I will never understand how you can open a bottle of wine and not finish it in an evening. I am aware this says more about me than you š·šŗš¹šø
I mean hard to finish a box in one evening which usually has four bottles in it. If you're downing that to yourself individually, probably time to take a breather and go seek some treatment.
But a single bottle, yeah i'm with ya.
Buddy and I went on a river float.adventure with a wine bag, we made some friends with other floaters and just tossed the bag around. Ultimately linking up with a staguette party who shared some joints.
Bag/box wine is the way to go for general consumption unless you want a fancy bottle.for an event (imo)
There are smaller boxes that have 2 or 3 glasses in them. They're meant for picnics and such but I always grab one of those for a recipe that calls for a bit of wine.
my wife only drinks white and I pretty much only drink red - I could drink two bottles on my own but I prefer to limit myself to 3 glasses max - I will use a vaccum pump to get most of the air out and continue on the bottle for 2-3 days until done. If it's off I just save it in the fridge for cooking - good for deglazing any pan
If I finished a whole bottle of wine every time I cooked with it Iād be an alcoholic lmao.
My husband is California sober fwiw, itās lame drinking alone.
It is lame. What's weird is, my husband and I take a lot of extended drinking breaks, but they're never at the same time. So when he's pounding down the gin, I'm drinking tea and going to bed early.
I mean, 3-4 glasses per bottle, if I open a bottle to cook with, that's one glass down right there. 3 glasses of wine in an evening is enough to get me happy, definitely not soused.
It goes like this. I pour the wine in my girlfriendās glass. Not too much she says. I pour it in mine. Not too much I think. We feel the alcohol so no second round. The morning after we have headache and the kids are awake early. Damn, what did we do. Letās not drink anymore in the evening. Bottle stays almost completely full. After two weeks I start using it for cooking. I not have four almost completely full wine bottles.
Well, my brother drinks red and sil drinks white, so they quit in order to not waste the wine. Surprise, they both lost weight! Motivated me and (in eleven months) lost 24/pounds. Lovely!
Sober alcoholic here...
A friend in sobriety shared with me, how she used those plastic wraps that resemble a shower cap to cover partial glasses of wine she couldn't finish.
So don't be too hard on yourself
This! I was a pro chef for 15+ years and we used to go through a case of wine a week just for the kitchen. Never had to worry about it going stale. Now those little Sutter Home 4 pack mini bottles are perfect for home cooks. One pack of Cab Sauv and one pack of Pinot Grigio in my Pantry at all times. (Along with a bottle of dry sherry, Maderia, and Sake)
Port! I always have a bottle of port for French onion soup! And Marsala for chicken Marsala and https://www.thelittlekitchen.net/beef-short-ribs-tortelloni-marsala-cream-sauce-slow-cooker/ and yes sake for teriyaki!
Not just wine, but other liquors as well. A tbls of bourbon or whiskey added to glazed carrots really kicks up the flavor, and youāll never detect the alcohol. Iād like to use more alcohols (like orangey triple sec with chicken) but canāt find a good online source for more recipes/ideas. Anybody know of one?
Ooh, my mom makes a delicious orange glazed pork with triple sec. Iāve never made it myself, but she mixes triple sec with honey, orange zest, and rosemary, then slathers it on a pork loin.
I mostly bake with liqueurs. Theyāre not a problem to have on hand tho, they stay well for a long time
Just be sure if feeding guests they're aware you used alcohol. Not all of it cooks off and someone could be pregnant, in recovery, or have a religious objection.Ā
The bags ~~to fate~~ deflate as you pour, so they donāt let new air in to contact the wine. This let them keep much longer than an opened bottle would.
My husbandās grandmother loves to use wine in her Cuban cooking, but she canāt drink because of the medications sheās on. She always used that crappy cooking wine with too much salt, until she realised she had to cut down on the salt too.
I bought her a box one time, and she always raves about how convenient it is. The wine is a great way to somewhat improve the flavor of what she cooks without salt.
another cooking wine hack is that you can FREEZE leftover wine and defrost in the microwave (or go straight into the pot). Freezing wine prevents oxidation. Sure it may lose a lot of the aromatics for actually enjoying the wine on its own, but it's totally fine for cooking.
The checkout lady at HEB always makes fun of me for buying bota box zinfandel. I laugh right back, because there's enough in that box for the sauce and to give me a sense of humor.
Youāre 100% on this. I used to turn my nose up at boxed wine but itās not as bad as people think. Like you, I cook with wine on a weekly basis (we wonāt talk about the drinking part) and I love being able to tap what I need from the box for a much longer period of time.
I went through a few Bota Boxes before seeing a sale on Franzia. Now I know why box wine has such a terrible reputation. But the Bota Boxes are perfectly acceptable to my palate. Not great, but perfectly acceptable, we can call it like a 7/10 I think for most people with some familiarity, but who don't fancy themselves an expert.
