Really? I always thought that the rule of thumb was that if you wouldn't drink it, you shouldn't cook with it... if that's not true, is there a time limit? (e.g. Let's say you open a bottle of red wine, cork it, and a week later, half remains. Can you cook with that?)

I have always heard and been taught the same rule - if you wouldn't drink it, don't cook with it ... I would think you would take the same "badness" in a deglaze or sauce, no??

deglazing just concentrates the flavours... wouldn't it just be even more bitter?

I heard about an "uncork your wine" day a while back, encouraging people to stop saving that good bottle of wine for an unspecified future special occasion and just open and enjoy it. Sounds like fun.

If the wine is corked, cooking with it won't save it. It'll just give a dish that bitter musty taste that bad wine has.

There was an article in the times sometime last year about cooking with really crummy wine, and how it didn't seem to make a difference. I cook with wine I don't like, or has passed its prime for drinking-- I will say, I've never deglazed, but I use it for my favorite pizza dough recipe, risotto, and other things.

I throw it in the pot when I'm cooking fettucini or other pasta. It can add color, but doesn't really effect the flavor. Friends think I'm cooking gourmet by serving them drunken pasta.

I have cooked with off wine and had good results. Then again, I once utterly ruined a risotto that way. It's a risk. Bottom line: are you willing to chuck the fruits of your labor and order a pizza? If so, try it. If not...not.

I bin it too - even if it "works" and you haven't thrown good ingredients after bad, who wants to eat or offer a dish where you are gingerly testing evey mouthful to check.

It takes some of the joy away if you are cooking with something which has already disappointed you.

That NY Times article was fascinating, but I think we're also talking about two different things here - cooking with "cheap" wine (i.e. Two Buck Chuck) and cooking with "corked" (off) wine.

I would think that cooking with corked wine would not be a good thing under any circumstance, because the reason why its corked may be because bacteria has infiltrated the wine, but this is just my opinion.

That whole "don't cook with what you wouldn't drink" thing always seemed a bit silly to me -- if I followed that rule then I'd never ever use wine in my food. I think the idea is that if you have a highly developed palate, you'll enjoy a sauce made with a fine wine more than one made with some cheapo box wine. But those cheapo (or not nice-enough) wines certainly do make fine ingredients. (Red is especially great for simmering pears in.)

I recently had a bottle with about a glassful left in it, but it had been sitting for almost a week, and no one was going to drink it. I'm not sure if it had started to turn or not, but it was certainly good enough to make poached pears. Behold! http://www.flickr.com/photos/maceelaine/2433527206/
Yum.

Two words: wine biscuits. http://eatingthegarden.wordpress.com/2008/01/03/to-aid-in-resolutions/

I was instructed that "cooking wine" (which used to be, and may still be, sold in grocery stores) was the stuff no one should cook with, because it wasn't drinkable. I've often cooked with the off stuff and it's fine.

This happened to us last night: we decanted it and let it breathe for a while, bringing it to just this side of drinkable. I wound up dumping most of it into the braesola I was making, and then cooking it down. Divine.

if the wine is truly corked, then no, i wouldn't cook with it. but i cook with the end of a bottle that's been open for a few days all the time. it still adds good flavor. after all, you wouldn't drink vinegar, either, but it makes a fine ingredient.

if i'm making something where wine is a principle ingredient, like coq au vin, then i'll use fresh wine, but honestly, i'm not going to spend a lot on it when cooking it destroys most of the flavor anyway. it won't be "garden party", but it won't be penfolds either. the "don't cook what you won't drink" rule is a good way to waste a ton of money, in my opinion.

a few years ago i was listening to The Splendid Table and she was talking about making vinegar from wine. i remember her saying, 'don't dump that leftover wine from a dinner party down the sink. make vinegar with it!'
she didn't specify whether it had turned or not, and all i could think was, in my poor student days especially, who would dump perfectly good wine down the drain?
ever since i have been intrigued to make my own vinegar, but haven't tried it yet.

http://www.threadtrace.com

Man, I sincerely hope the wine pictured is not one that went bad. Since there is no way a beautiful 2002 St. Emilion Grand Cru would have gone past peak, and one properly re-corked would have been reasonable for at least two days following, this can only mean someone left it open! A crime! If such a travesty had occurred, I would totally agree with repurposing the remains for a lamb ragu or in a nice rich mushroom sauce for steaks.