--- Learn endless cooking tips and tricks onThe Cook Up with Adam Liaw
When you pour a generous glug of alcohol over ingredients in a pan, you're adding a liquid depth that’s central to the cultural flavour of your dish. Let’s face it: if it wasn’t for red wine, our taste buds wouldn’t recognise beef Bourguignon and if it wasn’t for Chinese rice wine, kung pao chicken wouldn’t pack such a punch.
But not everyone can consume alcohol, even in small quantities. So the scientific question stirring about in every home cook’s kitchen is simple: can we really eliminate the ethanol content of that 'glug' of alcohol, just by cooking it out?
Can you really 'cook off' all that beer and wine?
A Danish study, published in the
in 2016, saw researchers experiment with beer to determine whether you can ‘cook out the alcohol added to beer-based recipes.
The study looked at 10 dishes traditionally prepared with beer, including pancakes, carrot soup, rye bread, steamed fish, marinated spare ribs and braised beef. The estimated amount of ethanol per serving was calculated accordingly.
The results showed that the dishes cooked with beer all contained alcohol. However, the concentration of alcohol was two-to-three per cent, which was below the detection limit. The study’s authors concluded that this amount was “of little concern to most people”.
It’s likely there would ethanol that would be left over in your dish after cooking but the amount would be residual and not enough to put you over the limit when driving.
Lecturer in Food Science at
, agrees that cooking a dish with an alcoholic beverage over high heat for a few minutes or even half an hour can eliminate a lot of ethanol but it doesn’t always get rid of it all.
“If you’re using rice wine in a dish – for example – you would only use a small amount that would then decrease as you cook it,” Dr Phan-Thien tells SBS. “It’s likely there would be ethanol that would be leftover in your dish after cooking but the amount would be residual and not enough to put you over the limit when driving.
“However, if you are avoiding alcohol for religious or health reasons, then it might be significant enough to reconsider adding alcohol to the dish.”
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What to drink if you can't (or don't want to) drink alcoholWhy cooking alcohol doesn’t always eliminate it
Cooking with alcohol results in some but not the total loss of alcohol through the process of evaporation. Yetthere are so many variables affecting ethanol evaporation. One of them is time. A lot of recipes call for deglazing a pan with wine, then bringing it to boil. Others suggest a quick treatment over high heat or an hour-long session of oven roasting with your protein of choice.
The facts state that the longer the cook, the more alcohol gets cooked out. According to a
, food has to be cooked for around three hours for most alcohol to be cooked out. But the rate of ethanol evaporation is also dependent on heat and your cooking method. Food simmered in alcohol for
of the alcohol content. Five per cent of alcohol was left over a 2.5 hour-long cook.
Put simply, the more ingredients mixed in with an alcoholic drop, the harder it may be to ‘cook off’ the alcohol in your dish.
One reason why ethanol can’t always be ‘cooked off’ quickly has to do with the other ingredients you’re cooking with.
“Ethanol has a lower boiling point than water, at around
” Dr Phan-Thien tells SBS.“If you had 100 per cent ethanol in a pot, you could adjust the temperature to around 78 degrees Celsius, and that would boil off the alcohol to nothing.
"But, let’s say you add water to ethanol [or an alcoholic beverage] so that 70 per cent of the liquid was ethanol and 30 per cent was water.As the concentration of ethanol decreases, it becomes harder to boil off because there's an interaction between the chemicals. They stick to each other and it’s harder to separate. Water will hold onto the ethanol.”
This scenario only features two ingredients: water and alcohol. But in most recipes, there are a lot more. “You may have sugar, flavours and solid foods in the same pan – they all interact as well and will make it more difficult to cook off your alcohol.”
Put simply, the more ingredients mixed in with an alcoholic drop, the harder it may be to ‘cook off’ the alcohol in your dish.
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This may be the genetic reason why you prefer to drink alcohol, coffee or teaWhat else can I do to minimise the alcohol in my cooked dish?
If you’re trying to avoid alcohol altogether, Dr Phan-Thien recommends you boil the alcoholic beverage on its own first, heating it to the point that it is bubbling, before you add it to other ingredients. “That’s probably the safest way to cook with alcohol if you want to minimise alcoholic content of a dish.”
The food scientist adds that slow cooking a dish with a lid, raising the lid occasionally to let out accumulated vapour during the long cook, could also help to burn off ethanol.
Another Danish study backs this up. The research, published in
, examined how ethanol reacted when cooked in 47 different stock reductions prepared with alcoholic beverages.
The researchers found that having a lid on the pot for broths actually increased the evaporation.
The study showed that the use of the lid dramatically enhanced the loss of ethanol. The lid of the pot acted as a condenser of sorts, helping to separate the ethanol and water in the stock.
“The researchers found that having a lid on the pot for broths actually increased the evaporation. You’ll have less residual ethanol in your dish when you cook with an alcoholic beverage in a pot with a lid, as opposed to the same pot without a lid.
“So if you want to cook off alcohol, it’s best to keep the lid on for most of its cooking time.
"...But if you have to avoid alcohol because you of religious, cultural or health concerns, it could be best to avoid adding any alcohol to your cooking. Consider alternative non-alcoholic ingredients instead.”
