Best alternatives for wine in cooking?

In most recipes all the alcohol will be cooked out. I would use wine anyway, unless you have a history of alcoholism and are afraid having it in the house would be too much temptation. I’m not sure there is a good substitute. Red wine vinegar might work in some cases, maybe sweetened up with a little grape juice, but I don’t know if it would really have the same effect.

Liquid serves the same purpose in of cooking. The only reason to use different liquids is to impart a particular flavor or color. You could always use stock, like chicken or beef stock instead of wine. But in fact the alcohol cooks out of wine especially if it is used to sautee in a hot pan, or added early in a longer cooking process. I would not worry about it at all.

All good answers above. You can use non-alcoholic wines if you really are uncomfortable with the “spiked” versions. IMO there really is no substitute for the nuance flavor imparted by the real deal.

when using wine in cooking you’re usually going for one of four things:
1) alcohol
2) fruitiness
3) acidity (esp. if it’s vinegar)
4) “depth”

For example, when deglazing a pan after searing meat, it’s the alcohol that disolves the brown bits.

For fruitiness, juices are the obvious choice (apple juice, grape juice, etc), but even just adding a bit of sugar (or sugar bearing ingredient) can bring out some natural fruitiness in other ingredients.

For acidity, lemon juice should be your standby (i.e. for hollandaise), but definitely experiment: orange juice is less acidic and sweeter, for example.

For depth, use better, or more reduced stocks. Make brown stock with veal bones instead of beef, reduce a little more than you would otherwise. You may have to make your stock saltier than you would have otherwise, since wine contains substances that makes things taste salty without being “salty”.

If I were cooking lamb then I would use cranberries. The flavour is really lovely

Can you get cooking red wine where you are? I think some makes are alcohol free.

@Cruiser the wine is non-alcoholic once it has been heated.

If there’s not some compelling reason to avoid the alcohol other than you just don’t generally drink, then for sure use real wine. For white wine, I normally use a decent brand of vermouth (like Martini & Rossi for instance). It comes in screw top bottles of various sizes, and it keeps forever, so you don’t have to worry about the wine going bad.

For red wine, I use…red wine. Sometimes I might have an open bottle, other times, there’s usually someone around who might finish it, including me. You can get fairly decent wine in very small bottles these days, as in, single serving, so you only need open need as much as necessary for the recipe.

I know you said your husband and you don’t drink much, but the one rule of thumb I’ve always heard, and that I buy into, is…don’t cook with wine that you (or in your case, somebody who likes wine) wouldn’t drink. For me, that completely deletes the “cooking wine” you find in some markets from consideration. It’s pretty gross.

@nope @Theby Thanks for your question/responses to this. My husband and I dont drink, and I do like to cook with wine sometimes, but if I open a bottle it will never get finished. I do have a bottle of cooking wine, for lack of knowing what to do otherwise. Generally I have opted for adding better quality wine to recipes when there is someone staying with us who will drink the rest.

Everybody says to use good wine, not cooking wine, but I usually use cooking wine because I’ll never finish a bottle of wine since we don’t drink it. Right now I have a huge bottle of port going bad on the shelf because I needed a quarter cup for a recipe and couldn’t find a small bottle. Honestly, I guess my palate isn’t really refined enough to tell the difference.

I can’t see a reason for not using wine in cooking. Since virtually all alcohol is evaporated out during the cooking process, there is no reason to avoid it unless you are an uncontrolled alcoholic and can’t resist finishing the bottle.

Cooking wine is an alternative but it contains salt which makes it unpalatable for drinking. You would have to be a really dedicated alcoholic to drink it, in that case, I doubt that you would be doing any gourmet cooking.

@Ron_C religion.

@Ron_C What @The_Idler said and some alcoholics don’t risk tasting it.

@The_Idler @JLeslie I still don’t get it. I know there are religions that abhor alcohol. I have yet to see religions that outlaw taste. Wine cooked into food, no longer tastes like wine therefore I don’t see how it would tempt alcoholics.

My guess is that I will never understand such a deep belief that prohibits even the taste of something that used to have alcohol in it.

I used to work with alcoholics and drug addicts, in the Navy. I never met one of them that was tempted to drink because he ate spaghetti sauce flavored with wine.

@Ron_C I did have one friend who did not eat anything madew ith alcohol, because she was a recovering alcoholic. I have no idea if the majority of alcoholics look at it this way. Religions who do not allow alcohol, I agree that since the alcohol cooks off it probably should be a non-issue, but some of them might take it to an extreme I would guess, like any other religious rule. I mean I think it is illogical for Catholics to think it is ok to not have sex when they ovulate to avoid having a baby, but won’t use a condom. What’s the difference? Both are purposefully planning to not get pregnant.

@Snarp It takes a really long time for port wine to go bad, since it’s actually fortified wine. As in, extra alcohol added, like brandy or something. I’ve found that port can sit quite nicely in the cupboard for a couple of years, and not be too much worse for wear.

@JLeslie I guess that this extreme abstention from alcohol is a self-imposed religious rule. Much like the Amish abstaining from the use of zippers and electricity. It is just how people interpret their religion. As long as that interpretation is not imposed on me, I’m fine with it. It is a little self torture, like a hair shirt.

pure grain alcohol.

Why replace wine in cooking? During the cooking process the alcohol will evaporate.