Are you talking about "cooking wine" labeled as such off the shelf at a
supermarket or are you talking about a normal wine such as you by at a wine
shop?
wrote in message
oups.com...

Meryl wrote:
I thought I'd bring up something about cooking with wine that's been
eating me for some time now.

I have noticed that even light white wines which are very suitable for
drinking were adding disagreeable flavors to my cooking which I was
able to reduce by adding less wine (1/2 cup instead of 1) and cook at a
simmer instead of a boil. But anyway I do it, it seems that cooking
wine seems to make it taste ... cooked (something like what happens
when you drink a wine which was open too long)

Everyone says cook with wine. I'd like to start a discussion which
talks about the how wine can detract from food. Any bites?

First, there are several types of cooking with wine. Wine may be used
as part of the liquid to cook shellfish for example. Here you would
want a high acidity white wine. Strong flavors and sweetness might
detract. The wine serves much the same function as adding lemon to the
cooking liquid. Then there are dishes that are finished with a splash
of wine at the end, perhaps a sherry or other fortified wine. Here one
is wanting a moderate taste of the wine in the dish, so the wine is
added at the last minute without boiling so that the taste of the wine
is not changed. Boiling the dish will cause loss of the desired wine
flavors and possibly development of flavors you do not like. Then
there are meat dishes cooked in red wine. Here you have to be careful
not to choose a red that is too tannic or that has too much acid. If
the liquid is greatly reduced for making a sauce at the end, this can
become very important, and also a cheap red that has some sweetness can
make the sauce too sweet. You just have to experiment with the type of
wine used for long cooking. What is best for drinking many not be best
for a long-cooked dish.