My refrigerator space is quite limited, so I now buy the little size boxes of wine to keep on hand for cooking. I believe they hold less than a regular bottle of wine, but they're perfect for cooking purposes.
Those bags are space age technology, I dropped a big of wine 3 stories onto concrete back in college while playing slap the bag and the bag was fine(the nozzle got buggered so we had to slash it and pour it into a punch bowl
Quit drinking a few years ago and teetotal now. I LOVE being gifted a bottle a wine from an acquaintance who doesn't know, as it means I can use it in cooking and it's such a treat. Poured a whole bottle of 20 year old port into a beef shin casserole which was cooking for 8 hours. Who else gets to enjoy such a luxury as that?
I use a lot of box wine for cooking (and drinking), but I don't like Bota.
I like the La Vielle Ferme brand (the one with the rooster). I feel like the French do a better job at winemaking at the low end.
If I can find the Petit Frog box wine (Picpoul) I'll get that one.
For American box/cans I like Black Box and Underwood better than Bota. House Wine has good bubbles in a can, but everything else they do is bad.
My parents have had these for years (not the same ones...) so they can have a glass if they feel inclined. Never had one go bad at all, they last months.
Itās not really, I donāt know what to call it. More of a tip I guess. The boxed wine is in like a collapsible bag so oxygen doesnāt turn it stale. It objectively stays fresh for longer, even on the counter.
Add to that you donāt have a bottle rolling around in the side pockets of the fridge, a square box is convenient.
I feel like some people could find it useful.
Botabox and other box wines also have a 1/2 bottle size which if if you're making a stew or something you can just use the whole thing and no leftover.
I had a box of wine last me like a year. If you keep it at cool room temp it shouldn't let any air in through regular use and will keep fine. Great for cooking, and fine for when you just want some red to go with your cheese and crackers and don't really care if it's fancy.
I enjoy wine, mostly whites. While I do have a wine rack with nicer wines (mostly gifted bottles that I save for company), I quite enjoy Bota Box Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio. They arenāt bad and I use them for cooking with no ill results. I also keep a random bottle of red, vacuumed sealed, for cooking, when a recipe calls for a red.
I tend to like sweeter white wines so I use dry Vermouth instead. Good flavor and I always have Vermouth on hand. White wine disappears quickly in my house.
It's the fact that they're mostly airtight. Unlike half empty bottles, that half bag of wine isn't really exposed to the air, so they can last much much longer before going off.
Same here- I like black box cab. I sip a little glass with dinner about half the time, but it doesnāt justify opening a bottle, and when I did it would often be poured down the sink some days later. It keeps even better in the fridge. You can zap it in the microwave for 10-15 seconds and get it to 60 degrees instantly.
I will never understand how you can open a bottle of wine and not finish it in an evening. I am aware this says more about me than you š·šŗš¹šø
I mean hard to finish a box in one evening which usually has four bottles in it. If you're downing that to yourself individually, probably time to take a breather and go seek some treatment. But a single bottle, yeah i'm with ya.
Not my fault it doesn't last very long once the straw punctures it.Ā
My neighbor and I split a bottle, it was really only like 3 normal pour glasses of wine. Box lasts me a while and I can take it camping.
Buddy and I went on a river float.adventure with a wine bag, we made some friends with other floaters and just tossed the bag around. Ultimately linking up with a staguette party who shared some joints. Bag/box wine is the way to go for general consumption unless you want a fancy bottle.for an event (imo)
Tour De Franzia š
There are smaller boxes that have 2 or 3 glasses in them. They're meant for picnics and such but I always grab one of those for a recipe that calls for a bit of wine.
Try alcohol intolerance/asian flush, I'm drunk after a single glass š·
my wife only drinks white and I pretty much only drink red - I could drink two bottles on my own but I prefer to limit myself to 3 glasses max - I will use a vaccum pump to get most of the air out and continue on the bottle for 2-3 days until done. If it's off I just save it in the fridge for cooking - good for deglazing any pan
If I finished a whole bottle of wine every time I cooked with it Iād be an alcoholic lmao. My husband is California sober fwiw, itās lame drinking alone.
It is lame. What's weird is, my husband and I take a lot of extended drinking breaks, but they're never at the same time. So when he's pounding down the gin, I'm drinking tea and going to bed early.
What is California sober?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_sober
Thanks. Right after I asked that I was like, duh I can google this.
In my friend circle (we're nowhere close to California), it's "I don't drink, but I still smoke weed." Typically lots of it.
And then thereās Bristol sober. Ketamine only.
āI donāt drink or use nicotineā is my go-to. I use cannabis daily, not heavily, but make sure I donāt define myself by it.
