, fruity flavor when cooked down. Wines with a sweet edge become deeper and even sweeter.
Deglazing with Wine
Deglazing is one of the easiest and most common ways to incorporate wine into your cooking.
To deglaze, simply add a small amount of wine to a hot pan where meat or poultry has just been cooked, scraping the pan with a wooden spoon to release any bits of cooked on food. When the wine reaches the proper consistency, usually somewhat thick and syrupy, the reduction is sometimes balanced out with a small amount of butter and fresh seasoning. It can then be drizzled back over the meat or poultry you have just cooked.
Wine Sauces
Wine sauces are made using the same basic concept of reduction and generally require larger quantities of wine to begin with. For these sauces the wine is started out in a clean pot and often combined with other flavorings such as shallots, fresh herbs, peppercorns, and fruit to name a few.
So that the alcohol and water evaporate and the true flavors of the wine are concentrated as it reduces, the sauce is slowly simmered over medium to low heat. Sometimes stock or demi-glace is added to give the sauce more depth. Wine reduction sauces are strained once they have been reduced to the proper consistency and then are usually finished with butter.
Grilled Sirloins with Mushroom-Wine Sauce
4 to 6 center cut top sirloin steaks
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon pepper
Mushroom-Wine Sauce:
8 ounce fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 tablespoon flour
1-1/2 tablespoon tomato paste
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 cup dry red wine or Madeira
1/4 cup beef stock or broth
To prepare wine sauce, sauté mushrooms, garlic and onion in melted butter or margarine in saucepan until mushrooms are tender. Add flour, stirring until blended, cook over medium heat for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Blend in tomato paste, salt and pepper, stir in wine and stock until well-blended. Simmer 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Adjust seasoning if necessary.
Sprinkle steaks with lemon pepper. Grill steaks over moderately hot coals for 5 to 8 minutes per side for medium rare, or to your desired degree of doneness. Serve with Mushroom-Wine Sauce.
Braising with Wine
Braising meat and poultry in wine is another classic technique. Traditional dishes such as coq au vin and beef bourguignon both feature wine as the cooking liquid. A good quality wine is required when making both of these dishes to ensure that the flavors of the wine and the meat are at their best.
