Q I am an amateur chef — not good, but I like what I do. I often see recipes using wine as an ingredient, but the recipes almost never tell me what kind of wine to use, just a teaspoon, a tablespoon, a cup.
So, what kind of wine: good, everyday, screw-top cap? And then can the balance be stored or refrigerated? If so, how? Of course, the easiest answer is to just drink it, but my wife and I are not really drinkers.
A When a recipe has a general call for wine, you can pretty much use whatever dry wine you have on hand. The recipe should tell you whether white, red or rosé is preferred. Generally, white wine is more useful in cooking because it doesn't color the food like a red. I once used a merlot in a fondue and ended up with purple cheese. If a recipe calls for a certain type of wine, maybe a sparkling or a sweet dessert type, it will say so.
In all cases, the wine you cook with should be drinkable — forget cooking wine — but it doesn't have to be expensive at all. So, go with the most basic wine you can find that tastes good.
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Consider buying one of those box wines with the airtight bladder if storage is an issue. You can pour out what you need, and the rest stays fine in the box for up to several weeks.