If you wouldn't drink it, don't throw it in the pan

It sounds so simple, but people don't understand one basic tenet.
By PETER M. GIANOTTI
LONG ISLAND NEWSDAY
There would be no coq au vin without the red vin, no veal Marsala minus the Marsala. These wines are the defining ingredients.
Cooking with wine is fundamental because wine itself is a food. It's used in poaching, steaming, basting, braising, simmering and sauteing, performing differently but yielding the same result: flavor.
So, skip what's sometimes dubbed "cooking wine," invariably mediocre stuff with additives, often including salt.
That kind of addition is going to affect what you're cooking. The quality of the wine you use will, too. There's no need to break out your best vintage wine for cooking.
But there's also a difference between using what's inexpensive and what doesn't taste right. A poor wine leads to poor results, which is why the oldest advice about cooking with wine remains the most accurate and valuable: Don't cook with a wine you wouldn't drink.
Matches made in heaven
Realistically, the wine you're most likely to use for cooking is what's still in the refrigerator.
Just avoid using the remains of a big red to finish off a little fish, or choosing that gulp or two of a light white to handle a thick steak. But the chardonnay will work with salmon, as a gutsy red will improve braised beef.
In that sense, using the right wine to cook with is similar to selecting the wine to accompany your main course.
Versatile wines such as sauvignon blanc and Chianti work overtime for cooks, brightening dishes with their acidity and imparting distinctive flavors. Chianti is ideal to enrich tomato sauce; sauvignon blanc complements plenty of seafood.
Wine works differently at each stage of cooking. You can use it in marinades, soaking the food to affect taste and texture. Sauerbraten is a familiar example.
Post-evaporation
Deglazing a saute pan with wine contributes to making a sauce, keeping all those tasty tidbits in the mix. When the alcohol in wine evaporates, at about 180 degrees, characteristics of that wine remain in the finished product. A red Burgundy is terrific for deglazing a pan where beef has been cooking -- remember beef a la bourguignonne. Be careful not to use wine straight from the bottle to thin a sauce. You'll be giving it a blunt wine taste.
But just a little at the end can add a layer of flavor to a sauce or a soup.