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Many recipes across the world call for wine. Red wine amps up a ragu, white wine lends itself to French mother sauces, sake marinates the chicken in Japanese dishes and Shaoxing wine flavours a plethora of Chinese dishes.
Wine in all its forms can add an acidic punch to dishes, deglaze and incorporate the browned-up bits of flavour, break down protein structures of meat, add body, or even mute strong flavours. It has multiple uses, but many people across the world don't consume wine – and this includes their cooking. Whether this be for a religious, dietary, or another reason, there are plenty of substitutes you can use in its place when cooking.
Stock up on broth
Source: PxHere
Adam Liaw, the host of SBS Food's The Cook Up, thinks it's all about salt. "Wine, generally to me, is added to savoury food, to give you that umami…savouriness that you have into it and so stock is, in my mind, the best substitute for wine generally…I think it would be the best substitute if you're doing a braise like if you were making coq au vin."
Stock is, in my mind, the best substitute for wine.
If you're looking to braise something or seeking liquid for a dish, water is the way to go, but stock is better for adding savoury notes.
Lend your dish some acid
If you're looking to replace wine in a dessert and seeking something softer than vinegar to include in your dish, verjuice could be the way to go.
Lauded Australian chef and restaurateur Maggie Beer is known as one of the first to . Verjuice is an acidic juice made from unfermented grapes, and it contains mostly tartaric acid, as opposed to vinegar, which is mainly acetic acid-based. What this means is that it has a gentler acidity and softer flavour profile than most vinegars do.
I'll use it in making my mustards and I find it's just got a better flavour than vinegar.
Ross O'Meara, seasoned chef, cookbook author and game hunter, says, "I've used verjuice quite a lot. I'll use it in making my mustards and I find it's just got a better flavour than vinegar."
It all comes down to what your dish requires. For sweetness, consider verjuice, for tartness, think of adding vinegar, for saltiness, try stock, and for liquid, what better than water?