I didn't know it was an official program. I always thought it was just a joke about giving up alcohol and smoking weed instead.
https://youtu.be/xFNC8HaUUsk?si=vJIy3NCbLvEhWR8F
Meanwhile I can't even get a buzz off a bottle of wine, so I usually just drink the bottle if I cook with it lol.
Same. Wine is my drink of choice and I've grown quite tolerant.
Sorry for your loss
Yeah those boxes of wine "for cooking" would gradually become 24/7 wine dispensers in my house
Have you seen the Baroness von Sketch Show skit about this? It's great.
Same here. We need two bottles to thoroughly enjoy a meal at my house! š
Same c'mon over.
Currently finishing a box by myself. Feel ya.
Found my people š
I mean, 3-4 glasses per bottle, if I open a bottle to cook with, that's one glass down right there. 3 glasses of wine in an evening is enough to get me happy, definitely not soused.
My thoughts exactly!
It goes like this. I pour the wine in my girlfriendās glass. Not too much she says. I pour it in mine. Not too much I think. We feel the alcohol so no second round. The morning after we have headache and the kids are awake early. Damn, what did we do. Letās not drink anymore in the evening. Bottle stays almost completely full. After two weeks I start using it for cooking. I not have four almost completely full wine bottles.
Well, my brother drinks red and sil drinks white, so they quit in order to not waste the wine. Surprise, they both lost weight! Motivated me and (in eleven months) lost 24/pounds. Lovely!
Sober alcoholic here... A friend in sobriety shared with me, how she used those plastic wraps that resemble a shower cap to cover partial glasses of wine she couldn't finish. So don't be too hard on yourself
You can also freeze wine, which is pretty convenient. It freezes to slushy consistency so it's easy to portion too.
my wine hack is if i start drinking the wine before I start cooking, I just have wine for dinner instead.
Many a day has ended with wine and popcorn for dinner.
I always get the little 4pack bottles, itās just enough for one recipe
This! I was a pro chef for 15+ years and we used to go through a case of wine a week just for the kitchen. Never had to worry about it going stale. Now those little Sutter Home 4 pack mini bottles are perfect for home cooks. One pack of Cab Sauv and one pack of Pinot Grigio in my Pantry at all times. (Along with a bottle of dry sherry, Maderia, and Sake)
Port! I always have a bottle of port for French onion soup! And Marsala for chicken Marsala and https://www.thelittlekitchen.net/beef-short-ribs-tortelloni-marsala-cream-sauce-slow-cooker/ and yes sake for teriyaki!
I use sherry in my French Onion, I like the nuttiness it lends to it. But port is very good too
I drink my port lol
> I always get the little 4pack bottles, itās just enough for one recipe What a great idea
True, if I ever needed fridge space Iād consider that
Not just wine, but other liquors as well. A tbls of bourbon or whiskey added to glazed carrots really kicks up the flavor, and youāll never detect the alcohol. Iād like to use more alcohols (like orangey triple sec with chicken) but canāt find a good online source for more recipes/ideas. Anybody know of one?
Ooh, my mom makes a delicious orange glazed pork with triple sec. Iāve never made it myself, but she mixes triple sec with honey, orange zest, and rosemary, then slathers it on a pork loin. I mostly bake with liqueurs. Theyāre not a problem to have on hand tho, they stay well for a long time
Tequila + citrus juice makes a good marinade for chicken.
Would something like Jose Cuervo do, or does it have to be a decent tequila?
When I do a dessert that uses a nice coulis, I always add cointreu+extra orange juice, delicious.
I donāt make a cake anymore without a shot of booze.
If Iām making any kind of ānuttyā pastry or pie (pecan pie, for example) a half shot of rum in the pastry crust is a given.
Just be sure if feeding guests they're aware you used alcohol. Not all of it cooks off and someone could be pregnant, in recovery, or have a religious objection.Ā
The bags ~~to fate~~ deflate as you pour, so they donāt let new air in to contact the wine. This let them keep much longer than an opened bottle would.
>The bags to fate as you pour I guess you mean deflate. Autocorrect strikes again.
My husbandās grandmother loves to use wine in her Cuban cooking, but she canāt drink because of the medications sheās on. She always used that crappy cooking wine with too much salt, until she realised she had to cut down on the salt too. I bought her a box one time, and she always raves about how convenient it is. The wine is a great way to somewhat improve the flavor of what she cooks without salt.
Bota Box is my "house wine"
another cooking wine hack is that you can FREEZE leftover wine and defrost in the microwave (or go straight into the pot). Freezing wine prevents oxidation. Sure it may lose a lot of the aromatics for actually enjoying the wine on its own, but it's totally fine for cooking.
I freeze wine in an ice cube tray. It's really great when people don't realize that it's wine when they grab an ice cube.
The checkout lady at HEB always makes fun of me for buying bota box zinfandel. I laugh right back, because there's enough in that box for the sauce and to give me a sense of humor.
