Entertaining is a breeze when you learn the basics. Check out our handy Wine Guide for serving suggestions, toasts & more, then consult our Stress-free Dinner Party page for time-saving tips. And finally, Add Some Spice to your Life with flavorful cooking ideas.
Tips for Enjoying Wine | How to Make a Toast | Cooking with Wine
• Think of wine as a liquid spice. It should be used to enhance the existing flavor in food, not to drown it out. If you're in the mood to use more than the recipe requires, try pouring yourself a glass to enjoy during the preparation.
• Think of wine as a liquid spice. It should be used to enhance the existing flavor in food, not to drown it out. If you're in the mood to use more than the recipe requires, try pouring yourself a glass to enjoy during the preparation.
• Marinating fish in white wine for a few hours (or better yet, overnight) breaks down those oft-pungent fishy oils. Using lemon or vinegar works, too, but doesn't add the fragrance that white wine does.
• Calorie counters can use wine freely in cooked foods. It's the alcohol in wine that has the calories, and it evaporates at a very low boiling point.
• Don't limit cooking with wine to cibo caldo (hot food). Chill out with melon balls, powdered sugar, and a bit of port wine. Or, try strawberries, a light sugar coating, and a bit of nice, cream sherry.
• Using old, "off" wine (vinegary, corked, or musty) to cook because you don't want to drink it is a mistake. Why eat something that isn't fit to drink, right? The acids that cause icky flavors are simply amplified by cooking them.