Choose as you would pair for eating

"I love to cook with wine. And sometimes I put it in my food." American cooking author Julia Child.

This now-famous quote from the author who introduced America to French food captures my philosophy about cooking. I love to cook. There's (almost) nothing better than coming home with a couple of bags of fresh food from the market and preparing a feast for family and friends. I love hours spent grating and slicing and braising and roasting. I cook typical guy stuff--big hunks of meat with a medley of vegetables, or Italian like pizza and lasagna. And I always have a glass of wine at my elbow as I cook, usually white, as the lighter flavours of white wine allow me to taste the flavours of the food as I'm cooking. (Barb has a different philosophy: she waits 'til after she's finished cooking. I get her point. It would avoid more burned meals. But it would take the fun out of it!)

And about putting it in my food? I do that too, but with a little more care than I take in what I put into myself. Here are a few tested and true rules about cooking with wine.

Never put a wine into your food that you wouldn't drink yourself. Lots of people save their ends of oxidized bottles to use in cooking. Or worse, they buy some of that dreadful "cooking wine" you can buy at the grocery store. (By the way, whazzup with that? I can't sell my wine in the grocery store, but they're allowed to sell wine simply because it's for cooking and not drinking? It still has alcohol and the only difference is it tastes horrible!) So unless you are prepared to drink the wine, you shouldn't be putting it in your food.

Second, use the same rules for cooking with wine as you do in pairing food and wine: that is, the colour of the wine should match the colour of the food you're cooking. Red wine with red meats, white wine with seafood and fowl. And if you're making sauces for any of the food above then the appropriate wine is an awesome foundation for the sauce. I'll give a few recipe ideas later.

The weight of the wine is important. Remember that cooking with wine CONCENTRATES the flavours of the wine by evapourating water out of the wine. Sweet wines get sweeter. Acidic wines get more acidic. Oaky wines get more oaky. So choose more neutral wines for cooking. That rich, oaky Chardonnay may be great on its own but not as part of a gravy with roast chicken. Stick with unoaked Pinot Gris or a lighter Pinot Noir. They will give the body and flavour of wine without overwhelming other flavours. Same is true for wine used in a marinade. And wine makes an awesome marinade because the acidity helps to break down the texture of the meat, leaving it more tender.

And how about alcohol? If you are cooking the wine it's not an issue because alcohol, being volatile, boils off early.

My favourite wine-food recipes are all sauce-related. I love a red wine reduction gravy. In fact after years of championing a flour-based gravy, I don't make anything but wine-reduction sauces for my roasted meats. 

Here's how I do it: During roasting I make sure there are lots of pan juices. With fowl I tip the bird up frequently to make sure all the juices run out. With red meats I'll get extra fat or baste with a bit of olive oil or even (horrors) lard if that's what's available. As the meat nears completion, I remove it from the pan and wrap it in foil to keep it cooking. Meanwhile I "deglaze" the pan with wine--red for red meat and white for white meat. I scape all the crusty bits off the pan to make sure all the meat flavour makes it into the gravy. As the roast sits, I make sure I pour off whatever juice gathers in the bottom of the pan back into the gravy.

In the gravy pan I spoon off excess fat. This is often necessary with turkey, rarely with pork or beef. Then I begin reducing and tasting. I am looking for concentrated flavours with a bit of acidity. I reduce and reduce, adding wine as I go and tasting. If there is too much wine flavour, or too much acidity, I'll switch to chicken or beef broth. When I have a consistency thicker than the original juice, enough volume, and concentrated flavours, I have gravy. What could be easier. See you in the kitchen.

Cheers!

Keith

Keith Watt is proprietor at Pender Island's Morning Bay Vineyard. Visit Morning Bay Friday to Sunday noon to 5, or at www.morningbay.ca.