Can you substitute red wine vinegar for red wine?

Answer 1

You shouldn't use what's sold as cooking wine at all, unless you really have no choice. Cooking wine is just really cheap-quality wine with added flavors; it's much, much better to use real wine and add your own flavors to whatever you cook.

Reasonable wine can be bought cheaply, and provided you'd drink it, you can cook with it. Today, most budget wines come in screw-top bottles, so what you don't use can be refrigerated for cooking or drinking another time.

Some dishes really need only red - or white - wine for color and flavor, but if either type of wine will give an acceptable result as far as you're concerned, then use whichever you prefer. If you're making a white sauce, of course, or something where the color needs to be light, you'll need to use white wine. Dishes using a good proportion of open mushrooms will look slightly grey if you use white wine, though the flavor will be great. Adding tomato paste will make white wine dishes a richer color.

Ideally, it's good to use some of a bottle of wine in the dish you're cooking, and drink some with the meal. If you have a strong preference for red wine over white wine, or vice versa, then this will drive your decision about what you're going to cook.

Most casseroles can be made with whichever wine you prefer. If you have no real preference then consider the final color: white wine won't change the color of the dish at all, whereas red wine will make it darker, so a casserole will have a richer color at the end of cooking if you use red.

Answer 2

Yes, in general, you can substitute red wine in place of the red wine vinegars in most recipes with a few exceptions. Some salad dressings may not emulsify as well and might "break" if no vinegar is used (but a small amount of prepared mustard whisked in can fix that). Also the substitution would not work if the recipe relies on the higher acidity of the vinegar for a chemical process required in the recipe. An example would be when acids are needed for the denaturing of proteins, which in effect "cooks" without heat, like in the seafood salad Ceviche.

If a little more acidity is needed for flavor and you are out of red wine vinegar, you can also substitute a mixture of red wine and white vinegar for the red wine vinegar in the recipe. If you try this, add the vinegar a little at a time, tasting as you go.

It doesn't usually work the other way around, though. Substituting acidic red wine vinegar for red wine would usually make the dish taste too sharp or sour than intended. If no other alternative is available, you could experiment with watered down red wine vinegar. But in most recipes where a small amount of wine is required, it could also work just to leave it out. White wine can also be used in place of red wine and vice versa in a pinch.

Answer 3

It doesn't usually work well. Substituting acidic red wine vinegar for red wine would usually make the dish taste too sharp or sour than intended.

If no other alternative is available, you could experiment with watered down red wine vinegar and/or adding a bit of sugar, or using a smaller amount of balsamic vinegar for the red wine plus a tad of sugar to taste. In most recipes where a small amount of wine is required, it could also work just to leave it out.

White wine can also be used in place of red wine and vice versa in a crunch. All substitutions will create a different taste. The variables will also include the type of Red Wine the recipe requires, red wines can be very sweet to very dry, while vinegar will add acidity and sour flavor.

Answer 4

In my experience you should never use a wine you wouldn't drink in anything you would eat, bu you also shouldn't use and expensive wine either.**i agree with the above, but you could use cooking wine if you had to, but i wouldn't recommended it either. Cooking wine has a lot of sodium in it so its not desirable to the many cooks.

Answer 5

No, they don't taste the same, if it says red wine it is best to use red wine either frozen or fresh. Remember it does not have to be an expensive wine.

Most experienced cooks also don't use "cooking wine" if it comes labeled as such. That is most often just very cheap wine with salt added. You can get much better flavor using regular inexpensive wine and then test to see if salt is needed and add it separately. (Plus, it can be sipped by the cook during prep.)

Answer 6

Yes, you can substitute red for white and white for red wine vinegar. The flavor is slightly different, but the similarities are greater.

Answer 7

Only if you want to ruin your meal. They are two completely different things.

Answer 8

Certainly. The dish will have a somewhat different character or flavor, but it will still work.