PrintCooking with leftover wine
When I woke up and wandered into the kitchen this morning, I realized there was an open bottle of sauvignon blanc, with about a glass's worth of wine still in it from last night. It had been sitting out, unsealed, for the entire night. Now, I was planning on making a roasted pork loin for some friends tonight, and I thought, why not use the leftover wine as a basting liquid? However, I've heard conflicting advice on this subject.
On the one hand, the wine is going to be cooked, used to baste a garlic-rosemary pork loin, not in a sauce or anything, and thus will not be a major flavor component. And the alternative is to just pour it down the drain.
On the other hand, there's the "don't cook with a wine you wouldn't drink" rule; cooking concentrates the flavor of wine, so if the wine is no longer drinkable, it will hurt the dish more than help it.
What say you, Serious Eats community?
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10 Comments:
Take a tiny sip, and if it's perfectly awful, throw it out. If it's pretty decent--use it in the pork. Let us know how it turns out!
Teachertalk at 11:42AM on 12/16/07
Over one night, I'm sure that it's fine. It might be a little flat tasting when you drink it straight (sorry, I don't have proper wine vocab), but I'm sure it's fine for cooking.
I usually keep the leftovers for up to a few days for cooking. Best if it's kept in the fridge, but over one night, it hasn't spoiled.
I think that guideline (cook with what you'd drink) is more applicable to the bottle, ie., initial quality of the wine.
renzata at 12:52PM on 12/16/07
I would totally use it. It's only one day old and I'll assume your house/apartment isn't a steady 90 degrees. It's so much better to use that little bit of wine in food vs. dumping it down the drain.
I think the "don't cook with wine you wouldn't drink" rule is more applicable to Thunderbird...LOL. You've consumed that wine and it was good. I'd go ahead and use it.
chiff0nade at 2:30PM on 12/16/07
I'd use it.
Kerosena at 2:57PM on 12/16/07
taste it and go from there. it's probably perfectly usable. and btw, didn't i read an article somewhere recently about using wine for cooking and getting perfectly acceptable results with not so great bottles?
cybercita at 4:14PM on 12/16/07
There was an article in the NY Times a little while back on the subject, cybercita.
Despite what I said earlier, when I saw the fond on the bottom of the roasting pan, I decided to use it to build a sauce. Then I dropped the pan, and spilled the lovely droppings. Fortunately I had already removed the roast. Everything was fine, though I missed the pan sauce. Bittman's recipe for roasted pork loin is delicious, btw. I have yet to have a recipe from him fail me.
Nicholas H at 12:09AM on 12/17/07
After one night out, I wouldn't worry about it. Especially since it's not the major flavor component of the dish.
chisai at 8:39AM on 12/17/07
Go ahead and use it. I like to freeze leftover wine in my ice cube tray, so I always have it on hand. Is that strange?
lo82070 at 11:29AM on 12/17/07
Use it and serve it forth! It'll be fine.
HunterAnglerGardenerCook at 2:41PM on 12/17/07
I would drink it, even left out over night, so using it to cook is fine. The thing is with wine, unless its an old bottle (which I'm sure yours was not) they are actually better left out to breathe, up to 24 hrs is totally recommended (more true for reds than whites) so I wouldnt be too surprised if you tasted that wine and found it perfectly good even to drink, let alone to cook with.
seyo at 11:09AM on 12/18/07