This Boozy Cooking Swap Adds Just As Much Flavor Without Wasting Wine

Cooking with wine is useful for many reasons. It adds moisture, acidity (which tenderizes, much like a marinade), and also contributes flavor, which intensifies as it's cooked down. The problem is that recipes often only call for a fraction of a bottle's contents, and an open wine quickly becomes oxidized. This quality might be desirable in some liquids (such as sherry), but you typically don't want to drink oxidized wine. Nor should you cook with it, since the less pleasant qualities associated with this condition can wind up on the plate. So-called cooking wines exist, but tend to be packaged with preservatives and additives that don't do your dinner any favors. There are some pro tips about what not to do when cooking with wine, but in this case, you omit the wine altogether and instead reach for vermouth.

You may wonder, what is vermouth? This drink is a fortified wine, which traditionally gets its flavor from herbs, aromatics, and spices, plus a boost from an added booze such as brandy or grain alcohol — ingredients that are natural preservatives, but also happen to be delicious. Because opened vermouth can stay fresh up to about eight weeks – versus wine, which should be consumed within one to seven days – it makes an ideal stand-in for your cooking liquid. It also means you have the chance to use the leftover liquid again in another dish (or martini) long before the bottle goes bad.

In addition to the practical benefits, vermouth is fun to play with as it's a spectrum of products much like wine. The flavor profile of vermouth varys greatly between bottles hailing from various places of origin, and may feature additions such as citrus peel, juniper, sage, cinnamon, anise, and coriander, as well as bittering agents such as gentian and wormwood. The terroir of the base wine combined with a producer's particular blend of additions creates unique personalities for each liquid.

Vermouth can also be found in red and white varieties, on a scale that registers sweet to dry. It may be rich or tart, floral or fruity, and beyond. When cooking, if your recipe calls for red or white wine, you can make an equal parts exchange with the same color vermouth. Just bear in mind that these products are sweeter than wine, and can have some more intense flavor notes. If it's a white, you may want to opt for one that's a bit less assertive, and skews more toward the citrus side than heavily herbaceous. If you swap red vermouth for red wine, you can even add a bit of vinegar or lemon juice; the acid will help temper it and prevent it from becoming cloying. You may have already identified your preferred vermouth if you like to order a martini dry or wet, but experiment with this stuff in the kitchen and you may find your new favorite cooking liquid.