Apr 06 2010
Tips on combining wines with different dishes
Wine gathers today a great amount of people who really appreciate its delicious and so extraordinary flavor. Wine beverage extends nowadays its boundaries due to the growing number of wines consumers and real lovers. This special drink finds its place in cooking also.
A lot of famous cooks around the whole world know the great deal of recipes of tasty dishes in which wine is used as condiment, as one of the main dish components that make it taste unusually and especially good. Several wine drops can change taste of meat or add a specific, appetizing flavor. The main mistake people do is saving money by buying cheap sorts of wine and waiting for a great result after cooking. But wine is not just a delicious drink, but also is a valuable component for our health, if you use it within reasonable limits, of course. So it turns out that you save on your health. Other important thing that everyone should know is that not every wine is good enough for cooking of the same food product. There are sorts of wines, which help you in cooking.
White Wine
French white wines are the best in this sense. We can use it with white meat, seafood, fruit and sauces. To do this, you can use the brands of white wines as Muscadet, Bordeaux, dry and medium dry Reisling. The last two wines are especially good in sauces and with fruit.
Red Wine
Red wines are perfect for dishes, when a recipe requires marinade. So, if you need to cook the dish in wine, it will be appropriate to take such wines as Bordeaux or Burgundy. Red wine is also an excellent component for cooking of sweet, tasty sauces.
Sweet Wines
The famous sweet wine is Sauterne. We can cook a lot of dishes with it, starting from fruits and ending with meat. Sweet wine will be a great ingredient for all, so don’t be afraid trying various experiments with wine while cooking.
Fortified Wines
This sort of wine is often used to make a delicate flavor more saturated. For this we recommend to use a tawny or ruby Port. Maderia will come in handy for desserts and sauces. Such wine as dry Amontillado is used in cooking of Chinese dishes, Sherry is a universal drink and is good for many dishes too. As for the desserts, try to use sweeter varieties of wines.
Champagne
Champagne is considered to be the better ingredient in cooking than many of cheaper wines. In this case you should give preference to quality, expensive drinks. Always pay your attention to the brand quality. Any qualitative champagne has inscription “methode champenoise” on the bottle. So don’t save your money, if you want to enjoy delicious dishes.
However, wine can be excellent also without adding it to the dishes, but when we drink it in the combination with certain products. For example, it’s accepted to drink red wines with meat and white wines with fruits. But this is just a stereotype! Everyone has a personal taste and can choose in such situation what he wants. We can only give you some tips, which products taste better combining with certain wines.
Fish goes well with a light Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, a dry Mosel or Riesling. Quite good complement to the fish dishes are red wines such as Beaujolais and a light Pinot Noir. White meat is very tasteful with white Chardonnay, Riesling, Gewurztraminer and dry red wines: Pinot Noir and Beaujolais. With the red meat people drink red wines, but it’s very important to pay attention to the recipes of cooking, especially if this dish is served with sauce, then it will be better to drink rich wines such as a Merlot or a Barolo, Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache, Shiraz. Game is very delicious in combination with fruit wines: red Beaujolais or Burgundy and Reisling, but Cabernet or Barbera, Pinot Noir, Shiraz is also a good choice.
Pasta is served with a Chardonnay and a light Pinot Noir. Dry white wines such as Semillon and Bordeaux are always good to combine with salads and vegetables. They also go well with fruit.
Despite its sweetness, dessert wines are the most preferable with cakes and pies. Sauterne is served with light desserts. But for lovers of sweeter chocolate desserts Orange Muscat, Hungarian Tokay and Madeira will be the best choice. Cheese is a unique product and really goes well with red and white wines. Sweet wines like Riesling and Semillion are the great accompaniment to a smoked cheese.
As you can see nowadays there are a lot of wines for every taste. So you can choose any of them for special dish, event, situation…The choice is yours! Try all possible variations and enjoy your meal!
