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Pouring wine at a Sonoma vineyard in 2015.
Pouring wine at a Sonoma vineyard in 2015.
Photo: Washington Post Photo By Melina Mara
Pouring wine at a Sonoma vineyard in 2015.
Pouring wine at a Sonoma vineyard in 2015.
Photo: Washington Post Photo By Melina MaraCookbook authors Cathy Barrow and Martha Holmberg recently joined The Washington Post Food section staff in answering questions about all things food. Here are edited excerpts from that chat.
Q: I do not drink alcoholic beverages but cook many recipes that call for wine. When red or white wine is called for, which varietal should I use? Also, is it all right to use those (cheap) individual serving bottles? If I should be using a better quality and I buy a whole bottle, is it all right to freeze the leftover wine in an ice cube tray and keep in a zip lock bag in the freezer?
A: Choosing a good wine for cooking can be a challenge, even for wine-drinkers like me. My rule is to look for wines that are not "oaky," which can bring added (and unwanted) flavors to the dish.
How do you know if a wine is oaky without drinking it? Most table wines have descriptors, either on the label or on a little "shelf talker" label in the grocery store. Avoid anything that mentions wood, barrel-aging, or anything else related to trees.
My favorites are a sauvignon blanc for white and a grenache for red. Both have plenty of acid - which brings brightness to your dish.
- Martha Holmberg
Q: If I made homemade ravioli, could I leave it in the fridge for a day before boiling it? Or is it better to freeze?
A: You can keep those ravioli well-wrapped in the refrigerator for a day. After 24 hours the pasta may start to turn gray. Add 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar to your pasta dough (mix it in with the flour) and it will keep the pasta from turning gray for 3 days. I learned that trick from Patrick O'Connell at the Inn at Little Washington. Game changing.
- Cathy Barrow
Q: I made an apple pear soup that called for an apple pear leek broth. I ended up with too much broth. Can you give me some suggestions to use it up? Its pretty sweet and leeky.
A: I'd freeze it in ice cube trays, transfer to zip-top bags, and then pull it out for more pureed soups, stews and for moistening casseroles.
I'd think that flavor would play well with lots of things, but you could always double down on the leeky-ness by using it to braise and glaze baby leeks, one of my favorite ways to cook them. Just lay the leeks in a large skillet (you can cram them in, as long as they're in one layer), pour in the broth to come halfway up the sides of the leeks, bring the liquid to a boil, reduce the heat so it's barely simmering, cover, and cook until the leeks are fork-tender. Then uncover, increase the heat, throw in a couple knobs of butter, a teaspoon or two of sugar, and let it reduce until the leeks are glazed and starting to brown. Season with salt, and you're done!
- Joe Yonan
Q: I have quite a few different kinds of salt. Some I use only occasionally and sparingly. Do they ever lose their unique flavor as they "age" in the pantry?
A: I'm a bit of a salt collector, too. I'll confess that I sometimes buy them just because I love the label! I have not noticed any deterioration in flavor even after a few years. I think the key to longevity for salts is to avoid humidity, so that they don't clump or otherwise change texture.
Of course if you're talking about "flavored" salts, such as truffle or herb or smoked salt, those flavors will fade over time.
- M.H.
Q: I have a jar of cranberry sauce (homemade) in the fridge from December. I should throw it out even if there's no mold, right? I'm a little puzzled as to how long to keep acidic foods in jars, like pickles or sun-dried tomatoes. Some people seem to keep them for years.
A: Cranberry sauce is most akin to jam or preserves. They will keep for months in the refrigerator without losing anything in texture or taste. When the jam/sauce molds, you can trash it, or do as centuries of European home cooks have done and spoon off the mold and enjoy the rest of the jam.
I use leftover cranberry sauce to top baguette slices smeared with goat cheese and broiled.
- C.B.
Q: Is it possible to add richness or creaminess to a dish without using dairy or increasing the amount of oil? I've had to give up dairy, and we have some weeknight dinner staples that include sour cream and/or plain yogurt in the sauce. Is there a simple, pantry-friendly hack to bring a nice sauciness to the dish? (Vegan sour cream and yogurt are just not appealing.)
A: Coconut milk is definitely one way to go. Ditto something like cashew cream.
- Becky Krystal
Q: I'm perhaps a bit too literal but whenever I see "reduce by half" in a recipe I want to follow it but don't know how. I pretty much just eyeball it and stop cooking it down when its gets thicker which is fine unless it never gets thicker and you're reducing it to concentrate a flavor. Is there a secret technique for doing it more precisely or does everyone just guess and I'm way overthinking this?
A: If you use a skewer to measure the depth of the sauce in the pan when you start, it's a good measurement to use and pretty clear to see when the sauce has reduced. I use this method when writing recipes.
- C.B.
https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/Food-chat-Cooking-with-wine-is-possible-even-if-13738790.php
2019-04-03 18:12:00Z
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