#32: Use good wine!
If you wouldn’t drink it, don’t cook with it. It’s an age-old saying, and it’s true. While you don’t want to use a $500 bottle of Pinot to make pasta carbonara, you’ll at least want to choose a decent wine you can serve with dinner. There are several ways to use wine while cooking.
It can be used in a marinade, as a cooking ingredient, or even as a finishing touch. Wine should boost your meal but not overpower it, and different wines add different flavors. Sherries and ports are sweet, while merlots and cabernets are dry, and each will alter your recipe in different ways. If you’re going for a savory meal, stay away from the sweet wines!