Jim wrote:
> I'm going to cook a beef stew from an Italian cookery book. After cooking
> onions, pancetta and then the meat, you add 375ml of white wine and the same
> of red wine, then "cook over a low heat till all the liquid is absorbed"
> .... with no indication of how long this might be.
>
> Does anyone have any idea of how long it might take?
>
> And would I be better using drinking type wine or cooking wine? I have to go
> out shopping, anyway, now I've found out what pancetta is.


I can't answer the question about how long it would take for the liquid
to be absorbed. I can tell you that if you're cooking over low heat,
the liquid isn't as likely to be absorbed as it is for it to evaporate,
first the alcohol, then the water. Also, definitely buy a drinking
wine, not a cooking one. The wine doesn't have to be high end
expensive, but it should be one that doesn't make you want to spit it
out when you taste it. Since the recipe is from an Italian cookbook,
get an inexpensive bianco and a chianti.


Probably irrelevant information: I tried La *******a yesterday. The
label is hysterical, and the wine was quite nice for the price.


--Lia