Can you substitute wine when cooking?

Question

I have several italian recipes that call for wine. I am a recovering addict/alcoholic and would prefer not to use wine.Any suggestions?

Answer 1

I substitute all the time, my rule of thumb is red wine=beef broth, and white wine=chicken broth. Now if the recipe has fish or seafood, then by all means use a fish stock. Just measure on a 1:1 ratio, like if it calls for one cup of wine, use one cup of broth! Hope this has helped, I've never been disappointed if I've had to sub out this way in a recipe. Good Luck!

Answer 2

I want to say that I've never tried any of these alternatives, and also that if you cook using wine, you know, the alcohol is cooked out and doesn't affect your system like alcohol normally would (I made sure of it, I was able to eat things made with wine while I was pregnant), but I totally understand your desire to stay as far away from actual alcohol, even when cooking, as much as possible.

If your recipe calls for red-wine vinegar, using another vinegar would probably work just as well.

Red wine: for savory recipes, 1 cup beef or chicken broth can be used to replace 1 cup red cooking wine. In desserts, use 1 cup cranberry juice for each cup of wine called for. (Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book Special Pink Edition)

White wine: for savory recipes, substitute one cup chicken broth for each cup of wine called for. In desserts, substitute apple or white grape juice. (Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book Special Pink Edition)

You may also want to try using non-alcoholic versions of wine or beer. I know for sure there are non-alcoholic versions of beer, white zinfendel, chardonnay, and I think various red wines and sherry.

Hope this helped! Best of luck to you!

Answer 3

Is this a religous belief issue? You can use a sparkling type of wine-non-alcoholic. You can get unfermented wine from homebrew stores-It will be very sweet as the yeast eats the sugar to make alcohol. If you have wine and wish to de-alcohol it. Simply-pour it in a large bowl and freeze it. Then scrape it out of the bowl and put small amounts in a paper towel lined salad spinner and spin it. The alcohol will not freeze well and fall through. Cooking alcohol actually reduces the alcohol content greatly. It would take a lot of cooking alcohol to create any ill effect on you. Brandy or Sherry will burn easily-use caution and take a lighter to it to burn the alcohol out.

Answer 4

I'm not certain about substituting, but if you're worried about the wine causing you to regress, don't. The alcohol in the wine evaporates during the cooking process. So you wont feel any effects of the wine, and you wont even taste the wine in the meal.

Answer 5

Gwen & Fluffernut are correct; if you feel you don't want to use wine, stay away from grape juice, ginger ale, etc.

You're looking for flavor. Stock, chicken broth, even a mild vinegar like Japanese rice vinegar would be better.

Answer 6

Hi Cathy,

Congrats on quitting the alcohol!

You don't need to substitute anything for the wine. It's added for flavor. You won't miss it.

Answer 7

Wine serves two purposes, liquid and flavor. Replace the same volume of wine with another liquid, at a minimum water but you may have to experiment a bit to prevent unexpected results.

Answer 8

im glad to hear you quit the booz but when using wine in cooking about 97% of the alcohol cooks out of it but if its about having the wine in the house at all then try some unsweetened grape juice (you can prolly get it from an organic foods store like whole foods) and mix that with a lil red wine vinigar or white vinegar to taste and then try that.

Answer 9

Just use stock......your choice. Not all the alcohol is cooked out, most, but not all. Also you don't need to have the temptation around.

Recipes for baking are important to follow, but general cooking is open to your interpretation...be creative.

Answer 10

Yea--use some vinegar and sugar. You will have to experiment with the taste though usually it is like 2 tbsp vinegar to 1/4 cup sugar but here again experiment--depends how much your making.