I cook with wine, sometimes I even add it to the food.

November 23, 2015 9:32 AM

What are some of your favorite wine based recipes?

I suddenly have access to lots and lots of cheap\free wine, the wine is all good quality, I just get it for cheap. What are your favorite recipes that use wine? I'm open to just about anything and am a skilled cook. The only restrictions are on walnuts and artichokes, due to various allergies in the family.

posted by Gygesringtone to Food & Drink (25 answers total)

Wine is most often used to deglaze pans and make pan sauces, so you could use wine with many, many things.

But to me, a good wine gets put into a Sunday sauce that gets cooked for hours and hours.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 9:38 AM on November 23, 2015 [1 favorite]

My mom does this crazy thing where she throws a bunch of chicken into a pan with a whole bottle of white wine and lets it simmer down until the wine itself turns into sort of a thick goo. Then she takes out the chicken, throws in some mushrooms, shallots, and cream and reduces the cream down a bit before pouring it back over the chicken. It's insanely rich and delicious. Traditionally we cook it with a cheap chardonnay and serve it with a good one.

It always impresses guests but it really couldn't be easier, the only challenge involved is that it takes several hours for the wine to cook down all the way. I have served it with egg noodles, over mashed potatoes, and with rice, to equal effect.

I am also a huge fan of making pan sauces that are basically a little wine to deglaze the pan after searing meat, a bit of mustard and a little of whatever excellent jam, jelly, or marmalade I've got open/that will correspond well with what I'm in the mood for and what else I'm serving.
posted by padraigin at 9:48 AM on November 23, 2015 [6 favorites]

The obvious answer is Coq au Vin (I like Alton Brown's recipe more than Julia Child's, YMMV) if you're looking for a project. A couple of weeks ago I made this braised beef, which is absolutely great.
posted by General Malaise at 9:51 AM on November 23, 2015 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I'm a huge fan of oxtail marmalade. As written, that recipe uses two full bottles of red wine (plus a stick of butter... it's kind of an absurd dish). I usually halve it because I'm not cooking for a small army, though.
posted by Itaxpica at 9:55 AM on November 23, 2015 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Not to thread sit, but to clarify: I'm really looking for things that showcase the wine a little more than pan sauces (not that I don't love pan sauces).

Everything looks great so far though. Thanks!
posted by Gygesringtone at 9:59 AM on November 23, 2015

Best answer: Cooking pasta in red wine can be delicious, and visually striking. Likewise poached eggs in red wine.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 10:01 AM on November 23, 2015

Best answer: This may not be quite what you're looking for, but have you considered making vinegar?

I have only done it once, with a zinfandel that had been cellared too long (not at my house! That would be crazy!). It basically involved pouring the wine into a huge jar so as to have as much surface area as possible, adding a little bit of "the mother" from a bottle of Bragg's raw cider vinegar, covering it with cheesecloth and being really patient. I stirred it once or twice a week and tasted it, and in about six weeks it had become the sort of wine vinegar I'd normally consider a major splurge. I funneled it back into it's original bottle, popped one of those corks with a spout into it, and have been making incredible salad dressings with it ever since. I have every intention of doing it again, and if I had access to a lot of good cheap wine, it would be something I'd do in quantity for gift-giving purposes, maybe infusing it or playing around with adding fruit.
posted by padraigin at 10:09 AM on November 23, 2015 [5 favorites]

Boeuf Bourguignon!
posted by saladin at 10:11 AM on November 23, 2015 [1 favorite]

Not quite what you are looking for but most risotto dishes start off cooking rice and other aromatics in wine.
posted by mmascolino at 10:36 AM on November 23, 2015

Best answer: Rose Poached Pears
Sabayon
Red Wine Braised Short Ribs
Red Wine Poached Pear Tart Tatin
Red Wine Poached Rhubarb
Eggs Poached in White Wine
posted by melissasaurus at 10:36 AM on November 23, 2015 [1 favorite]

Something that rocked my world was being told to make a classic bolognese using a whole bottle of wine. Meaning: the meat should be simmered in an entire bottle until mostly reduced before proceeding to the next step. I've tried it using white instead of red, and prefer that, actually.

tl;dr: It's something you can dump a whole bottle of wine into.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 10:36 AM on November 23, 2015 [1 favorite]

My partner's bolognese sauce starts with a whole bottle of red wine, reduced with a bunch of herbs. Very delicious. Also, red wine chocolate cake.
posted by neushoorn at 10:38 AM on November 23, 2015

Take a chuck of beef, a shallot, a carrot and a stick of celery and brown them all in a deep pan or pot (use oil or butter or schmalz for fat as you like it). Add crushed garlic to taste, along with a bouquet garni, peppercorns and a laurel leaf. Then add a bottle of red wine. Bring to a simmer, and let simmer for 90-120 mins depending on the size of the beef.
Take out the meat, discard the vegs and run the sauce through a sieve. Now you can serve it as is, or mount the sauce with butter or double cream before pouring the sauce over thinly sliced beef. With mashed potatoes, and greens of some sort.
posted by mumimor at 11:12 AM on November 23, 2015

Best answer: Right now is the time to start your Glögg for Christmas.

