Cooking Wine

[IanG]

Hi

This is my first post so be gentle. I am also probably commiting sacrilege as I'll boil all the alcohol away

Background is that I have been told to go on a low salt diet as I am close to having high blood pressure. If you don't know salt is in every processed food and gravy and stock cubes are the worst.
The advice is use fresh food, cook from scratch use herbs, spices, citrus fruit, vinegars and WINE in cooking

So I am looking for advice on what cheap wines I can make to use in cooking. Any no salt recipes would also be appreciated

Thanks

PS I live within walking distance of lovebrewing.co.uk so their products are easy for me

 

[Chippy_Tea]

This is the cheapest wine you can make - How to make Supermarket Juice Wine - HERE.

(picking your own fruit could lower the price but its going to be a long time before you can use it)

 

[kelper]

Boiling wine does not drive off all the alcohol nor does flambeeing brandy.
The less salt you put on food the less you need over time. I only put salt on eggs. You get used to it and then commercial food will taste too salty. Just have good black pepper available if any food seems bland.

 

[IanG]

Thanks for replying.

I was going to pick up some heating mats tomorrow so maybe I'll pick up some demi johns. I think maybe the supermarket jucie wine could be too cheap. I am not sure though. My first thoughts were trying a rich burgundy style or a chardonay for fish. My cheap means under £5 a litre but it needs to be simple.

As to not boiling off all the alcohol, I don't think you realise how bad a cook I am..

 

[pgk]

I've never used wine in my cooking so not going to advise re that except to say that it's probably wise to just have a go at a wine kit of whatever sort you'ld normally use for your cooking.
As for salt free diets: I hardly ever use salt in my own cooking but I undestand it can take soem weeks for folk who are used to it to have their taste-buds reset. You#re probably aware of Lo-salt which is a mix of sodium chloride (tablesalt) and potassium chloride. I've never tasted potassium chloride on it's own but you might have a go and see if it alone gives you saltiness (ebay) or helps in your transition.

I like easy to prepare food - rarely can be bothered with the long-winded stuff unless I'm out to impress. It's also worth pointing out that salt in the diet also comes in 'how much per protion'.

Recipe 1) Pork schnitzels & my potato salad.. 4 pork loins steaks (Lidl) hammered out, patted down with flour, turned ove rin beaten egg and covered in breadcrumb and fried. A pack of salad potatoes boiled (no salt) and allowed to cool and diced. To that bowl of spud you add a good 4 heaped teaspoons capers, a load of diced raw - onion, gherkin (Lidl again - one of the best gherkins about), raw radish, raw carrot, and almost anythign else that's handy such as thawed frozen sweetcorn or thawed diced mixed veg and then throw in a whole jar of mayonnaise and mix it all up. This lazy cook makes a batch like that and has 4 days of main meals straight from the fridge. A jar of mayonnaise (i just looked) has about 5gm of salt per jar so just over a gram a day or make your own mayonnaise.
Recipe 2) Which is my dinner just now. Boiled green lentils (make sure they're the large green one's not those naff yellow or orange things or the overpriced tiny black or green ones. Tesco usually have them) While they're boiling I put a few tablespoons of oil into a fry-pan, dice up some expensive imported bacon
"Spišská" which i concede has salt but I only use the equivelent of one rasher ordinary bacon per head - it;s there to flavour the oil and you could substitute a little of some other diced meat. Don't buy that brand of bacon - you'll like it too much and make my job of sourcing it harder, Fry it crunchy. It gets mixed into the cooked lentils along with a diced onion and several diced gherkins. it's a weeky favourite of mine.'
Recipe 3) My Mum's take on Zemlbaba when we were growing up poor and had it as a main meal rather than dessert. - Line a pudding basin with buttered bread (going stale is fine) Butter side to the bowl. Then layer in sliced apple, raisins and more buttered bread until you reach the top, finish off with a cover of buttered bread spinkled with sugar and bake.

Lastly some GP's are a bit crap about really looking into why folk have high BP. The obvious overweight cause is down to you but heart and kidney disease is on that list as well as others. Grape seed extract can reduce blood platelet stickiness as opposed to grapefruit which can increase platelet stickiness and should be avoided.

pgk

 

[An Ankoù]

Hi Ian G, and welcome to Valhalla.
In truth, you'd be better going to the Coop or Asda and buying the cheapest wine you can find. Wine in a box can be ok for drinking, too. No wines or beers (apart from some very weird and expensive and frankly ghastly) ones contain salt. You're right about processed foods containing salt, the elephant in the room, though is sugar! trying to avoid that bugger in any packaged food is real challenge as the UK is completely sold out to the sugar lobbyists. Look to your cooking and get better at it. Make your own and control the salt. Make wine and beer for pleasure, I'd say. And remember that drinking gallons of ale washes the salt out of you.

 

[kelper]

Ian, what's your BMI, where do you live and do you live on your own?

 

[IanG]

Thanks for the replies. As to BMI it's obese although I am down 5kg from worst and dropping. Yes to lose weight is top of my list. More exercise less/no alcohol (yeah right), etc

Thanks for the recipes pgk as I think you recognise all sauces contain salt. The capers is an idea I hadn't thought of as I haven't used them except to make tartar sauce.

