In Good Taste
Uncorked in the Kitchen
A little bit of food, a little bit of wine, a little bit of laughter, and sure—a little bit more wine. For chef and cooking instructor Becky Selengut, adding wine to dishes enhances the meal


Becky’s recipe for Pacific Scallops with Bacon and Vanilla and Watercress Salad calls for sparkling wine.
Who was the first cook to sip from a glass of wine and then accidentally—or intentionally—pour some into a simmering stew of local game only to find dinner forever enhanced?

In some places of the world, the local wine is cheaper than the water. Perhaps it was in those places where frugal cooks began cooking with wine when others might have added water or stock to their soups. The Greeks and Romans were among the first to cook with the nectar of the gods, long before the wine-crazy French began liberally anointing their food in free-flowing local juice.

Oblivious to the historical origins of the practice, and long before I studied classic French cuisine in culinary school, I had the good sense to tip my glass into my cooking pot—but not before I checked one or two (or 10) times to make sure the wine was sound.

Wine enhances cooking in several ways. When it is used as a marinade and tenderizer (as in the classic German dish sauerbraten), the acids in wine help break down the texture of the meat. When used as a flavor enhancer—with the cooking dissipating much, but not all, of the alcohol—the wine’s desirable flavors are concentrated. As a “finishing” ingredient, a fortified wine (such as sherry, Marsala or Madeira) added at the end of cooking preserves the subtler flavors. (A splash of dry sherry added at the last moment to a wild mushroom soup is heavenly.)

When you are cooking with wine, it is important to remember three things:

First, and arguably most important, “cooking wine” is for neither cooking nor drinking. It is usually a second- or third-rate wine, loaded with salt and often other additives, that is best left on the supermarket shelf.

Second, always keep one hand free when cooking with wine, as you will surely want to sample the wine while you create your meal. All joking aside, this is an important step because if you do not enjoy your wine enough to drink it right from the glass, you should not put it in your dish. Wine is reduced and its flavor intensified in the process of deglazing the pan; start with a wine you don’t like, and you’ll end up with the essence of that wine—and any of its distastefulness—concentrated.

Third, take that precious, expensive wine you set aside for a special occasion and save it to drink with the meal—don’t cook with the best wine in your cellar. The delicate aromas and lingering finish on the wine will be lost once it’s combined with other flavors.

“Always keep one hand free when cooking with wine, as you will surely want to sample the wine while you create your meal.”

“What grows together, goes together” is an often-quoted truism about food and wine. Regional cuisine the world over has evolved with this in mind; the wine that grows in a particular locality often pairs best with the foods of that region. The same can be said when cooking with wine. In our region, consider combining foraged wild mushrooms and local free-range chicken braised in a robust Eastern Washington red blend, such as Bergevin Lane’s 2005 Calico Red. Poach local pears in a Washington riesling—one of my favorites is the 2005 Eroica Riesling from Chateau Ste. Michelle & Dr. Loosen—for another perfect flavor combination.

When pondering cooking with wine, our minds tend to drift to cold-weather braised dishes—think beef bourguignon—but lighter white wines are perfect when spring arrives in the Northwest. Even sparkling wines can be used in cooking, such as the local one we recommend for the Pacific Scallops with Bacon and Vanilla. White wines have a natural affinity with seafood, so when our somewhat schizophrenic weather momentarily turns cold, run back inside and make a steaming bowl of Cioppino, brightened with fennel, orange and basil. Farmers-market tables should be bursting with morels and fava beans right now, and those are key ingredients for our Spring Vegetable Risotto which can be made using a Washington chardonnay.

Preparing any of these seasonal dishes offers you a perfect opportunity to cook with—and sip—some excellent wines. Just make sure you taste the wine once (or twice) before you pour it into the dish.

Becky Selengut is a Seattle-based private chef and cooking instructor. She is the founder of SeasonalCornucopia.com, an educational Web site that celebrates the foods of the Pacific Northwest, and co-author of the Washington Local and Seasonal Cookbook (Lone Pine Publishing).