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Deglazing With Wine

Written By: Alexandra Perez-Urbina on Wednesday, June 4, 2008

The fun and benefit of deglazing food with wine (And how to deal with wine reduction).

Why do we cook with wine?

The reason we use wine in food is to bring out the flavors of food. We cooks have to be careful not to over do it or be too stingy. There's no point in putting too little wine into food, since you won't be able to taste, and there's no point in putting a lot of wine into food because you won't be able to taste your food. Wine needs to be cooked down, as a matter of fact; many recipes say to "reduce wine by half," for cooking down the wine reduces the sharpness of the alcohol. While there are exceptions to the rule, one should not add wine to a dish just before serving -- wine needs to simmer with the food to impart its flavors.

The second most popular (and fun) use for wine in the kitchen is for deglazing. Why is it fun? Well, it can catch on fire (flambé), and fire is pretty cool, but it also yields highly flavorful results. If you like a good blaze, fortified wines and hard liquor are the way to go (my hubby and I once set a barbecue sauce with bourbon aflame and it stayed lit for a couple of minutes) -- just make sure you keep clear from the pan and flame. Oh, and if you don't have one already, fire extinguishers are a great investment -- I just figured I'd throw that out there. Kids, don't try this at home, safety first, etc. etc. Also, you should remove the pan from the flame when you add the alcohol, and then re-introduce it to the flame.

If "deglazing makes a good sauce a great sauce," what is "deglazing?" Well, it is when one takes a liquid and uses it to loosen up the fonds, caramelized food, stuck to the pan. We use this base of liquid (which could be anything -- water, stock, wine, etc.) and food remnants as a foundation for a sauce. Wine, or any alcoholic beverage, works wonderfully when deglazing, since the alcohol has a cleaning effect.

White wine is usually reduced (simmered to evaporate the liquids and concentrate the flavors) by half, just to cook off most of the alcohol, whereas, red wine needs to be cooked off almost all the way. We need to reduce red wine more than white wine because of the wine's color -- red wine is actually purple, and unless you're eating beets, or you have a thing for purple, it's usually not the way to go if presentation is an issue. Red wine is reduced almost entirely for a richer red color that combines well with dark stocks.

Fortified wines can be used to deglaze pans, but fortified wines are mostly used to finish a dish. Generally, most cooks do not deglaze pans with fortified wines often due to the sweet factor (when the wine reduces, it will become sweeter). However, as with all things, it's all a matter of preference. I, myself, am a sweet-toothed, little Latina girl, and I'm ecstatic if my sauces have some sweet. Using a fortified wine to finish a dish allows the food's heat to highlight the many aromas of the wine. The complex, nutty aroma of sherry in a French lentil soup elevates the dining experience in a way that is difficult to describe... it's paradise in a bowl of soup!

How you cook with wine is entirely up to you, just remember to have fun while you're cooking!

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JS12
Philadelphia, PA
Posted on 6/04/08

I didn't know that the red wine tainted the color of food... i just always assumed the color faded out.

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