What would adding wine (red or white?) do when cooking Vindaloo?
This is my first post, so please be gentle.
I am cooking chicken Vindaloo and I'm trying to get a bit creative. I have never heard of adding wine to vindaloo, however, I know that I like it in soups and stews. What would be the effect of adding 1/2-1 cup of red wine, and would the effect change if I added white wine instead?
Thanks for your input!
Recipe edit: The recipe was about 2 cups vindaloo paste simmered in coconut cream. I sauteed the chicken once I started seeing some red streaks of separating oil in the vindaloo/coconut cream mixture. Once the chicken (3 breasts cubed) was cooked on the surface, I added the mix to a slow cooker set to high. I then took the same pan and seared some small russet potatoes (silver dollar sized at most) cut longways in canola oil. Once the cut ends were a touch brown and crispy, I added them to the mix, as well as with whole mushrooms. I then thinned the mixture with the rest of the can of Coconut milk, as well as about 1 1/2 cups homemade chicken stock. After about 2-3 hours of slow cooking, I did end up adding a 1/4 cup Marsala wine. It came out very tasty.
Best Answer
Ah, wine. "I love cooking with wine, sometimes I even add it to the food."
Anywho, your experiment shows that the short answer is "it'll probably come out quite nice". Most of these things have been said in the comments, but here's a recap:
- Alcohol is a solvent, and so wine will presumably help eke out flavours from the spice solids to the liquid. (Much like you can make e.g. vanilla extract with vodka.)
- Wine is also acidic, and acid is a general flavour enhancer (a bit like salt).
- Wines contain varying amounts of residual sugar (ranging all the way from "almost nothing" to "syrup") which also is a flavour enhancer.
- Vindaloo is based on a Portuguese dish prominently featuring white wine and garlic, so why shouldn't it work?
As for red wine, drinking a highly tannic wine with chili-hot food increases the perceived heat, but on the other hand, I can't say I ever really feel the tannins in cooked red wine and my experiences with using red wine in spicy food have been rather positive.
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Quick Answer about "What would adding wine (red or white?) do when cooking Vindaloo?"
The wine will soften the meat, and will increase the floral qualities of the dish.What does cooking with red wine do?
Wine has three main uses in the kitchen \u2013 as a marinade ingredient, as a cooking liquid, and as a flavoring in a finished dish. The function of wine in cooking is to intensify, enhance, and accent the flavor and aroma of food \u2013 not to mask the flavor of what you are cooking but rather to fortify it.Does it matter if you use red or white wine when cooking?
All wines will chemically behave in the same way, so there's no danger that a recipe won't work if you use a white instead of a red or vice versa.Can you add red wine to a curry?
If you're picking a drink to go with curry, the first question is: what do you want the drink to do? Milk and yogurt-based drinks can soothe the fire that chilli lights in your mouth. Pick a red wine, on the other hand, especially one with big tannins, and the effect is to ramp up the heat.Does Vindaloo have wine?
The basic structure of the Portuguese dish was the Portuguese sailor's "preserved" raw ingredients, packed in wooden barrels of alternate layers of pork and garlic, and soaked in red wine.The Secret Origin of Vindaloo
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Answer 2
The wine will soften the meat, and will increase the floral qualities of the dish. When I make beef stew, Red Wine (usually cab sav) is the only liquid (meaning it replaces water) added. For chicken, you could replace any water or broth with white wine. I'd go with a Sav Blanc since it has a nice crispy tartness to it that would translate the chicken into something very delicious.
If your dish calls for 2 and a half cups of water or chicken broth, replace all or some of it with the wine...Don't add wine in addition to the water, or you'll make a soupy mess.
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