Does the alcohol evaporate when you cook with wine?
Beef stew in brown beer, a splash of whisky in cocktail sauce and flambéed pancakes – can you then get behind the wheel with peace of mind? Or will you stagger from the alcohol left in the food, even if you have cooked it for a while?
Food becomes just a little more delicious with a little alcohol. No, I’m not talking about the wine pairing with your dinner, but about the sip that goes into the pan. A splash of sherry in the soup, a little whisky in the cocktail sauce and crêpes flambéed with liqueur – my mouth is already watering. But where does that alcohol actually go? Most of it probably evaporates, but how much remains in the food? And can you still safely serve it to children, pregnant women, teetotallers and alcoholics going through detox?
Slow and delicious
Most of the alcohol evaporates. In stews, about 90 percent of the alcohol evaporates if you let them simmer for two hours. But that means a little alcohol still remains in the pan. You can taste it – which means children will turn up their noses at it – and it also means it can affect medicines that cannot be combined with alcohol, such as the pills prescribed to recovering alcoholics. Pregnant women probably won’t be happy with a coq au vin either, even if you assure them that only a measly little bit of alcohol remains in it.
Deglazing with red wine
If you make your shrimp cocktail with homemade whisky cocktail sauce (delicious!), you can heat the whisky briefly, for example with the paprika powder. The paprika powder develops a better flavor and aroma when it has been exposed to some heat, and the whisky loses some of its alcohol. Some, but certainly not all: if you heat alcohol for fifteen minutes, 40 percent evaporates. The same naturally applies to the splash of Madeira that you pour into the soup at the last minute, or the leftover red wine you use to deglaze the frying pan when making gravy.
Flames!
Are you showing off a little while cooking and flambéing crêpes? With this preparation, most of the alcohol remains in the sauce – and you can taste it too. Flambéing only works with spirits containing at least 40 percent alcohol. Of that, 75 percent evaporates when the flame catches in the pan, but plenty still remains. Not suitable for tonight’s designated driver either.
