Looking at a an Old Time Beef Stew recipe I noticed Red Wine as one of the ingredients. 'Click' researching I came across: " ...the acid present in the wine eventually helps to break the meat down, making it more tender. Red wine in beef stew also adds depth of flavor..." I had bought a pressure cooker with 15 psi to unleash Hell on the stupid lentils/beans soaking time and, now have one <12 psi but, meh... And since I can make my own red wine or even distill some whatever and measure the pH level and since I read ethanol has a pH 7.33 which is slightly basic and red wine is said to have a pH of around 3.3 to 3.5 being slightly acidic Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! (Aside, has anyone used a hot plate for lack of a Bunsen burner in distillation? ) Anyway, would a pH even matter for tenderness of beef/lentils/rice/... while it's being cooked at say 11 psi? Would an acid deconstruct some nutritional value? WTF is the "depth of flavor" added by red wine?
Probably a made up term for a cook making reader's think "this one one knows their stuff" Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Most wines have somewhat complex flavor profiles, and thus add a lot of different flavors (i.e. "depth") to things they are made with. This of course can be good or bad.
