White wine recipe

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Allegra

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I received a small bottle of wine as a party favor and I can’t drink it because I’m pregnant. My husband hates wine and won’t touch it. I hate to let it go to waste. I don’t usually cook with wine, but I thought I might try and cook it off instead. Does anyone have a favorite family meal that uses white wine as an ingredient?
 
I don’t have any particular recipe on hand, but I have noticed that many seafood recipes use wine or other alcoholic beverages to help remove “fishy” odor.

But especially since the OP is pregnant and may wish to avoid alcohol completely, I should point out that it is somewhat of a myth that using wine and other alcoholic beverages in cooking always results in all or most of the alcohol “cooking off”.

It actually depends on how much alcohol is used and how long it is heated for; a dish such as coq au vin which is simmered for hours likely has very little alcohol remaining. But, say, a shellfish dish in which white wine is used to deglaze the pan and whip up a quick pan sauce in 10 minutes might have 40-50% of alcohol remaining.

A dessert that is doused with brandy and “flambéed” actually may have as much a 75% of the alcohol remaining, even though it looks like it’s all burned off.

If you want something more specific, here’s a link to an “Alcohol Cook-Off chart”:

homecooking.about.com/library/archive/blalcohol12.htm
 
Have you opened the bottle? You can save it until baby is born.

White wine is often in seafood dishes, I’m not sure if you’re avoiding seafood.

The Food and Wine website might have ideas.

Or Epicurious.
 
Shin said:
Pour it over some chicken?
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Exactly. Start browning chicken pieces in a large cast-iron pan. After browned, add about 1/2 inch of wine. Let it slowly simmer until done, turning every 10 minutes. The chicken will turn glazed and yummy.

Or make vinegar: open the bottle, pour a glass for someone, add in a bit of unfiltered vinegar to get it started (raw apple cider vinegar) and lightly cover with the cork (or screen to keep the bugs out). Keep it in a cupboard, forgotten. In a few months you will have vinegar.
 
Chicken francese.

Coat boneless chicken breast in flour, fry in butter. Then add chicken broth and a quarter c of wine to cover the chicken and juice of 2 lemons to the pan and finish cooking the chicken in it. Add some chopped parsely too to the sauce when almost done.

There are a lot of step by step recipes for this on the internet.
 
Before you start cooking with it, make sure it will work in the dish you’re going to use it!

Sauvignon blanc and chardonnay are white wines. But so is moscato. And you probably won’t want to pour moscato into your coq au vin! It is very sweet. Make sure it’s a dry wine if you plan to use it in a recipe unless it states otherwise!
 
bluerose said:
Before you start cooking with it, make sure it will work in the dish you’re going to use it!

Sauvignon blanc and chardonnay are white wines. But so is moscato. And you probably won’t want to pour moscato into your coq au vin! It is very sweet. Make sure it’s a dry wine if you plan to use it in a recipe unless it states otherwise!
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This, especially if it is a small bottle. Dessert wines often come in the half-sized bottle, and while they can be used in cooking they cannot be simply substituted for a dry white wine.

I’d get on the internet and look up what sort of wine it is. Since it was a gift, it’s probably meant for drinking, not cooking. Internet reviews usually give ideas for food that would be complimentary.

Just put it somewhere dark that doesn’t get too hot or too cold. Drink it later. Even something meant to be consumed “now” can usually wait at least a year, unless it is old and on the downhill slide already (not likely, if it is a gift).

If it is already opened and you don’t know what to do with it, put it in a jar with some air space for expansion and freeze it. Use it for cooking in the next six months or so.
 
If it’s a dry wine, some of the dishes I’d use it in:

Bolognese
Osso bucco
Tuscan cannellini bean stew

(for each of these, you’ll find some people who passionately advocate that red wine ought to be used, some who passionately advocate that white wine ought to be used, and many people who would throw in either, depending on what they have at hand).

For a sweet wine, you could try making a “Sauternes” cake.

If it’s sweet (but not too sweet), you could probably still use it in a savoury dish like Bolognese anyway. I typically add a bit of sugar to a Bolognese anyway, so why not add it by way of the wine. Just taste after adding and adjust the balance as needed (via vinegar in this case)…which you should of course do anyway.
 
underacloud said:
…why not add it by way of the wine…
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Sometimes, it is a plain crime to use a nice dessert wine to do a culinary duty when table sugar would have sufficed. This wine was a gift. It may be nothing special–not everyone who makes a gift of wine has the slightest idea what they are buying–but it could be a charming wine and maybe even something very special. If it is a better wine, it should not be buried in a spaghetti sauce or even a rather lovely dessert. It would pay to do a little research to find out what one has before getting out the corkscrew. Once that cork is popped and fresh air is admitted to the bottle, the clock starts ticking on the wine.

