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- Newbie23 - 08-30-2005
I have a recipe for lasagna that calls for 1 cup red wine. What kind of red wine should I use???
- Thomas - 08-30-2005
My recommendation is to use none. I have found that dry red wine sometimes hurts the food rather than helps.
Try a sweet wine like Madeira or Marsala. Much better flavor.
But if you don't believe me and you want a red wine, make it a thick, rich one and not a thin, acidic one.
Don't you love recipe writers who think all red wine is alike???
- Kcwhippet - 08-30-2005
The Marsala suggestion is good. Also, I often use a nice, fruity Syrah/Shiraz in these recipes. Another I've found works real well is Bonny Doon's Big House Red.
- Innkeeper - 08-30-2005
We use an everyday journeyman Port such as Taylors Tawny.
- Newbie23 - 09-01-2005
Thanks for the tips! It's a thick meatball lasagna and the cup of wine is for making the sauce if that makes any difference on the kind I would use?!?
- Kcwhippet - 09-01-2005
Well, one thing you don't want to do is use a wine that has a lot of oak. The sauce will taste like hardwood flooring. My rec for the Syrah is based on an article done some years ago by Cook's Illustrated. They made several types of sauces with a number of wines and found the Syrah based wines made the most consistently pleasing sauce in all cases. This is for a sauce with red wine, obviously.
- wdonovan - 09-02-2005
I would not try the above suggestions about Port, Madeira or Marsala if I was serving this to anyone without trying it myself. All these wines have a very distinct flavor and are used a couple tablespoons at a time (not a cup) in different recipes. They are unmistakable and will change a lasagna recipe enormously. I disagree with the opinion that red wines can hurt rather than help food. I would not think of making a red Italian sauce without red wine. I wouldn't use a thin red. My choice is a real solid Bordeaux. A Barolo would be ethnically appropriate, but a Chianti although fulfilling the ethnic requirement (which means little compared to taste and characteristics) falls quite short on the issue of body.
I will admit that when using a cup of Bordeaux (usually my choice) in a pot of sauce ("gravy" to a true Italian), I need to add a little sugar to balance the acidity. An Amarone would probably alleviate that problem but then you'd have to keep the sauce in the vault as a good Amarone will set you back more than most people want to spend on cooking ingredients. Of course you'd then have a perfect wine opened to serve with the Lasagna. If you do take the Port-et-al route, leave the phone book open the the pizza page just in case.
- Thomas - 09-02-2005
Donovan,
The idea behind using a sweeter wine is so you don't have to add sugar to the sauce. Think about it: you add sugar to cut the acidity; dry red wine hardly helps to do that. Why not add a wine that gives both wine flavor and offsets the acidity? In fact, when you add Amarone, which is a good addition, you are adding sweetness as well as alcohol (which is also sweet).
Until I came upon the concept, I used to add red wine and honey to tomato sauce, so I know what you mean. But I hold to my position, which I have only recently come to--and I have not had one complaint from people who eat my tomato sauce; quite the contrary... [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/smile.gif[/img]
Just last night, I pounded some sliced squid (calamare) cooked it in a spicy hot tomato sauce and ladled it over cavatelli--it all benefited greatly from the dose of Madiera I used.
[This message has been edited by foodie (edited 09-02-2005).]
- wdonovan - 09-05-2005
foodie,
Agree.... just not Madeira, Marsala, or Port. I think I even said the part about the sweetness of Amarone in my original post.