How much are trace amounts? I'm cool with the amount of alcohol that's in say vanilla extract (which yes, I know is the same proof as Vodka but you use a teaspoon at best for 10+ servings!

I just have issues with food made with alcohol as I don't find it in line with my morals. I'd probably be cool with teeny tiny trace amounts of alcohol as that could never cause one to become intoxicated.

Battra92, non-alcoholic wines must, by law, must contain less than 0.5% alcohol by volume. It's pretty much impossible to consume enough nonalcoholic wine (or non-alcoholic beer, for that matter) to get drunk. In fact, I've read that non-alcoholic wine tends to have an alcohol content similar to that of natural juices like orange juice.

I usually use chicken stock if I don't have any white wine on hand.

If you cook something long or hot enough for a significant amount of water to evaporate, the alcohol has mostly gone by then. this is the basis of distillation, alcohol boils long before water, but reductions tend to work in percentages rather than absolute amounts. i.e. boiling for a certain amount of time will remove a certain percentage of the alcohol. the same amount of time again will remove the same percentage of what's left, rather than the same amount.

that said, I defy anyone to get drunk (or even remotely tipsy) off even a large serving of coq au vin...

I don't have a problem with the alcohol in cooking with wine, I just don't always have a bottle on hand, and hate to open a whole bottle for tablespoon or two. I read somewhere that dry sherry is a good sub for white wine, especially as it can be kept around longer once opened than a regular bottle of wine. It's worked pretty well for me so far!

I always have a 4 pack of the small 'airline size' bottles on hand. Not the best of wine but perfectly acceptable when you are in a pinch.

Living in a State where I can't buy alcohol on Sundays, it comes in handy to know substitutes. Though, I generally just drive to Wisconsin if I decide I need to make something with wine.

With Beef based stews and casseroles I often deglaze with fruit chutney mixed with some water and balsamic vinegar.

OK, who slices one carrot at a time as in the picture?!? Girl, bunch them up and slice two or three at a time depending on the thickness!!!

Ciao,

L

It's not just about getting drunk or tipsy or whatever. Alcohol is not something that I welcome in my house (I get rather annoyed when my wife has it around and her drinking the occasional glass of wine with friends still bothers me) so it's not so much the final alcohol content that bothers me, but it's the supporting of a product I find wrong.

Thanks for this. I want to make beef stew soon, but I don't cook with alcohol for a couple reasons. Tried it once with broth, and it just wasn't great. Thinking maybe we'll try some pom juice & see how that works out.

muse2323, I wonder if soaking some dried porcinis in hot water and then throwing both into your stew would work? I suppose it depends if you're looking for umami or acidity . . . .

Please know alcohol does not disappear in any cooking! I have anaphylactic reaction to all alcohol. My allergist has advised me that info regarding cooking off alcohol is incorrect. If an allergy is involved this is serious!

How much alcohol evaporates depends on the cooking time, vessel, heat level, etc. Yes, some alcohol always does cook off, and depending on the method and cook time the majority of the alcohol can be cooked off, but it is never completely gone. So if someone does have a serious health (or moral) issue with alcohol, you'll need to use a substitute that's completely free of alcohol. But if someone just prefers to avoid alcohol and you are cooking something in an open vessel for a long enough period of time, it is probably fine. Cook's Illustrated did a whole series of tests about this. I remember stew cooked for several hours in a closed vessel retained something like 60% of the alcohol, but something like a sauce made with alcohol in an open saute pan ended up with only like 5% alcohol. Again, 5% would be fine for most people who just prefer not to have alcohol (like pregnant women for instance), but perhaps not for people with a very serious health issue.

And sorry, I didn't mean to imply in my comment that pregnant women shouldn't avoid alcohol, just that unless they have some other issues going on some alcohol left in food after cooking is not a problem!