Cost conscious gourmet cooking

[Doodad]

I am working through the Les Halles cookbook and other lessons to improve on a classic approach, which I have never done. My first love is Asian cuisine of all kinds, but I felt the pull, the nag, the hook of French cuisine. I especially am interested in applying what I learn to Vietnamese and Thai cooking, which I can do with some success.

The wife, and house accountant, gave me a lecture recently as we are not landed gentry by any means. I need suggestions especially on wine, olive oil and basalmic. Those were the most offending items on the list of highly used and priced consumables. Cheese, butter, cured meats, olives and beer were also mentioned, but I can work around those more easily.

I need passable table wines (red and white) that can be reduced and served. For pure cooking wine I think $10 is the limit. If something for $10 can do both all the better. Basalmic and oil are a mystery to me so give me your best suggestion. Obviously, they last longer and don't impact the house as hard.

I live in Atlanta so sourcing is not a great concern. Thanks for your help.

The frugal Doodad

[MattJohnson]

You may have better luck in the Kitchen Consumer Forum. But I'll try to help anyway.

For olive oil, there is quite a large thread that focuses on every day olive oil that doesn't suck found here:

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=108039

As for wine, I think if you find wine that is palatable, you can use it for cooking. I believe Fat Guy said somewhere that the subtleties that make expensive wines expensive tend to get cooked out - I tend to agree. Just find some vino that you don't mind drinking and go with that.

Edited October 8, 2007 by MattJohnson (log)

[Shalmanese]

If you have a trader joes nearby, their wine (two buck chuck), EVOO (californian estate EVOO) and balsamic are all very high quality for a very good price.

[Frog1879]

The approach that works for me is to have multiple levels of the items in question. Do I need to use that expensive red Burgundy for coq au vin? Nope, the $8 Oregon Pinot will do nicely to make the dish and we'll drink the Burgundy. Same idea with olive oil. The nice early press bottle gets brought out for a little dash on a good caprese, but the oil in the bottle by my stove is the cheap version bought in bulk from Sam's. The heat's destroying any subtlety that was there so no biggie. I'm not sure about Basalmic because I've found that you can use half a bottle of the cheap stuff and still not get the flavor you'd get from a teaspoon of really good, aged Basalmic. For that reason I'd use some of your savings on the other items to go for the gusto on the Basalmic. I think you'll be surprised how long a really good bottle can last.

[moreace01]

Definately read the olive oil thread. I use Goya EV-OO (as do many, many others on this board) for every day - cheap as it comes. Balsamic - I've tried reducing supermarket brands and it seems to help a little - of course, not the same as $$$ aged balsamic (but then, I don't expect it to be). Right now, I'm using 365 brand from Whole Foods.

As for wine, I think there was a thread awhile back discussing this issue (which I cannot find right now). Basically, the whole "only cook with wine that you would drink" goes back to when people used grocery store "cooking wine" in place of regular table wine. So cooking with wine that you would drink really means - don't use "cooking wine". Anyway, I second the two-buck Chuck (really, i think it's closer to $4 now, but still cheap). Since no one in our house really drinks wine, I actually use those little mini-bottles with the screw tops. That way, I have a variety of wines on hand to choose from.

I also have tried Vermouth in place of whites - ala Julia Child (and again, her recommendation of Vermouth I believe goes back to getting people away from cooking with "cooking wine").

Good luck! I also need to work on bringing out food budget down - my problems are veggies that go bad.

[Fat Guy]

Don't forget that wine freezes well. Any time you have unused excess you can pour it into a deli container or zipper bag and have it on hand for future use.

[moreace01]

Things seem to get lost in my freezer, but I should maybe give it a try!

Anyway - here's the thread on wine and cooking that I alluded to above.

[jmolinari]

I'm definitely NOT a wine drinker, but i use Trader Joe's for cooking, and it has worked well.

For oil and balsamic, go to Costco, and get their Kirkland Tuscan oil it is about $10 for a liter and is EXCELLENT quality. (Make sure it is the Tuscan one in the glass bottle. The Kirkland EVOO is mediocre at best, but much cheaper too).

Also get their Kirkland Balsamic. Also excellent quality, barrel aged in Italy, not caramel/molasses stuff. Also about $9.

[Poffertjes]

For olive oil, the Washington Post did a blind taste test of various oils with chefs from around the city a couple years ago.

The winner? Goya olive oil. It was also one of the cheapest one's they tasted. I'm sure they still have the article on the post site.

I like its, its nice a fruity, good flavor for cooking, dressings and dipping. If you can't find it in the oil section, look in the hispanic food sections. Don't know why but sometimes it doesn't make the trip over to the rest of the condiments.

[Doodad]

Thanks to all who answered. I do have a Trader Joe's nearby. Not a huge fan since there are better provisions available, but I had forgotten about $2 Chuck. I have noticed a definite difference in cheap wines when reduced. Whew is all I can say on some. Having made wines from kits, there is that raw flavor that instantly says yech to me.

FG, I did not know or think about freezing either. That is perfect. I have popsicle trays that I can label the stick! Very cool and no weird vinegar experiments with leftovers..