You could use some of that to make Mulled Wine Granita.
posted by Lyn Never at 11:14 AM on November 23, 2015 [1 favorite]

Bill Buford's Heat has a passage that outlines Peposo Notturno, which is beef shanks slowly braised in a fuckton of wine. Its not a traditional recipe the way its written out, but the internet has helped narrow down the variables.

Its really good, but does requires some experimentation.
posted by furnace.heart at 11:16 AM on November 23, 2015

Best answer: We have a giant fig tree and twice a year make a big affair out of making and giving jars of fig jam or preserves. The routine gives us a chance to try variations on what's otherwise a very simple and rewarding (and flexible) recipe (there are literally thousands of slight variations on the approach online).

We made a batch with the leftovers from a couple bottles of Saintsbury recently that are stellar. The fig/wine combination is really a wonderful accord (almost ends up tasting like pomegranate or port).

Wine is probably a yummy addition in any wintery jam. Especially if you pair it with traditional mulling spices, orange peel, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, and so on.
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 11:33 AM on November 23, 2015 [2 favorites]

Best answer: I made strawberry red wine jam a couple years ago, following a recipe from The Preservation Kitchen, by Paul Virant. It was excellent. I also made a batch of red wine and shallot jam, which I essentially just made up the recipe for, at the same time. The shallot version didn't fully set, but it's still tasty with cheeses, or mixed into a nice sour cream or yogurt for a dip. It would probably make a good glaze for meats, but I tend not to cook that type of dish much.
posted by matematichica at 11:39 AM on November 23, 2015

Italian clams in white wine. You MUST serve a side of gooey garlic bread to dip in the wine sauce afterwards.
posted by Brittanie at 11:45 AM on November 23, 2015 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Wine cookies

1 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups white wine
1 1/4 cups olive oil
1/4 cup anise seed
7 cups flour
Mix it all together in a bowl or mixer and well mixed kneed for a few minutes.
Cut off or break off appropriate size pieces (mine were perhaps a bit too large) and roll out
"snakes" of five to six inches and form into rings pinching ends together.

350 degree oven

Place rings on non-stick or parchment paper covered baking sheet and bake until they reach
a golden shade that makes you happy.
posted by sciencegeek at 12:01 PM on November 23, 2015

Best answer: Garlic braised in wine? Peel a bunch of cloves, cook on the stove top until a bit browned all over in a fat of your choosing, add white wine to half cover, salt, simmer for about half an hour with the lid on, checking now and then to make sure the wine hasn't boiled away. Add more, or a little water, if it has.

You're left with impossibly soft garlic in garlic syrup made of wine, and you can mix it with other things (like soft cheese) or just spread it on bread or eat it out of the pan like an animal.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 1:27 PM on November 23, 2015 [2 favorites]

Using wine as the liquid in a gelatin mold was at one time the chi-chi thing to do. so much so that someone created a blog around that one single concept.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:30 PM on November 23, 2015 [3 favorites]

Best answer: Apple pie with a caramel red wine reduction sauce.
posted by Hactar at 2:50 PM on November 23, 2015

You can reduce red wine by about half and use it to make a compound butter. Serve on bread, or there are meat and fish recipes that use it.
posted by clavicle at 5:47 PM on November 23, 2015

I've poached salmon in red wine, some aromatics (onions, herbs, maybe garlic), and a touch of salt, and it produces a visually striking yet still tasty result.
posted by mollweide at 6:48 PM on November 23, 2015

If one of your options is a fairly dry white, White wine chili mussels, OMG! Soooooooooo delicious. Chuck in some fresh Roma tomatoes and coriander at the end and serve with beautiful French baguette and the freshest butter you can find.

And of course, coming up to Xmas, my favourite has always been Glühwein, with oranges and cinnamon and whatever other spices you have lying around. I usually make it in the slow cooker all day, and then add some brandy or Cointreau to serve to crank it up a notch.... Ooh who am I kidding, it never gets served.... ;)
posted by Shibui at 6:38 AM on November 24, 2015