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FAQs
Cooking with alcohol enhances the aromas associated with the food as it cooks, as well as the flavor while you are actually eating it. Your sense of taste and smell work together to enrich your perception of the food's flavor. Did you know? Alcohol might not completely "burn off" during cooking.
Is it safe to cook with alcohol for an alcoholic? ›
So, cooking with alcohol can be dangerous for your sobriety by exposing you to the taste and smell of alcohol. That can, in turn, trigger a relapse. That's one reason why some specialists encourage staying away from even alcohol flavored or things like “bourbon barrel aged syrup” in early recovery.
What are the effects of cooking alcohol? ›
Alcohol does partially evaporate during cooking, but not as much as you might think. Depending on the cooking method and how much alcohol is used, anywhere from 4 to 85 percent of the alcohol may remain. After 15 minutes of cooking, about 40 percent of the alcohol remains.
Does cooking with alcohol remove the alcohol? ›
A study from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Nutrient Data lab confirmed this and added that food baked or simmered in alcohol for 15 minutes still retains 40 percent of the alcohol. After an hour of cooking, 25 percent of the alcohol remains, and even after two and a half hours there's still 5 percent of it.
How to use alcohol while cooking? ›
Adding beer, instead of water, to chili during cooking is popular. An overnight marinade of chicken, pork or beef in beer and spices is another example. Specialist cooking wines, liqueurs, vermouths and eaux de vie are widely used by professional chefs to enhance flavour in traditional and modern dishes.
Can an alcoholic eat pasta with vodka sauce? ›
Be aware that alcohol doesn't burn off during cooking, this is a common mistake. Even the smallest amounts of food with alcohol can adversely affect someone who is recovering from alcoholism, even if it's consumed accidentally.
What's the difference between cooking alcohol and drinking alcohol? ›
Cooking wine also has added salt and a number of preservatives not in normal drinking options. The preservatives allow it to have a longer shelf life than other wines. The salt is added to enhance the flavor of the dish. This can be a double-edged sword as some people find the saltiness overwhelming.
How long does it take for alcohol to cook off? ›
It usually takes around 2 to 3 hours for the alcohol to evaporate completely when added to a dish that is cooking on a low heat. When cooking at high heat, e.g. frying or sautéing, it can take as little as 30 seconds for the alcohol to evaporate.
Can kids eat vodka sauce? ›
We reached out to a few experts to find out if we'd be better off fixing a simple tomato sauce on the side for the kids, or if vodka sauce is OK for the littles when consumed in moderation. The general consensus was that a vodka pasta sauce should be safe for children, if cooked thoroughly.
What is the purpose of alcohol in cooking? ›
Whether it's beer, sake, rum or Cabernet, using alcoholic beverages in cooking can act as a flavor enhancer. It can also be used to tenderize meat in marinades or concentrate flavor when simmered down into sauces. What's even more fun about cooking with alcohol is how versatile it can be.
Raw alcohol will evaporate at 78 C, importantly even with conventional cooking techniques, not all the alcohol will burn off. When using a slow cooker the internal temperature may only just get to this important temperature, and because of the lid any alcohol that does evaporate will return back into the cooker.
Can kids eat food cooked with wine? ›
Per the USDA, you have to cook, simmer or boil a dish that contains wine for more than 2 1/2 hours to remove the alcohol. Accordingly, if you must prepare a dish with wine, only give it to your kids if it's been cooked longer than that so the alcohol evaporates.
Is alcohol in cooking healthy? ›
The amount of wine, beer, or spirits found in most recipes is so small that, even if left uncooked, an adult would never feel its effects. Still, an alternative might be preferable when preparing food for children, pregnant women or those in recovery.
What is the science behind alcohol in cooking? ›
Adding a splash of any spirit will naturally intensify the flavours of a finished dish by bonding with both the fat and water molecules, bridging the gap between the two. This is particularly important because our scent receptors respond only to molecules dissolved in fat - and food is largely water.
What does alcohol do to meat? ›
The reason alcohol makes the meat tender is that it breaks down a protein called collagen, which is the part of the meat that keeps it structurally sound. The more collagen the meat contains, the tougher it will be. When you cook meat, the heat breaks down the collagen but also dries the meat out.
Does quality of alcohol matter cooking? ›
In most instances, it's just not worth paying a premium on wine for cooking: the nuances get cooked out of it and covered up by other ingredients, making quality differences much less important.
Can you cook with alcohol-free wine? ›
Can you use nonalcoholic wine for cooking? Yes, you can cook with nonalcoholic wine, as long as it is of high quality. A dealcoholized bottle of wine doesn't have to lack in similar flavors. High-quality non-alcoholic wine brands start out with the same winemaking processes as conventional winemakers.
Can a recovering alcoholic drink non-alcoholic wine? ›
Nonalcoholic beverages are not necessarily risk-free for recovering alcoholics despite being an attractive option. Many “nonalcoholic” beers and spirits still contain trace amounts of alcohol. Some alcohol will be released in the fermentation process, even if it's largely removed.
Will cooking with wine show up in a urine test? ›
Unless you are far more generous in the amount of wine you use in your cooking, it should not show up in your urine test the next day. The body can process about 0.015 alcohol per hour.
