Beef in Barolo Recipe on Food52 (2024)

FAQs

What does cooking beef in wine do? ›

Wine is basically an acid ingredient (which helps tenderize the outside of the meat) and it has a lot of flavor. The wine-based marinade helps keep meat, poultry, or seafood moist while it cooks, too.

Since Barolo is very expensive, you may want to substitute with a Chianti, Barbera or a good, stout California Pinot Noir.

This means that in a marinade, a cup of wine can dissolve all the flavor compounds to the meat more effectively than a water-based sauce would. Plus, like high heat or salt, alcohol breaks down proteins in meat, a process known as “denaturing.” So the wine in your marinade helps tenderize the beef.

Best red wine for cooking beef - Merlot

Red wine and beef are a match made in heaven. While most medium-dry red wine varietals work well in beef dishes; a Merlot, with its medium tannins and moderate body is an excellent choice.

For lovers of Barolo and Barbaresco, the great wines from the Langhe region in Piedmont, Italy, that wine would likely be Langhe Nebbiolo. It's made from the same grape in the same place, but unlike its superstar counterparts, it's incredibly cheap.

Nebbiolo wines are every bit as intense and structured as Barolo (but usually at a fraction of the price). They also have Barbaresco's sweet fruit.

The high levels of tannins in Barolo complement the strong and rich flavors of Italian meats. This is even more true of red meats, such as beef and lamb, which benefit from the palate refresh with every juicy mouthful. You may also want to pick up a charcuterie board to try out a range of different flavor options.

The longer you cook, the more alcohol cooks out, but you have to cook food for about 3 hours to fully erase all traces of alcohol. A study from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Nutrient Data lab confirmed this and added that food baked or simmered in alcohol for 15 minutes still retains 40 percent of the alcohol.

Unlike regular drinking wine, cooking wine is commercially made with low-quality grapes and includes several added ingredients that just don't cut it for the connoisseur. Most chefs will opt to cook with regular wine, citing a much better flavor profile.

More specifically, the tannins in red wine -- which mainly come from the grape skin and seeds, as well as the wine barrels during the aging process -- and the protein in the meat that interacts to make the perfect flavor combo. Tannin molecules soften the fat in the meat and it helps to release more of the flavor.

Why does cooking with wine make food taste better? ›

Wine not only adds flavor and moisture, but the alcohol in wine can dissolve both oil- and water-soluble compounds, which is why it's great to use wine for deglazing. When you cook with wine, some of the alcohol will evaporate, but the wine's core fruit flavors and acidity remain.