Wine isn’t just the perfect sophisticated pairing for a meal, but it’s also a great addition to recipes of all kinds. For example, we’ll often add a splash of white wine to risotto recipes or a cup of red wine to beef bourguignon. While many recipes and chefs recommend using a wine that you would drink on its own, we wanted a more specific answer. We consulted Austin Stull, the executive chef at The Grillroom Chophouse & Wine Bar, for his expert opinion on the red wine that makes the absolute best pan sauce. Surprisingly, chef Stull’s picks are red wines that don’t fly off wine bar shelves, but instead are more often used for incorporating into food, namely fortified wines.
According to chef Stull, “The type of wine you’re using to deglaze relies solely on the necessity of the dish. That’s why so many dishes in Italian cuisine are named after the wine used.” To that effect, chef Stull recommends marsala, a fortified Italian wine, describing it as “beautifully citrus forward but sweet in its flavor profile.” He also recommends it for another reason, saying, it “doesn’t overwhelm the chicken and brings a nice sweet balance to your sauce.”
Our crockpot chicken marsala and traditional chicken marsala recipe deglaze the pan and reduce marsala to intensify its tasting notes. A sweeter wine reduction complements robust savory flavors from mushrooms, heavy cream, onions, and the fried chicken cutlet. Plus, marsala has a long shelf life even after you open it, with sweet and dry and red and white varieties to pair with many different proteins and vegetables.
More marsala pairings and underrated cooking wines
A dryer white marsala would work well with seafood dishes, so you can use it in a sauce for shrimp scampi or seafood stews like an Italian cioppino and a French bouillabase. Another great way to incorporate red marsala into a savory recipe is by using it to deglaze a pan after caramelizing the onions needed for French onion soup. It’ll bring a slight sweetness to enhance the caramelized onions and complement the umami-rich beef stock and rich creamy, melted cheese garnish.
Marsala is chef Stull’s first choice, but he also mentions a couple more fortified cooking wines for home-cooked pan sauces.”Madeira and sherry would be my other two recommendations,” says the chef. “Madeira for the same purpose as the marsala, but sherry has such a rich aroma that can complement beef or a much richer flavor profile.” Like marsala, madeira runs the gamut from dry to sweet, and can be used interchangeably. Where marsala is Italian, madeira is Portuguese, so try using it in popular Portuguese dishes like meaty picadinho and espetada, which is essentially marinated meat for grilling on skewers. Native to Spain, sherry is perhaps the most well-known of the three (and also comes in a range from dry to sweet) and will work well with robust red meat dishes like beef stew or in place of red wine for a Bordelaise sauce to drizzle over grilled steak. We ranked several sherry wines which may help you find the best one to use in your next home-cooked dish.
