Hi all,
I recently came across a recipe that I wish to try for a lentil bolognese. I’m excited to try it as I’ve been trying to find a recipe I can use my red lentils with, but I’m curious about one thing both with this recipe, and recipes in general.
This recipe calls for the pan to be deglazed with red wine. This is something I’ve seen before in other recipes, though this recipe is the first of which I’m taking an interest in exploring. I’m personally fine with regular red wine, but my concern is that I have a friend who is incredibly cautious with alcohol, and says she’d refuse to eat things if they had alcoholic ingredients.
Putting aside my personal thoughts about that, I was curious if using a non-alcoholic wine would work just as well, or if the alcohol adds certain properties to the wine that make it function better as an ingredient or for deglazing. I’m mainly curious as I hope to invite friends over for dinner in the future, and want to make accommodations where possible, especially if it’s as easy as simply buying a slightly different ingredient.
Thanks in advance!
Generally consider what an ingredient is bringing to a dish when considering alternatives.
Deglazing is simply using a liquid to remove fond from the pan, any liquid will do.
Wine brings a few flavours to a dish, primarily sour and umami. Add a bit of vinegar or other acid for the sour. Tomato paste, fish sauce, soy sauce, and stock will all add umami, but you may have to be careful about the amounts to avoid other flavours you may not like (I’ll sometimes mix small amounts of multiple umami boosters to avoid a specific flavour from standing out).
The main thing you won’t be able to replicate is the aromas carried by the alcohol.