Do you use wine, liquor or other spirits in your cooking?

[GadgetGuy]

I sometimes do.

Mainly, it is wine, such as Burgundy or Chabali when doing a pot roast, stew or spaghetti sauce or marinara.

Bourbon in sweet potato pies.

 

[Sweetkymom]

I used to make bourbon balls and a bourbon roast but haven't in a long, long time. They come out so good yet are time consuming to get them to taste the way you want them to.

 

[OhioTom76]

I have a hard time pouring liquor into recipes, because I would so much rather drink it straight up, lol. Wine, I'm not as bad with, I can part ways with it, especially if it's the $3 a bottle variety I get at Trader Joe's.

I definitely use Marsala wine in a Chicken Marsala, but I will typically get plain old "cooking wine" Marsala - the one the TV chefs always tell you not to get, because it has salt in it and supposedly tastes awful. I will disagree on the Marsala specifically. It tastes just fine when cooked up in Chicken Marsala, and it takes the guesswork out of seasoning the whole dish. I don't add any additional salt to the whole thing, just black pepper, and it comes out with just the right amount of salt every time. With a dish like this, it can be a little trickier to get the seasoning right because you are also trying to counter the sweetness of the wine, it cooks up so quickly you don't have much time to play around tasting it repeatedly. The other issue, is I don't drink Marsala or buy it otherwise, so I never know what brands to get, and the store clerks aren't much help either. Many times I've come back with a $30 bottle from the wine shop that was waayyyy too sweet and ruined the dish. The "cooking wine" variety doesn't have the pungent fruity notes like a regular bottled version, but it's always been the "safest" route imo.

For all other dishes, I typically just use a cheap $3 a bottle Chardonay (otherwise known as "two buck chuck" in some other states). I really don't care for red wines in sauces and other recipes, because it discolors them, and sometimes the red wines are too noticeable, whereas white wine seems to blend in better with the aromatics (onion, garlic, carrots, celery) and compliments any buttery flavors in the dish.

One exception would be a Dry Sherry, which I sometimes buy to cook Chinese food at home. It's also great in a pasta sauce.

 

[Food4thought]

I think a red wine sauce can be very tasty. I frequently use red wine vinegar in my sauces, and add white wine vinegar to vegetable dishes. I never have any wine to hand, but I always have wine vinegars in my food cupboard.

 

[lizzief79]

I sometimes use wine if I have a bit left over. Red wine is nice in sauces, chilli con carne and spaghetti bolognaise. I sometimes buy a small can of real ale to make a steak and ale pie. Other than that, I prefer to drink it than cook with it.

 

[forextraspecialstuff]

I have only ever used wine when cooking, but have used rum when baking. I use red or white wine depending on the recipe. The reds tend to go into sauces, stews and soups, and the whites are more for soups and--this one surprised me--risotto. I use run when making around the holidays if I make rum balls or rum cake.

 

[tasha]

I sometimes do.

Mainly, it is wine, such as Burgundy or Chabali when doing a pot roast, stew or spaghetti sauce or marinara.

Bourbon in sweet potato pies.

I always cook with wine as I am Italian and it changes the taste of any meal.
Many steak dishes are also fantastic when using a little bit of whiskey too.
The trick with using alcohol is to ensure that you use just the right amount for added flavour and not to drown the taste of the food itself.
In saying that, I also have a glass of wine when cooking too!!

 

[GadgetGuy]

I'd like to once do the Banana Flammbay.

Julia Child made it al the time. I still have yet to do it, and to do it, I think I'd need the Myers Dark Rum for it, along with brown sugar & butter.

 

[Caribbean girl]

I do not use any wine or any other kind of liquor in my cooking. I suppose it adds a little extra flavour to what one is cooking, especially meats, and that may be why people do it. However, the only time I have seen this being done is on cooking shows on television. I would mostly see them adding it to a sauce that they are preparing in a frying pan, but not to other dishes.

The only time we have used any kind of liquor in cooking is when making dark fruit cake at Christmas time. The liquor would be poured over the cake as soon as it is finished baking.