Cooking With Wine Is About Acid And Evaporation

Wine goes into a pan for three separate reasons and the alcohol itself is the least important of them. What it leaves behind is what changes the dish.

Acid is the main contribution

Wine is distinctly acidic, and that acidity brightens rich dishes, balances fat and helps break down connective tissue in a long braise.

It also affects texture directly, since acid slows the softening of vegetables and can leave onions firm in a dish that has otherwise cooked for hours.

Which is why wine usually goes in after the aromatics have softened rather than at the beginning, and why acidic tinned tomatoes have the same timing rule.

Alcohol dissolves what water cannot

Some aromatic compounds in food are soluble in alcohol but not in water or fat, so alcohol extracts flavours that would otherwise stay locked in the ingredients.

It also carries volatile compounds to the nose as it evaporates, which is part of why a dish smells strongly at the moment wine hits the pan.

A substantial share of the alcohol boils off during cooking, though not all of it, and the proportion remaining depends on time, surface area and whether a lid is used.

Sugar and tannin behave differently

Any residual sugar in the wine concentrates as the liquid reduces, so a sweet wine can leave a savoury dish tasting oddly confected.

Tannins in red wine also concentrate, and a heavily tannic wine reduced hard becomes astringent and drying in a way it was not in the glass.

This is the real argument for cooking with a wine you would drink: not quality for its own sake, but knowing what the concentrated version will taste like.

Reduce it before adding the rest

Wine added and immediately covered with stock keeps its raw, sharp edge, because the harsher volatile compounds have not had a chance to leave.

Letting it bubble down first drives those off and concentrates what remains, which is why recipes say to reduce by half before continuing.

Deglazing serves a second purpose at the same moment, since the acid and liquid lift the browned residue from the pan into the sauce.

What can stand in for it

The functional requirements are acid, a little sweetness and some aromatic complexity, which is why stock with vinegar or lemon covers much of the gap.

Verjuice, unsweetened grape juice with acid added, and even a splash of pickle brine can serve the same purpose in different dishes.

None of them extract alcohol-soluble compounds, so the result differs, but in a dish with many other ingredients the difference is smaller than the acidity would suggest.