Page 62 - The Hunt - Fall 2022

FOOD & DRINK
By RogeR MoRRis
From Bottle to Skillet
Cooking with wine adds flavor and nuance to many dishes.
There’s a not-so-secret formula for success that many home chefs share. Whether they’re preparing a weekday family meal or planning a weekend dinner party, they always keep a good bottle of wine open on the kitchen counter. Of course, some of that wine will find its way into whatever they use for their “cooking glass” to sip on while they chop and mix. But mostly the wine is to pour into the skillet, pan or pot to add flavor and nuance to appetizers, entrées and even desserts.
Professional chefs follow the same practice—at least to a point. “Always drink wine while cooking,” says Doug Ruley, known to vacationers as the chef at Bluecoast Seafood Grill + Raw Bar in Bethany Beach. “At home, of course—never on the job.”
Anthony Vietri is on both sides of the bottle as owner and winemaker at Va La Vineyards in Avondale. “Not surprisingly, we use wine from
our ‘garden’ in our cooking fairly regularly,” he says. “It’s about as local as we can get.”
While everyone uses a variety of spices in the kitchen, too often they forget that wine can lend flavor and depth. Adding a half-glass of a hearty red to beef stew is about as easy
as falling off a bar stool. But there are rules. “Always use a wine you’d want to drink,” says Ruley. “If it says ‘cooking wine’ on the label, stay far away.”
It should also be in the same taste family as the wine you’ll be drinking at the table. For example, you most likely wouldn’t cook with a fragrant riesling if you’re going to be drinking a sassy New Zealand sauvignon blanc with that dish. “You almost always want to cook out wine, either by high
heat and reduction or by cooking at a low temperature for a very long time,” says Tyler Akin of Le Cavalier at the Hotel Du Pont.
“The raw flavor of wine is better in a glass than on a plate.”
A more flamboyant way to reduce the alcohol (and set off the smoke detectors) is by flaming, as with steak au poivre. Akin also advises not to use wines that have been heavily oaked—no matter how nice they taste in the glass. “Oaked wines almost always become bitter and unpleasant [in cooking],” he says, “And the vanilla-like qualities of oaked wines are also impossible to hide.”
Akin also discounts using leftover wines for cooking. “Wine left open for too long that you wouldn’t want to drink will be as unfortunate to eat,” he warns. “Though the offense would be a little more subtle than if you drank a glass.”
Another rule makes sense up to a point: Cook with the same wine you’re having for dinner. Still, the subtleties of a Meursault or a Napa cabernet in the $100 range might be lost
60 THE HUNT MAGAZINE fall 2022