# ISO Cooking wine in tomato sauce?



## oppose (May 11, 2007)

hiyas so im making a tomato sauce for a lasanga and im wondering when do i put the cooking wine in? when i put all the vegatables and tomatos together when it simmers or what?


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## kadesma (May 12, 2007)

oppose said:
			
		

> hiyas so im making a tomato sauce for a lasanga and im wondering when do i put the cooking wine in? when i put all the vegatables and tomatos together when it simmers or what?


Oppose,
I always add a nice red wine to all my pasta sauces, I mean by that a red wine you can drink, not the cooking wines on the store shelves with the vinegars. Those are completely worthless and full of salt. The salt allows anyone to purchase them, no age limit..Don't waste your money. Now, I brown the meat, add the veggies, like onion, garlic, herbs, and saute them, then my chicken or beef stock, tomatoe sauce and tomatoes, then the wine and let simmer 4-5 hours or even more..Hope this helps a little.
kadesma


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## Andy M. (May 12, 2007)

kadesma's advice and her timing are right on. Cooking wine is a foul-tasting alternative to real, drinkable wine. 

You don't have to spend a lot of money for wine to cook with.  Cook with the wine you drink . If you don't drink wine, buy inexpensive, dry reds and whites (dry means not sweet).  Any left over wine will have to be refrigerated or frozen into ice cube trays for later use.

Another choice is to buy a bottle of dry white vermouth. It's wine that's been fortified with added alcohol so it will last a long time without refrigeration.

Good luck with your sauce.


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## Constance (May 12, 2007)

That's a great idea about freezing the leftover wine in ice cube trays, Andy. 

I usually buy Livingston wines for my cooking. They aren't fine wines, but are quite drinkable, and a 750 ml bottle can generally be purchased for $4-$5.


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## Mylegsbig (May 12, 2007)

lol @ cooking wine!

don't use that garbage please. use real wine.


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## legend_018 (May 12, 2007)

Andy M. said:
			
		

> Another choice is to buy a bottle of dry white vermouth. It's wine that's been fortified with added alcohol so it will last a long time without refrigeration.



How long should it last?
Also: any ideas for red cooking wines to buy that will last after it's been opened. For cooking purposes that is. 

I hang my head down low and admit that I use cooking wines. I thought they were good enough to use. I just used some white cooking wine in the meditereanan sauce I made. I'm going to start buying the real bottles. I just really don't have the room in the freezor though.


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## Mylegsbig (May 12, 2007)

Legend, you don't need to put wine in the freezer

Legend, pick up a good bottle of Cabernet that is nice and dry, and good enough to drink.  That is a good choice for a red wine to use for cooking.


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## GB (May 12, 2007)

Go to your local liquor store and pick up some wine in a box. There are some decent ones out now and the benefit is that they will last forever even after opened. I keep a box of white in my cabinet above my stove with a stack of small Dixie cups next to it. The cups are a half cup measure. When I am cooking and need some wine for the dish I can take one of those cups and estimate the amount of wine I need.


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## The Little Penguin (Aug 6, 2007)

oppose said:
			
		

> hiyas so im making a tomato sauce for a lasanga and im wondering when do i put the cooking wine in? when i put all the vegatables and tomatos together when it simmers or what?


 
I usually begin a pasta sauce by simmering garlic, onions, and mushrooms in olive oil. Generally, I add wine towards the end of this stage, before adding everything else.

Also, someone mentioned dry vermouth. I wouldn't use it in a red sauce (although who knows, it might be good) but for many other things (especially involving mushrooms) it's LOVELY to cook with and has a flavor quite different from wine.


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## gourmande (Aug 7, 2007)

Andy M. said:
			
		

> ... Any left over wine will have to be refrigerated ...


Left over wine? Who knew  

 

When I use wine in tomato based sauces (or any sauce for that matter), it's usually my first layer of liquid. I use it to deglaze my pan, then I let it cook down and reduce by whatever amount is needed. After that I'll add the other liquids: stock, tomatoes etc.

Of course there are exceptions, as when I make a Ragu Bolognese based on Marcella Hazan's famous recipe, where milk is added to the meat before the wine, although the milk is allowed to incorporate/evaporate completely before the wine is added. The tomatoes are added after most of the wine has evaporated, and the sauce is slowly simmered for three hours or more. This is one fabulous sauce.

G

_*edited for typos... again_


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## Jeekinz (Aug 7, 2007)

gourmande said:
			
		

> When I use wine in tomato based sauces (or any sauce for that matter), it's usually my first layer of liquid. I use it to deglaze my pan, then I let it cook down and reduce by whatever amount is needed. After that I'll add the other liquids: stock, tomatoes etc.


 
Ditto.  I find it doesn't fight with whats in your glass that way.


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## jennyema (Aug 7, 2007)

One of the points of cooking with alcohol is that it brings out flavor componenets that are not water or oil soluable.  In other words, alcohol releases flavors in food that would otherwise be hidden.

This is especially true with tomatoes.

You don't want to evaporate too much of the alcohol out of the wine before you allow it to do its magic on the tomatoes.

This is why so many recipes direct you to add the tomatoes to the pot first, then add the wine and let them cook together.  Once the flavor components are dissolved into the sauce, it's fine to evaporate off most of the alcohol (it's impossible to get rid of all of it).


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## littlemiss22 (Aug 7, 2007)

I heard in a recipes chat on another site that using a sherry will give the tangy sweetness to some sauces.... i tend to make a spicy arrabiatta sauce so it'll be interesting to try that out


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## GotGarlic (Aug 7, 2007)

I always put a half cup of Chianti in my lasagne sauce. I can't drink red wine (gives me a headache), so DH finishes it off for me


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