Alcohol "Cooking Off"

[tmh425]

I like to use wine in a lot of my recipes that call for them, but have a friend who is a recovering alcoholic who is coming for dinner. The chefs on TV typically say that the alcohol "cooks off", but to what extent is this true? I can obvoiusly just omit any wine when entertaining this friend, but I will give up a lot of taste in the recipes. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Andy M.]

When alcohol is added to a dish, some of it evaporates and some remains behind in the dish. How much remains behind depends on how long the dish is cooked after the addition of alcohol.

Cooking Method​

Alcohol Remaining

​

Alcohol added to boiling liquid and removed from the heat

85%​

Flamed

75%​

Stirred in and baked or simmered for:
15 minutes

40%​

30 minutes

35%​

45 minutes

30%​

1 hour

25%​

1 1/2 hours

20%​

2 hours

10%​

2 1/2 hours

5%​

 

[Andy M.]

Sorry but the lines in the chart are off a bit. Clearly all the alcohol does not boil off. I recommend leaving it out all together.

 

[Robo410]

This is a question you can ask your friend. I always do in such situations, and many people have no issue with cooked alcohol. A few do and have asked that I leave it out or serve something else.

Wine, simmered or boiled does evaporate, and leaves its elements in the dish. The alcohol has been "changed". Technically it could be reconstituted. Most are not affected by it . Some may be . So I always ask. "Billy, do you mind if I cook with wine or would you prefer me not to?" If then asked "Why do you ask?" I reply I always do as some people prefer not to have alcohol in their food for cultural religious or medical reasons.

 

[Claire]

I, too, have a recovering alcoholic friend. When I'm making the main dish, I just don't put wine in it. I have plenty of recipes that don't require it, so I just make foods that don't require the wine. That way I don't have to worry about it. He's 4 years sober, and I sure as heck don't want to ruin that for him!

 

[Skittle68]

I wouldn't think the amount of alcohol used in a recipe would affect your friend. No, it does not all cook off, but a splash for flavor is not going to send him/her out binge drinking. If you are that concerned, there are non-alcoholic options in wine and beer.

 

[Skittle68]

This is a question you can ask your friend. I always do in such situations, and many people have no issue with cooked alcohol. A few do and have asked that I leave it out or serve something else.

Wine, simmered or boiled does evaporate, and leaves its elements in the dish. The alcohol has been "changed". Technically it could be reconstituted. Most are not affected by it . Some may be . So I always ask. "Billy, do you mind if I cook with wine or would you prefer me not to?" If then asked "Why do you ask?" I reply I always do as some people prefer not to have alcohol in their food for cultural religious or medical reasons.

The alcohol doesn't change, unless it combusts, in which case the molecules are combined with oxygen. Alcohol can be distilled by evaporating, and condensing back into a liquid, so the alcohol that is left behind in the dish is still going to be plain old alcohol. Heat by itself is not going to change the chemical composition. But I agree completely that this is a question for the friend. Or are you saying the other ingredients that are in the wine, other than alcohol will be left behind?

 

[Barbara L]

There are so many recipes that don't depend on wine for flavor, so why not just make one of them and eliminate the worry? Or did your friend request a specific dish?

Barbara

 

[Silversage]

Technically, everyone here is right. Not all of the alcohol burns off. But when you do the math (eg, 1/4 cup wine, 15% alcohol, cooked for 20 minutes, 85% burn rate, divided among 6 servings) no single serving has more than a drop of alcohol.

As my father (a long time AA member) used to say, "I never got drunk on my food, I got drunk on what was in my glass."

Unless you were planning something with whole bottles of wine, like coq au vin, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[Andy M.]

With an alcoholic you have to consider the psychological effect as well. Just knowing there is alcohol in the food could cause problems for someone on the edge.

 

[Silversage]

But how would he know?

 

[Skittle68]

But how would he know?

If he has a very refined palate he might be able to tell there was wine in it

 

[tmh425]

Wow. I so appreciate all the replies & shared info. He loves my stew, which calls for @ 2C of red wine. I think he probably would remember it has wine in it because we used to joke about wine making everything taste better! However, his palate is not refined enough that he'd probably taste it. I will most likely just ask his preference, though I wonder if he will let his ego say "it's fine". Thanks for the wealth of suggestions & help.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

With an alcoholic you have to consider the psychological effect as well. Just knowing there is alcohol in the food could cause problems for someone on the edge.

I agree with Andy. It really depends on the person who is dealing with alcoholism. I've known some that just the smell can cause them to have cravings and fall off the wagon.

Not all alcoholics are the same.

 

[pacanis]

I agree with Andy, too.
I would think that having alcohol, or anything given up for that matter, in any way, shape or form would be wrong for someone who has excluded that from their life.

And morally wrong to sneak it in because they might not know

 

[Hoot]

I believe that, as a friend, you owe it to the friend to open and aboveboard.
Whatever the reason, if the friend does not want alcohol in their life, please do not assume that they won't know. In my mind, friendship is way too precious to risk any action that might be construed as misleading. I am not trying to make a mountain out of a molehill about this. There are literally thousands of dishes that don't require wine, and most (but not all) that call for it, won't suffer from the lack of it.
As always, this is just MHO.

 

[Nicholas Mosher]

What is the source for that chart?

 

[joesfolk]

As has been stated before you can get non-alcoholic wine. Please don't consider using regular wine in a meal for an alcoholic. Besides, good cook that you are I'm sure you can find other ways to provide a high flavor profile.

 

[Andy M.]

But how would he know?

I assume, as a friend, you wouldn't invite an alcoholic to dinner and sneak booze into his food.

 

[Bigjim68]

I don't believe that it is possible to avoid small quantities of alcohol in food and drinks. The definition of non alcoholic beer and wine is that it contains less than .5% alcohol. Most fruit juices contain some alcohol, as do many other products. So, the question for me becomes just how much is permissible in ones diet.

Having said that, if I were cooking for someone who does not want alcohol in their diet, I would not cook with any form of wine any more than I would serve a prime steak to a vegetarian. It's simply respect for other peoples beliefs.

OTOH, I doubt that anyone is going to fall off the wagon by consuming very small quantities of alcohol in food and drink.