# Cooking with wine and other alcohol?



## NicholasTHarris (Jun 3, 2014)

When you cook with alcohol does it all cook off? also how do you pick a wine for cooking? In my religion we don't drink so I dont know about these things


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## labor of love (Jun 3, 2014)

so your religion only allows you to consume wine if all the alcohol is cooked away entirely?


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## panda (Jun 3, 2014)

seems legit


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## berko (Jun 3, 2014)

i wondered about these things several times. do moslems have simple jus?


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## rami_m (Jun 3, 2014)

To the op I don't think you can burn off all the alcohol. Best to use none alcoholic wine. ( saw one for pregnant women). Happy to be proven wrong.


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## banjo1071 (Jun 3, 2014)

Hi
From a chemist point of view you can burn off ALL the alc, given the right amount of time, heat, pressure and other factors. But this will take quite some time...University of Idaho once stated that even after 2,5 Hours of cooking, there are still 5% of the initial amount of ethanol present in a sauce. 
But from another point of view this is not the point. If you measure the absolut amount of alcohol on your plate, you will that this is a very very small one. Religious reasons aside of course. 
Lets say you are a homecook. You prepare 500ml of sauce with a glass of wine (100ml/15%). That leaves you a initial content of 3%. Now let it cook for 2,5h, that leaves you with a content of 0.15%. Then you put the sauce on the plate and eat all of it, lets say 50ml, containing 0.075ml of pure alcohol. If you now look at the alcoholic content of ripe fruits (e.g.bananas 0,6%) or bread (0,2-0.3%), it it most likely that you have a much higer alcoholic intake at the starters or the dessert...

Please excuse my poor english

Benjamin


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## chefcomesback (Jun 3, 2014)

By reducing lets say red wine you can never have alcohol free jus. Alcohol free wines and beers(malt beverages) are done by chemically removing the alcohol. Bearnaise and chimichurri have been my go to alcohol free beef 
sauces for beef 

Sent from my iPhone using Kitchen Knife Forum


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## apathetic (Jun 3, 2014)

banjo1071 said:


> Hi
> From a chemist point of view you can burn off ALL the alc, given the right amount of time, heat, pressure and other factors. But this will take quite some time...University of Idaho once stated that even after 2,5 Hours of cooking, there are still 5% of the initial amount of ethanol present in a sauce.
> But from another point of view this is not the point. If you measure the absolut amount of alcohol on your plate, you will that this is a very very small one. Religious reasons aside of course.
> Lets say you are a homecook. You prepare 500ml of sauce with a glass of wine (100ml/15%). That leaves you a initial content of 3%. Now let it cook for 2,5h, that leaves you with a content of 0.15%. Then you put the sauce on the plate and eat all of it, lets say 50ml, containing 0.075ml of pure alcohol. If you now look at the alcoholic content of ripe fruits (e.g.bananas 0,6%) or bread (0,2-0.3%), it it most likely that you have a much higer alcoholic intake at the starters or the dessert...
> ...



Never thought of alcohol content in ripe fruits or bread, thanks for posting this 
Speaking of cooking time, I guess you lose most of the alcohol in the initial phase and then it takes a long time to get rid of whatever remains correct?
In other words is it safe to assume that, in your exemple, you would have probably burned something like 80 - 90% of the alcohol in the initial 10 minutes of cooking?


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## banjo1071 (Jun 3, 2014)

Not according to the study (which i did not read..). After 30min of cooking 35% of the ethanol remained..But his could be highly dependable on various factor. like height, surface and temp...


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## apathetic (Jun 3, 2014)

Thanks! Will look that study up


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## larrybard (Jun 3, 2014)

The studies all seem to say that some alcohol will always remain, the percentage varying according to a number of factors, including cooking method, cooking vessel, etc. See, e.g.:
"The assumption that all alcohol is evaporated when heat is applied during cooking is not valid. Six alcohol-containing recipes in this study retained from 4% to 85% of the alcohol.
Cooking always results in some, but not total, loss of alcohol. The extent of loss depends on the severity of the heat application or any other factor favoring evaporation. Flaming results in much smaller losses of alcohol than cooking. Alcohol retention during cooking can also be greatly affected by the type of cooking vessel used, especially when short cooking times are involved." Alcohol retention in food preparation. Jorg Augustin, Evelyn Augustin, Rena L. Cutrufelli, Steven R. Hagen, Charlene Teitzel.Journal of the American Dietetic Association. April 1992 v92 n4 p486(3).


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## LKH9 (Jun 10, 2014)

As long as the alcohol content doesn't make you drunk, it's OK, logically speaking. The point of the ban in religion is to prevent people from getting drunk and do something you won't do when you're conscious.

The amount of water in the cooking plays a big role I think. More water = less evaporation = more alcohol reserved.???


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## Matus (Jun 10, 2014)

I have used a little red wine here and then for cooking - usually much less than 100ml. However - the alcohol smell (after adding the wine) disappeared within minutes. Even though it is probably a blasphemy for wine lovers, but a little bit of good port wine can do wonders ...


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