Most enthusiasts prefer enjoying their wine in the purest form; in a crystal wine glass, swirling it, taking in its color;reveling in its sheer intricacies and exquisite taste that assaults your palate in the most appealing way.

But ever so often, we come acrosswineconnoisseur, who also happens to have a passion for food. And so, from there,comes forth the use of wine in food to prepare something unique and flavorful that completes your meal!

Using wine in food preparation is no new concept; however, it is an art not all have mastered. Theuse of the wrong wine or adding the wrong amount can result in either a culinary masterpiece or a disaster. Wine is known by many to be one of the best ingredients to cook with, and although we have already covered why a glass of wine is good for you, the other reason wine is a great ingredient for food is because it acts as a great fat substitute in recipes.

So before you are seduced by the heady aroma of your favorite Chianti Classico Riserva or your Chianti Classico, perhaps you should see how you can indulge in these wines even more by using them in your recipes.

The Right Amount

When using wine in the preparation of your dish, you have to keep in mind that the question of wine depends on the intensity of flavor that you are looking for. For any soups or sauces, only a couple of tablespoons per cup are used to turn the regular dish into a gourmet delicacy; for meats, the right amount is usually ¼ cup per pound.

The How’s of Cooking with Wine?

There are several ways through which you can use wine to enhance the taste, some of which are:

Simmer

Adding wine to a dish while it is on a slow cooker or in the oven allows the dish to extract the flavor and moisture from the wine, thus making the taste more vibrant.

Marinades

Marinating meat, poultry or any seafood in a wine-based marinade helps the food in tenderizing since wine is an acid ingredient, and adds a lot of flavor as well.

Baking

Many bakers use wine for their confectionaries to add a more subtle flavor to their creations along with substituting the fat in the content.

Which Wine Should You Use?

Montemaggio has a wide selection of organic white and red wines. Before you purchase them, you should choose which wine would go best with your selected cuisine. When doing so, only go for flavors that would complement and enhance the flavors. If you feel that perhaps a chicken, turkey or fish dish would go well with white wine, use it according to your taste. Similarly, red wine can be paired with beef, pork and any other hearty dish you can think of.

Cooking with wine should be done with a good sense of flavors that complement each other. And by using some of the best wines that we have on the Montemaggio Estate, from the Chianti Classico to Chardonnay, we are sure that you will find the perfect wine to cater to your palate.