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An excellent piece in the NY Times by Julia Moskin about the futility of using expensive wine for cooking most dishes. I could not agree more. The science behind it is certainly sound and it saves money. However I would not necessarily apply the same strategy to dishes which are not cooked or dishes that call for "fortified" wines such as Madeira or Port. Also, professional chefs and restaurateurs who substitute say, a cheap cab for Barolo, then put Barolo on the menu (none appear in the article!) should reconsider their lives. I don’t care if the customers don’t know the difference – it’s unethical. Sadly, it happens a lot.
I’m not surprised by her findings in the article. Alton Brown said the same thing on one of his show’s episodes. Wine primarily brings acidity to the party. Any subtle flavors that a wine has will often be cooked out or masked by other ingredients.
Now, on the other hand, I can’t bring myself to cook with cheap beer…
I’m no chef (obviously) and am only a casual observer here but I would equate that with using a Macallen to make a Boilermaker… not that I’ve ever done that before.
(You’re doing a great job here, by the way.)
I have always found Cook’s Illustrated’s article on Beef Burgundy to be interesting — in it, the author essentially claims that the better the wine, the better the dish. Try as I might, I can distinguish very little difference (and any difference present was not always a sign the Burgundy was better) between that prepared with a high-quality Burgundy and that prepared with a middle-of-the-road Pinot Noir. I usually have tremendous respect for CI’s articles, but I hold this one to be seriously questionable. That said, the recipe still produces a fantastic dish!
I usually find a lesser wine with some strong notes to it usually mellows in a dish leaving the strong notes to actually work well with the dish. Use too good of a wine and I find a lose something in flavor. And really for chilli the cheaper the beer, the better. Although I don’t use anything but Guinness for Kamman’s Guinness Beef Stew.
I can personally attest that the Two Buck Chuck cab makes fine braised short ribs. But it’s definitely hard to know whether the $5 bottle will work as well as the $10+ bottle. When I’m spending a lot of money on my other ingredients, I often shudder at the thought of cheap wine ruining the entire dish. Hence my surprise when the Two Buck Chuck, which I don’t like in a glass, led to a positive outcome. (For what it’s worth though, the same dish, when braised in La Fin du Monde beer, was even better.)
I use an el cheapo ($4) bottle of El Gato Nero (or Blanco) Chilean – it in no way diminishes the taste or quality of the risotto or whatever I’m making. What I have never done – and refuse to do – is use those really yucky bottles of cooking wine from the supermarket. Most of the time, however, I have half-bottles of really nice stuff left over from a dinner party earlier in the week, so I have no problem recycling them into the next dish of braised short ribs or whatever. I can’t see using a really expensive bottle of vino for dish – but a nice, honest wine? Sure.
Thank you Bob! Now I can finally use that hideous bottle of homeade Hungarian wine in my fridge!
i still say they need to do a test between:
Good chef + good quality food.
Good chef + store brand food. (and i mean like Pathmark, Kroger, Meijer brand, not Trader Joes)
Inexperienced home chef + good quality food.
Inexperienced home chef + store brand food.
Blind taste test between A, B, C, D with random ordering of the dishes. (Read: ABCD, DCAD, etc..)
People love taste tests.
I like this issue on wine. I always go by the theory that the wine doesn’t have to be expensive, but it should still be something you would drink. Since I find some (not all) cheap wines quite drinkable, those are the ones I pick up at the supermarket for recipes. Then whatever is left over we can still drink!
I find with both wine and beer, that cheap solutions are okay for cooking.
2 Buck Chuck is great wine for cooking with! And as stated before, differentiating between $5 and $10 Wine in a finished dish is nearly impossible.
However, with beer, theres a definate taste difference in finished products.
Cooking a Chuck Roast with a can of BUD solves the problem- it tenderizes and imparts flavor to the meat. However, it’s just as effective to use a New Belgium Fat Tire, or a Pyramid Curve Ball – but both of those beers impart a much more definitive taste on your finished roast.
When it comes to Brats… again, Bud works (or any mass produced american bulk lager)… But a beer with a more standup flavor will make a much more noticeable finished dish.
Nice shot at Mario Batali there at the end.
I am so enjoying your blogging tenure here. Provacative and interesting. Well done!
PLease keep in mind that most wine quality recommendations originated in France where there is next to no tax on wine, so it’s easy to splurge for better stuff. My experience is that you need a decent bottle of wine (say generic Bordeaux), However I can’t convince myself to use really good wine, it’s expensive enough as it is in Canada…
As a sidenote to cooks out there, when you braise with beer, make sure you keep the temperature real low or will lose a lot of the aromas and turn the beer. Contrary to wine which cnan be boiled.
My favorite red wine for cooking is always Gabbiano chianti. And for cooking with beer, my first thought goes to my barbecue sauce which is made with Guinness stout and a shot of Jack Daniel’s.
“I can’t see using a really expensive bottle of vino for dish – but a nice, honest wine? Sure.”
Claudia, this is a good description. I like the phrase “a nice, honest wine” for use in cooking. I used just that when (I am embarrassed to admit) I tried the drunken pasta dish that Rachael Ray did on her Iron Chef battle against Giada. It actually turned out very well, so I am telling myself that Mario must have been the real creator instead.
Mario probably WAS the real creator, Bonnibella, so you need not be embarrassed (!)
This has nothing to do with wine, but I thank you for the comment on being ethical in menu descriptions. I once worked under a chef who put veal on the menu–but never had it on hand. I can’t tell you how many pork chops went out as “veal.” Pig? Cow? What’s the difference? Seeing this criminally cheap bastard do this (and many other things…) to his customers day in and day out made me reconsider my ambition to be a chef.