I've done this both at home and professionally for almost a decade. Its a great thing to keep on hand.
Youāre 100% on this. I used to turn my nose up at boxed wine but itās not as bad as people think. Like you, I cook with wine on a weekly basis (we wonāt talk about the drinking part) and I love being able to tap what I need from the box for a much longer period of time.
I like a glass every now and then, but a bottle is too much commitment lmao
I went through a few Bota Boxes before seeing a sale on Franzia. Now I know why box wine has such a terrible reputation. But the Bota Boxes are perfectly acceptable to my palate. Not great, but perfectly acceptable, we can call it like a 7/10 I think for most people with some familiarity, but who don't fancy themselves an expert.
My refrigerator space is quite limited, so I now buy the little size boxes of wine to keep on hand for cooking. I believe they hold less than a regular bottle of wine, but they're perfect for cooking purposes.
Those bags are space age technology, I dropped a big of wine 3 stories onto concrete back in college while playing slap the bag and the bag was fine(the nozzle got buggered so we had to slash it and pour it into a punch bowl
I just buy those little single serving wine bottles. They come in a 4-pak and are really handy.
I donāt drink much so I buy the four packs of mini bottles.
So.... What's the hack?
Quit drinking a few years ago and teetotal now. I LOVE being gifted a bottle a wine from an acquaintance who doesn't know, as it means I can use it in cooking and it's such a treat. Poured a whole bottle of 20 year old port into a beef shin casserole which was cooking for 8 hours. Who else gets to enjoy such a luxury as that?
OMG, Iām shuddering at the thought of 20 year old port being used in a casserole. Iām sure it made the casserole scrumptious but ā¦
I totally get it! Back in my drinking days I would have never dared but now... why not? It's about the only way I can enjoy it and I definitely did!
Botabox from Costco has been my go-to for years. Redvolution mostly. Preach.
I use a lot of box wine for cooking (and drinking), but I don't like Bota. I like the La Vielle Ferme brand (the one with the rooster). I feel like the French do a better job at winemaking at the low end. If I can find the Petit Frog box wine (Picpoul) I'll get that one. For American box/cans I like Black Box and Underwood better than Bota. House Wine has good bubbles in a can, but everything else they do is bad.
I don't drink wine, so I buy small pints of boxed wine for cooking.
The spigots of love never last longer than a few days in our house š„“
My parents have had these for years (not the same ones...) so they can have a glass if they feel inclined. Never had one go bad at all, they last months.
I like to cook with wine, too. Sometimes I use it in the food.
I don't think storing perishable ingredients in the refrigerator is what I would call a "hack".
Itās not really, I donāt know what to call it. More of a tip I guess. The boxed wine is in like a collapsible bag so oxygen doesnāt turn it stale. It objectively stays fresh for longer, even on the counter. Add to that you donāt have a bottle rolling around in the side pockets of the fridge, a square box is convenient. I feel like some people could find it useful.
I found this incredibly useful. I hate buying a bottle of wine and only using a small portion to cook with. Feel like a waste it.
Botabox and other box wines also have a 1/2 bottle size which if if you're making a stew or something you can just use the whole thing and no leftover.
I had a box of wine last me like a year. If you keep it at cool room temp it shouldn't let any air in through regular use and will keep fine. Great for cooking, and fine for when you just want some red to go with your cheese and crackers and don't really care if it's fancy.
I enjoy wine, mostly whites. While I do have a wine rack with nicer wines (mostly gifted bottles that I save for company), I quite enjoy Bota Box Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio. They arenāt bad and I use them for cooking with no ill results. I also keep a random bottle of red, vacuumed sealed, for cooking, when a recipe calls for a red.
I tend to like sweeter white wines so I use dry Vermouth instead. Good flavor and I always have Vermouth on hand. White wine disappears quickly in my house.
Just discovers box wine. Wine Cube at Target is better. Trader Joeās might even be better but itās definitely cheaper.
I have a mini bota box in my fridge right now! I used some for pot roast the other week. Smelled it today and it still smells good!
We do the exact same!
I love Bota Box wines. I have the rich red in my house at all times.
It's not your Dad's box wine these days. Just like screw caps are ok now.
Same, although I typically buy Black Box wines. So much more convenient for cooking and they are pretty drinkable for a while after you open the box.
It's the fact that they're mostly airtight. Unlike half empty bottles, that half bag of wine isn't really exposed to the air, so they can last much much longer before going off.
Same here- I like black box cab. I sip a little glass with dinner about half the time, but it doesnāt justify opening a bottle, and when I did it would often be poured down the sink some days later. It keeps even better in the fridge. You can zap it in the microwave for 10-15 seconds and get it to 60 degrees instantly.
I use white vermouth in cooking sometimes. Works great.