I was looking to replace stock cubes and gravy with a wine that would be favourful as sauce especially if cooked with herbs eg in a slow/pressure cooker with a meat or in a steamer with fish.

As to buying wine just to cook with, yes probably cheaper but blasphemy!

 

[kelper]

If you are only borderline high blood pressure you can correct it by weight loss and even moderate exercise such as walking. I gave up alcohol for a year when I was 50 and lost six inches from my waistline in one year. I only started drinking again because I got married.

 

[pgk]

You can have salt-free sauces - take the cajun trinity with their roux - no salt needed. Or leave the salt out of a jamaican jerk chicken marinade. Half my 20 foot greenhouse is growing jalopenos and scotch bonnets. Lunch today was Jalopenos halved and coated in a simple sparkling water, flour and pepper batter and fried. Just make sure you wash your hands before going to the loo or rubbing an eye...

 

[kelper]

Just make sure you wash your hands before going to the loo of rubbing an eye.

Which eye? Your third 'eye'

 

[Mr_S_Jerusalem]

Any wine you can home brew which actually has flavour works well in casserole/stew.
Although obviously the world likes to use red wine with beef/lamb/venison and blah so yeah there’s restrictions.
Also red wine takes longer to age so make some white or pink wine and cook it with pork/chicken/fish blah.

Also pork likes apple so if you using wine with pork, use apple wine right?

Also, sometimes cheap means thin with wine. This is bad for cooking. Cooking needs flavour. Don’t cook with a thin wine.

Also the faux pax thing is actually legit. Red wine does not suit fish.

Also, don’t add too much wine. Add a bit, taste, but more maybe taste. Etc. Keep tasting. Too much wine can ruin a dish.

 

[IanG]

Thanks for your comments.
I was going to say as I am at lovebrewing tomorrow anyway I'll get a merlot pack as I have the equipment but maybe I should buy a different one as Mr_S_Jeruslalem commented or even a cider pack. Yes as chippy_tea pointed out it can be done cheaper and maybe better but I can't be bothered.

@pkg I wish I had a greenhouse it was supposed to be done this spring but virus... sauces from fresh is a must

 

[LED_ZEP]

Just make sure you wash your hands before going to the loo or rubbing an eye...

I was making a chilli when my girlfriend decided to get amorous, didn't have time to wash my hands . Even she saw the funny side as she danced round the room in some discomfort.

 

[kelper]

Cool hand Luke - not!

 

[IanG]

Cool hand Luke - not!

cOoL hAnD LuKe
is how you write it these days - modern sarcasm

 

[simon12]

Its a long time ago so my memory's a bit hazy but I made a great beef stew with a wilko cab sav possibly the 1st thing I ever brewed.

 

[Janulka098]

Thanks for your comments.
I was going to say as I am at lovebrewing tomorrow anyway I'll get a merlot pack as I have the equipment but maybe I should buy a different one as Mr_S_Jeruslalem commented or even a cider pack. Yes as chippy_tea pointed out it can be done cheaper and maybe better but I can't be bothered.

@pkg I wish I had a greenhouse it was supposed to be done this spring but virus... sauces from fresh is a must

I have made some blackberry wine with handful of elderberries. I think there are still some blackberries left and great to gather them when you out and about. I know it should age a bit for drinking but I have racked it after a month and had a taste and it would be great in beef stew or bolognaise :)
It’s quite simple
2kg of fruit
1kg sugar
3bag tea brew (omit if using 500g elderberries)
Pectolase
Yeast and nutrient
Freeze the fruit while you gather it- it helps release juice and break it down. Put in bucket to thaw add sugar and campden tablet and let it sit for day or two. Add water to 4.5 l and yeast and nutrient. Cover and let ferment on fruit for 5days. Strain to a demijohn top up to the neck and put airlock on and leave for few weeks till it stops bubbling. Rack into another demijohn with campden tablet and leave to clear (you can use finings to clear)
Great for bourguignon and bolognaise sauce. I got spiraliser so use courgetti instead of spaghetti for bolognaise and out quite a few veggies (swede, carrots) in the beef stew. If you put in some bay leaf and garlic and black pepper and sprig of thyme to your stew - you don’t need much salt

 

[Janulka098]

White wine - I did nice Chardonnay style from forum (does not have grape juice in it but tastes nice)
1l pineapple 100%juice
1.5l apple juice
800g sugar
Pectolase
3 bag green tea brew
Pectolase
Yeast and nutrient
Put it demijohn - only fill in to shoulder as pineapple is a volcano... top up after the foamy fermentation finished - about 4-5 days - leave to ferment for couple of weeks - when bubbling stops rack onto campden tablet into another demijohn, clear with finings and bottle
Nice in risotto or white wine sauce for fish and chicken in white sauce (if you use some tarragon in white wine sauce with pepper - you don’t really need salt )
Or parsley white wine sauce
Or chives white wine sauve
Lovely with fish and chicken and even pork medalions

 

[Janulka098]

With red kits I would recommend beaverdale - Nebbiolo is rather nice or the merlot. It’s about £12 for 6bottle kit so not too much more then cheaper ones round £10 but definitely better taste :)