Cooking without Wine
Today’s foodie question is about using substitutes for wine while cooking:
My partner is a recovering alcoholic – our fave’s include coq-au-vin, mussels cooked in white wine, beef bourguignonne, etc. Is there a simple trick to “substitute” white wine or red wine WITHOUT affecting the taste?
If it is a small amount of wine in a dish, for instance a splash to deglaze a pan, then substitute chicken stock. You can also use fruit juice if it makes sense in the dish, for example a splash of cider with pork chops is excellent. You can also try using a non-alcoholic wine from your grocery store. It’s definitely not as complex as wine, but in small amounts might make an acceptable substitute.
To get the complexity of flavour you get with wine, try making your own stocks. You can make an intense, earthy stock using dried mushrooms or make your own stock with beef or veal bones and reduce it for a real depth of flavour. In French kitchens this is known as a demi glace and it is added to all kinds of dishes for a savoury punch. Keep small portions in the freezer to make pan sauces or to braise beef short ribs, or to add to stews.
For mussels, try a tomato base, using chopped fresh tomatoes and fresh basil, savoury or some fennel with a splash of lemon juice. It will be just as good as mussels with white wine.
If you have a recipe where the essential ingredient is wine, unfortunately it will be difficult to replicate the same flavour without it. I wouldn’t suggest substituting wine in coq au vin or beef Bourguignonne. Instead, try other recipes that have a rich depth of flavour without using wine. Here are a few recipes you might want to add to your repertoire.
Mussels Provencale
Coconut Curry Mussels
Southwestern Beef Stew
Marinated Short Ribs
Feel free to ask me any of your food-related questions, just leave a comment on any post in the Foodie-file. I answer one question a week. You will find a lot more answers to cooking questions under the Foodies Ask category of the Foodie-file.
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Can you substitute with red wine vinegar?
Vinegar, or any acid, boosts flavours and gives dishes a brighter profile in a small amount.
But if you were to use it to flavour a dish the acidity would be too pronounced, unless that was intended in the dish like lemon chicken or, pulled pork where an acid is used to balance sweetness.
It would depend on the dish but a one to one swap out vinegar for wine would probably be disappointing.
I thought when you used wine in a recipe all the alcohol was burned off during the cooking process?
Kelocan,
It depends on the cooking method whether all of the alcohol burns off or not. In fact there is usually some alcohol left in food that is cooked with alcohol.