What are the effects of cooking food with wine or any other alcoholic product?

Question by Inferno:

What are the effects of cooking food with wine or any other alcoholic product?

For example, if I was to cook chicken soup and pour nearly a cup of wine with it for taste, would it count as alcohol? If I was to be tested in the near future for alcohol, would I test positive? Would it be appropriate for children to drink this soup?

Keep in mind that this is not wine made especially for cooking. It's like any other alcoholic beverage.

Also, other examples include rum cake or beer-battered fish. Do they produce the same effects as drinking the alcoholic it is cooked with straight from the bottle?

Thank you.




Best answer:

Answer by Treadstone
Almost of the alcohol cooks off so it is okay for kids.

If you are concerned, you can omit it from a soup or stew recipe. You should add another liquid in its place, like more broth or water and adjust the other seasonings to make up for it.

Wine can be used to add flavor or to help tenderize the meat in a stew. Wine can also add color to a dish (coq au vin - uses red wine) or be used to deglaze a pan to make a gravy.

Home cooks are always advised to pour wine or liquor into another cup rather than pouring directly from the bottle.*

By adding beer to a batter, one is hoping to create a lighter, fluffier batter because the beer is carbonated. Beer will also add flavor.

As for a rum cake - again, the purpose is to add flavor. However, sometimes cakes are soaked in liquor and one can get a slight buzz from consuming such cakes.

*Sometimes, liquor is used to create a dramatic flash effect (flambe or crepes suzette). This is dangerous because the flame can follow the stream of liquor to the bottle causing it to explode.

A note re: cooking wines. Do not bother. Many of them do not taste good and have salt and preservatives.

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