New to wine

[sanjay]

Hi, i'm new to wine and would like to know what's the difference between shiraz and carbernet? And what are the best wines to cook with? Thank you!

[tandkvd]

Try these two post.

http://wines.com/ubb2/Forum37/HTML/002836.html

http://wines.com/ubb2/Forum37/HTML/002844.html

Cook with the wine you are going to drink with the meal. Don't get those store "cooking wines"!!!!

[This message has been edited by tandkvd (edited 04-18-2004).]

[This message has been edited by tandkvd (edited 04-18-2004).]

[chidbar]

I agree with tand. The cooking wines sold in stores are usually heavy on salt, I heard thatwas done so the chefs would not drink them. I have found that wine that isn't pleasing to me to drink isn't the best to cook with. As a chef once said, "If a wine isn't good for drinking it isn't good for cooking."

[Kcwhippet]

A bit more on the cooking wines. If the wine is being used in a recipe in which it will be reduced, either in a long cooked stew or a reduction sauce, be careful which wine you use. A wine with heavy oak treatment, such as many Cabs, will leave all that oakiness behind as it reduces, and your finished dish may end up tasting like you're chewing on hardwood flooring. Syrah based wines, even with a touch of oak, have wonderful flavorful profiles for cooking. In fact, one of the best I've found is the Ca 'del Solo Big House Red.

Oh, and those supermarket cooking wines - they wouldn't use a good quality wine and add salt, sugar and preservatives. BTW, all that salt and sugar, can noticeably alter the seasoning of your dish if you don't take them into account. That can be very difficult because there's no way of knowing how much of each that stuff has in it by volume. Just say "NO!" to those supermarket cooking wines.

[Thomas]

FYI--the reason for the salt in cooking wine: the federal govt mandates that wines sold as cooking wine in grocery stores must be rendered undrinkable; it's the wonderful tax structure (revenue stream) at work; if it's drinkable, then it will be taxed as wine...