you KNOW i love me a good cocktail. but i also LOVE a delicious glass of wine with a nice meal. but i never seem to quite finish a bottle in the first day or two and it ultimately finds its way into my cooking wine section.

recently, my sister-in-law reached out to me after i posted about my favorite chicken with prosciutto and sage and she had a fabulous question. how do you know which wines to use when you are cooking? 

let's start by covering the reasons WHY you might need to use wine for cooking. wine can be added to food for a list of reasons. it is often used as a cooking liquid for braises. it can be used to deglaze a pan to get all those crispy, tasty bits that stick to the bottom of the pan to come loose and flavor your pan sauces. it can be used to add flavor or moisture to a dish. it is often used to add acidity to dishes. let's just say, both red and white wines can be very versatile in your kitchen. 

now here are some guidelines for selecting the right wine for you to cook with and my favorite options.

• most importantly, please do not spend much money on your cooking wine. it should be something you are willing to drink, but there is no need to exceed the $12-$15 dollar range. in fact, i like to stick within the $5.99-$6.99 at my local trader joes. if you have the time, you can taste the wines there or at your local whole foods to find one you like. not a drinker? just ask the employee working the wine section what they might recommend within the price range you are looking for. 

• the wine should be dry. whether you are dealing in white or red wine, not too sweet and not too oakey is key. too much sugar in your wine can cause it to caramelize or give a savory dish an unwanted sweetness. a white wine with a lot of oak flavors may turn bitter while you cook it. sticking to something with dry and crisp for whites and dry and robust with reds are a good rules of thumb. 

• good drinking wine that's a few days old and past its prime or sparkling wine that has gone flat are both GREAT alternatives. assuming that the wine falls into the not to sweet, not to much oak categories.

• if you abstain from using alcohol in cooking or in life, there are some great alternatives for both white and red wine when need be. in place of white, you could use some white wine vinegar, lemon juice or white grape juice in many cases. in place of red you could use any dark juice like cherry or grape, red wine vinegar or some type of stock whether that be chicken, beef or veggie. 

still just hoping i'll just tell you what to get? well wait no longer. 

recommended white wine: pinot gris, non sweet pinot grigio, non oakey chardonney
my favorite: sauvignon blanc

recommended red wine: merlot, cabernet sauvignon, malbec, non sweet zinfendel
my favorite: pinot noir
xo, a

when i was little, i NEVER had cake for my birthday. no no, i was not a deprived child. i just didn't like cake. i always asked for strawberry pie with whipped cream instead. cake in my mind meant something dry, lacking flavor with some very strange, artificial tasting frosting and usually some really crunchy sugar confetti that looked like it had been sitting on the shelf longer than i had been alive. so it is no wonder at all that i requested pie. 

somewhere along the way, i stored carrot cake into a mental file of things i didn't like. now as a cook, i realize that my list of foods i didn't like was actually a list of foods i had that weren't cooked well. as a kid, i had convinced myself lamb was gross because the only lamb i had ever eaten was cooked till it was fifty shads of grey and served with mint jelly. i won't tell you who ruined it for me (cough. grandma.). anyway, you get the picture. carrot cake had made its way to my naughty list. 

but man oh man, was i a fool. now that my cake business has picked up, i have started receiving heaps of requests for carrot cake. in the beginning, being that i thought i didn't care for carrot cake, i would steer clients in the direction of lemon or classic chocolate. but when a weeding client's favorite was carrot, i knew i had to get over my likes and dislikes and make a damn good carrot cake. so i went to my best baking resource. that same lamb cooking grandmother. all my earliest memories of baking are with her and most of my classic recipes are hers, so i knew she would have a winner. and man was i right!

carrot cake serves: 8-10
prep time: 10 minutes
active time: 5 minutes
baking time: 30-40 minutes
cooling + assembly time: 1 hour
total time: 2 hours
ingredients: 2 cups all purpose flour. 2 cups sugar. 1.25 cups vegetable oil. 4 eggs. 2 tsp baking powder. 1 tsp baking soda. 2 tsp cinnamon. 1 tsp allspice. 1 tsp kosher salt. 3 cups grated heirloom carrots (standard orange also work great if that is what you have). stand mixer with paddle attachment or hand blender. baking pans (either 2 8 inch rounds, 3 6 inch rounds or a 9 x 13). parchment for the bottom of your pans. nonstick cooking spray. cream cheese frosting for serving.

start by preheating the oven to 325 degrees f. in the bowl of your stand mixer or in a large bowl, combine the sugar and oil. mix until well combined. about 1-2 minutes. mix together your dry ingredients in a bowl. 

with the mixer on slow add in half of your dry ingredient followed by two of your eggs. 

when well combined, add in the rest of the dry ingredients and the remaining eggs. 

when well combined, start to add in your carrots. 

add in about half until combined and then pour in the rest. 

spray your baking pans and line them with parchment paper. 

pour your batter equally into the pans you are using. 

bake for 30-40 minutes, until a toothpick comes out of the center of each layer clean. 

remove the baking pans from the oven onto a cooling rack and allow them to cool to room temperature. remove the baking pans from the oven onto a cooling rack and allow them to cool to room temperature. 

use cream cheese frosting to frost your cake and serve or store in a cool place until time to serve. you can store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week. 

xo, a
carrot cake
serves: 8-10
prep time: 10 minutes
active time: 5 minutes
baking time: 30-40 minutes
cooling + assembly time: 1 hour total time: 2 hours
ingredients: 2 cups all purpose flour. 2 cups sugar. 1.25 cups vegetable oil. 4 eggs. 2 tsp baking powder. 1 tsp baking soda. 2 tsp cinnamon. 1 tsp allspice. 1 tsp kosher salt. 3 cups grated heirloom carrots (standard orange also work great if that is what you have). stand mixer with paddle attachment or hand blender. baking pans (either 2 8 inch rounds, 3 6 inch rounds or a 9 x 13). parchment for the bottom of your pans. nonstick cooking spray. cream cheese frosting for serving.  2 tsp cinnamon. 1 tsp allspice. 1 tsp kosher salt. 3 cups grated heirloom carrots (standard orange also work great if that is what you have). stand mixer with paddle attachment or hand blender. baking pans (either 2 8 inch rounds, 3 6 inch rounds or a 9 x 13). parchment for the bottom of your pans. nonstick cooking spray. cream cheese frosting for serving.
start by preheating the oven to 325 degrees f. in the bowl of your stand mixer or in a large bowl, combine the sugar and oil. mix until well combined. about 1-2 minutes.mix together your dry ingredients in a bowl. with the mixer on slow add in half of your dry ingredient followed by two of your eggs. when well combined, add in the rest of the dry ingredients and the remaining eggs. when well combined, start to add in your carrots. add in about half until combined and then pour in the rest. spray your baking pans and line them with parchment paper. pour your batter equally into the pans you are using. bake for 30-40 minutes, until a toothpick comes out of the center of each layer clean. remove the baking pans from the oven onto a cooling rack and allow them to cool to room temperature. use cream cheese frosting to frost your cake and serve or store in a cool place until time to serve. you can store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.