Cooking with alcohol?!
Cooking with alcohol?
does the alcohol (drunk part) dissolve away, with the flavor left over?
Answers:
When cooking with alcohol, you normally add the booze at a point early enough so the alcohol burns off and leaves just a reduction of the remaining juice.
(Someone mentioned 5% of the alcohol remains in a dish simmering for over 2 hours. Perhaps true, but if so it is what was absorbed by the food and it is in negligable quantities. Remember, beer is only 6% alcohol before cooking and wine 15%. Could that be 5% of the original 15% that it contained?)
Be careful when using certain types of alcohol. Too much will overpower the dish and will not impart the flavors you may have been expecting.
Source(s):
I've cooked with beer, wines, and bourbon for main courses, and used amaretto, kahlua and brandies in desserts.
yes, if you cook it
Yes, all the alcohol will cook off and the flavor will remain.
A majority of the alcohol will evaporate, but it's impossible to get it all out so trace amounts will remain.
This is contrary to popular belief that all the alcohol evaporates. For recipes that are simmered for 2.5 hours, you'll still have 5% of the alcohol left in the dish.
Flambes (flaming) doesn't cook off all the alcohol since the alcohol level drops too low to support a flame. For example, you can't flambe wines, yet wines contain alcohol (15% alcohol) since there's not enough alcohol to support a flame.
A study conducted by the US Department of Agriculture’s Nutrient Data Laboratory calculated the percentage of alcohol remaining in a dish based on various cooking methods. The results are as follows:
Cooking Method ................ Percent of Alcohol Retained
alcohol added to boiling liquid & removed from heat .....85%
alcohol flamed ....................... 75%
no heat, stored overnight ............... 70%
baked, 25 minutes, alcohol not stirred into mixture ........ 45%
baked/simmered, alcohol stirred into mixture:
15 minutes ................................. 40%
30 minutes ................................. 35%
1 hour ................................. 25%
1.5 hours ................................. 20%
2 hours ................................. 10%
2.5 hours ................................. 5%
Yes, as long as u cook it good. You can basically tell if the alcohol is gone by just smelling it. When you first pour the alcohol in smell it. You will smell the flavor or scent of whatever you put in but you will also notice the fumes from the alcohol up ur nose. When the alcohol is completely gone you will notice the same scent that u had before but the fumes have vanished. Easiest way to tell when its ready.
Yes the alcohol will evaporate off, or you can flame it off (flambe)
Yes, yes, yes! So if you're looking to cop a buzz, don't cook with your alcohol, drink it!
Most of the alcohol will cook off if the dish is simmer or even flamed.There will still be a little left but shouldn't be enough to bother about 95% of people, including children. Many dishes are really enhanced by wine, etc.