If you boil wine, will that remove the alcohol?

Question

and keep its character and taste in tact even though you're diminishing the alcohol by boiling wine?

Answer 1

Yes, the alcohol will be gone fairly quickly because alcohol has a much lower boiling point than water. The essence of the alcohol remains. This is why you should cook with good wine/good spirits instead of that junk called cooking wine

Answer 2

The alcohol will boil off, although not entirely. The amount remaining will depend on how long you boil it. After about 15 minutes at a low simmer, 60% of the alcohol will have evaporated. (Wine is normally around 12% abv, which means it would now be less than 5% abv.) After an hour, 75% of the alchohol will have evaporated.

The taste will be noticieably different after as little as 10 minutes though.

If you are concerned with alcohol content in a cooked sauce, don't be. Since wine usually makes up only a small proportion of a sauce, most sauces start out at less than 2% abv, and after 15 minutes of cooking is considerably less than 1%, which will not affect anyone unless they have a very sensitive allergy to ethanol.

Answer 3

First, don't boil the wine. That will change its taste since the rapid evaporation will take some of the esters and aldehyde's that contribute to wine's taste.

If you are adding wine to a dish, lower the heat until the dish (sauce) is just simmering. Add the wine slowly, mixing as you add. Most recipes call for just a few ounces of wine. But most of the alcohol will evaporate within five minutes. Flavor may change as the wine incorporates with the other ingredients, but the essential character of the wine will remain.

For more information on cooking wine, look up wine reductions.

Answer 4

Yes.... but what's the point? If you're putting it in something like Beef Burgundy, don't bother boiling the wine first. The alcohol will cook out any way, and you'll still have the rich flavor of the burgundy in the dish.

There are some wines that taste good when heated, but not boiled. Those are usually your mulled/spiced wines. You heat those over a flame to warm it nicely, but not boil out the alcohol.

Answer 5

There are wines for sale now from which most of the alcohol has been removed. You can use these for cooking.

It is true that cooking the dish will boil off some of the alcohol, but some will remain.

Answer 6

no. it will take out the alcohol, but the taste and texture changes.