Few pleasures feel as amazing as taking a sip of a good Italian wine while enjoying dinner. Well for us it is before, during and after dinner. Yet, it is not necessary to gulp down a full glass of wine if your main goal is to simply savor the flavor of it. You can enjoy the flavor of your Italian wine by cooking dishes with it, too.
Let us find out what cooking with Italian wine is about.
Why Italian wine?
A number of international dishes make use of wine, most common being Spanish, Italian and French cuisines. All of these cuisines can be prepared using nearly any variety of wine, yet the Italian varieties seem to have established a rather large fan base, especially when it comes to cooking with it. They are the largest producers of wine in the world. Cooking with Italian wine is a wonderful way to give a unique flavor and an added kick to your dish.
Aspiring for greatness
Whether a dish cooked with wine comes out great or not depends on the quality of wine used. If you use a wine of lower quality, your dish may not taste as great. But if you make use of an amazing wine, the same dish will turn out delicious! To determine whether to use a wine for cooking or not, you may want to taste it first. If you like the taste, you can then proceed to cook with it.
Note also that, when it comes to Italian wine, price has nothing much to do with quality. So, buying the most expensive wine is not guaranteed to give you the best results. The way we see it, if you enjoy drinking it, then you will enjoy using it in your dish.
Another technique is to pairing the wine’s region with a regional dish. If you have a Tuscan recipe then try pairing it with a wine from the same region.
Not all wines are the same
Different dishes do best with different varieties of wine. Desserts do best when a fruity, rich variety of wine is used. Strong white wines, on the other hand, compliment sauteed and baked dishes beautifully. Red wines bring out the best of hearty dishes and foods rich in meat.
The best part of cooking with wine
The best part about Italian wine, in the context of cooking, is that foods cooked with it can be enjoyed by everyone. Since the boiling point of alcohol is 175 degrees Fahrenheit, the alcohol contained in Italian wine gets evaporated very quickly during the cooking process, making the final dish free from alcohol. Boiled long enough and the wine will turn into more of a glaze, perfect for use on ice cream and other desserts. Therefore, even food lovers who are underage, or who do not consume alcohol, can enjoy delicious foods cooked using Italian wine!
