Chef Daniel Boulud was declared the best restaurateur in the world in 2021 by Les Grandes Tables du Monde. Since arriving in New York City in 1982, he has continually evolved his cuisine and expanded his reach to properties across the U.S., as well as Toronto, Montreal, Dubai, Singapore, and The Bahamas. His culinary empire has brought him many accolades, yet his inspiration remains grounded in the rhythm of the seasons. He is widely celebrated as one of America’s leading culinary authorities. Who better to talk to about cooking with wine than Chef Daniel Boulud?
Sara Waxman: French cuisine, more than any other, incorporates wine in cooking. To what do you attribute this?
Daniel Boulud: Of all the old cuisines, French cuisine uses wine as the formation of the flavour, an acidic addition adds to the strength of a sauce, the strength of a stew or even a braise. What you want to make sure when you cook with wine, is that the wine is cooked in a way that the tannins soften, and the acidity starts to reduce and become more manageable.
I don’t have too many recipes with raw wine. You bring the wine to a light simmer and let it reduce slowly. Or some recipes you flambé and the alcohol burns off, and some you keep the alcohol on the inside. When I do Coq au Vin for example, I use half the wine and put inside to marinate the bird, and the other half is reduced by at least half. So, I’m putting a pre-reduced wine with the marinating wine and the butter and that will give me a stronger boost of flavour.
SW: What is the most common mistake that home-cooks make when cooking with wine?
DB: The most common mistake is to not cook the wine properly, to not reduce enough or reduce too much-even if you do a Beurre Blanc sauce, which is shallots and white wine and little splash of white wine vinegar. Wine vinegar has a symbiotic relationship with wine, and when you do a Beurre Blanc you almost want to reduce that white wine to glaze, and then after, it gets re-expanded with the butter inside. When I cook a matelote of fish with red wine and I’m not going to add sugar, (versus a meat dish and you may have a little addition of something sweet inside,) what I do is to put maybe 10 oz. of port wine into the red wine and yet not lose the strength of the wine. So, you do not have to cook with only one wine, you can have up to three wines in one recipe.
SW: What can you recommend to someone cooking at home for incorporating wine into their home-cooking and then pairing with wine afterwards?
DB: It all depends how fancy you drink. If it’s a cheap bottle of Beaujolais, around $10.00, then you can cook with it as well. The rule of thumb in a restaurant is that we like to cook with a wine that has a strong character, enough character of fruits and acidity. In the restaurant we have a whole case of wine and we pre-prepare our sauces.
SW: How does a chef choose which wine to incorporate into a dish?
DB: A rustic kind of wine is very good—a wine from the Languedoc region for example. We also use Spanish wine, Moroccan wine or Algerian wine because it has so much full body. We have a tendency to use southern wine for a Coq au Chambertin, like a Cotes de Village or a Rhone wine. You try to stay within the region of the wine you cook with. If you are cooking for two, you can use one cup of wine for cooking and you can drink the rest of it.
SW: Can you cook fish with white wine or rosé?
DB: Rosé is good to use for dessert. Champagne is wonderful for cooking fish, or we even use Sauterne. Cooking with wine is not spontaneous. You prefer to do something traditional, but you like to be creative, like a cocktail that is using three types of wine, maybe dry vermouth mixed with wine and maybe a little bit of orange wine. I try to create a blend of wine to cook with that is unique to that dish. Some are more floral, some tannic, some acidic.
Also, wine preparation for cooking doesn’t need too much fat in it. SW: What is the magic that occurs when you add wine to a dish?
DB: To begin, take a classic French cookbook from Jacques Pepin or Julia Child, and you go for Coq au vin, or Boeuf Bourguignon, or even a dish that uses white wine and cream. What is important to know is the purpose of your recipe and what flavour profile you want to achieve with the wine. The good thing is that when cooking with wine and drinking wine, there is going to be a real pleasure. It’s important to cook slowly so that there will be good flavour. Something simple for example, an egg in wine, Eggs en Meurette, on a bed of spinach and a little red wine sauce. A nice slice of sourdough bread…
SW: Which dishes are made with wine at Café Boulud at the Four Seasons Hotel, Toronto?
DB: I know we have a steak au poivre. To make a good steak au poivre you need Cognac and you need white or red wine, or you can mix half and half and it’s a little gentler and smoother. We also have Steak Frites, and that has Bourguignon sauce of shallots and red wine, concentrated and reduced. We serve Rotisserie Duck and a red wine vinaigrette that is also quite nice.
In French cuisine, wine plays a different role in many different regions, for example, it is different in Provence and different in Burgundy. With a vast choice of wine, you can be very creative. I also like fortified wine, Madeira, Port, Sherry or Vermouth, and I like to create a cocktail with red and/or white wine. This will make your cooking with wine unique—and Voila!