(PS to the OP: Do not be fooled into thinking that “good wines” never have a twist top. This is no longer true.)
 
EasterJoy said:
Sometimes, it is a plain crime to use a nice dessert wine to do a culinary duty when table sugar would have sufficed. This wine was a gift. It may be nothing special–not everyone who makes a gift of wine has the slightest idea what they are buying–but it could be a charming wine and maybe even something very special. If it is a better wine, it should not be buried in a spaghetti sauce or even a rather lovely dessert. It would pay to do a little research to find out what one has before getting out the corkscrew. Once that cork is popped and fresh air is admitted to the bottle, the clock starts ticking on the wine.

(PS to the OP: Do not be fooled into thinking that “good wines” never have a twist top. This is no longer true.)
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The OP described the wine as a “party favor”. It will not be anything special. One could check of course. I’d go to this site and type the name in: wine-searcher.com/

But then she and her husband won’t drink it anyway, and most people’s homes are simply unsuitable for storing wine. If it’s not cheap muck, you could always take it to your next family gathering, dinner, etc.
 
underacloud said:
The OP described the wine as a “party favor”. It will not be anything special. One could check of course. I’d go to this site and type the name in: wine-searcher.com/

But then she and her husband won’t drink it anyway, and most people’s homes are simply unsuitable for storing wine. If it’s not cheap muck, you could always take it to your next family gathering, dinner, etc.
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True, it is not likely to be a fine Sauternes. Still, there is a whole world of wines that will do more harm than good to tomato-based sauce, even in small amounts.

I would look it up. If she feels certain that it isn’t her cup of tea even if she were drinking, she’ll still want to know if the wine is dry or sweet before she sets out to cook with it. I’d second the motions that she plan to use it to cook a chicken, but even then you want to know if it is on the chardonnay end or the madeira end before starting.

As for storing, most wines will endure six months or a year in an interior closet or pantry that stays below 72 degrees and doesn’t go through big temperature swings.
 
It wasn’t a “gift wine”, it was a party favor at a bridal shower where wine was a theme. My cousin is one of these types who feels sophisticated when she goes on about her entire life is about wine, as if she’s a wine connoisseur. (But in reality, she can’t tell one from another and drinks whatever will get her drunk the cheapest.)
 
I like a good pinot grigio, but some can be off-dry and might not make a good wine to cook with unless the dish has some other element contributing some sweetness. It might go well in a seafood-based dish. Some recipes offer wine suggestions when wine is an ingredient. That might be the safest route to take. Good luck finding a use for it!
 
Allegra said:
It’s cheap pinot grigio.
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OK, well, you may have used it for cooking even if you had a bottle-a-night habit, then. It won’t get better by letting it sit around.

Find a recipe that calls for a good slug of pinot grigio, like a pinot grigio citrus chicken or something. Have an alternative plan for cooking that chicken that doesn’t call for any wine. When it comes time to cook with it, take a little sip or have your husband taste it. If it is awful wine, just dump the wine and cook the chicken using the no-wine recipe. Awful wine does not get better by cooking with it. Unremarkable is OK, boring is OK, but if it is truly off-putting, just dump it and cook the chicken without it.

If you liked the results but don’t use all the wine, freeze the rest and use it in a future recipe. If you thought you might like it for a cooking wine but don’t care for the results, dump the remainder without a second thought.

It sounds as if your relative may have an alcohol problem masquerading as a popular affectation. That’s sad.
 
White wine is great for adding flavour to a risotto. And risotto is such a versatile dish - You can make it out of so many things.

I would also use white wine to bake chicken breasts sealed in a foil envelope, with mushrooms and herbs. The wine keeps the meat moist and you can pour away the liquid once it’s cooked if you want to.
 
EasterJoy said:
If you liked the results but don’t use all the wine, freeze the rest and use it in a future recipe.
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You can freeze it in ice cube trays and then seal up the frozen cubes in a freezer bag. Know the measurement of each cube and write it on the bag. Then you don’t have to thaw the whole thing when you need a tablespoon or two.
 
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