If a recipe calls for wine, can a recovering alcoholic still eat it?

Question

i was watching a cooking show and the chef was using wine in the cooking, and I was wondering whether or not a recovering alcoholic could eat it? (I'm not an alcoholic, I'm just curious)

I mean, doesn't the alcohol come out of it if it's cooked?

I don't know...

Answer 1

I am a recovering Alcoholic. My answer is based on a combination of fact and opinion.
If the recipe calls for the heating of the alcohol to a temperature beyond the boiling point of water the alcohol will have been removed from the meal. Thus the alcoholic can safely consume the food. If the alcohol was added to the food after cooking the alcoholic cannot safely consume it. During the cooking process the alcohol is removed but not the flavour.
Now here is the kicker. Many alcoholics associate the flavour of the booze with the booze itself. This flavour can cause a mental trigger of the compulsion part of the addiction. Thus these alcoholics cannot safely consume this food. This reaction is usually time related and so a person with longer periods of sobriety are less likely to be so affected.
If you are contemplating serving a meal prepared with alcohol to an alcoholic please be so kind as to ask him if he could eat it.
Most alcoholics (recovering) are not shy about their condition and would feel that you cared about them if you asked.
I regularly order Steak Diana when I'm out. So if you're inviting me for dinner yes please.

Answer 2

Interesting question! Some cookbooks caution that a dish with wine must be cooked long enough to remove the harshness of the alcohol.
In fact, the sauce has to simmer. The wine is reduced separately from the sauce. Add it only when it has been greatly reduced to its essence.

Another book titled "Sauces"; mentioned of cooking a sauce for at least 20-30 seconds after adding wine to it. This allows the wine to evaporate. There is some sense to this .
since alcohol evaporates at 172 degree F( 78 degreeC) .
Every flambeed foods; it takes at least a min for the flame to die. This indicates that most of the alcohol is gone.


The conventional wisdom accepted by just about everyone in the food world is that all the alcohol you add to a dish evaporates or dissipates during cooking. It’s wrong. In fact, you have to cook something for a good three hours to eradicate virtually all traces of alcohol. And some cooking methods are less effective at removing alcohol than just letting it stand out uncovered overnight.

A study conducted by the US Department of Agriculture’s Nutrient Data Laboratory calculated the percentage of alcohol remaining in a dish based on various cooking methods. The results are as follows:

Preparation Method Percent of Alcohol Retained
alcohol added to boiling liquid & removed from heat 85%

alcohol flamed 75%

no heat, stored overnight 70%

baked, 25 minutes, alcohol not stirred into mixture 45%

baked/simmered, alcohol stirred into mixture:
15 minutes-40%; 30 min-35%; 1 hr- 25%; 1.5 %20%; 2 hrs- 10%; 2.5 hrs- 5%



Now, it may be that the amount of alcohol in a dish is modest to start with, but the fact that some of the ALCOHOL remains; could be of significant concern to recovering AlCOHOLIC parents, and others who have ethical or religious reasons for avoiding alcohol.

So the answer is no! AS the alcohol still remains in foods even if some of the wine evaporates ; wine cooking for alcoholics is not a very good idea.

Answer 3

The alcohol is cooked off. Just like using a beer batter; if there was actually still alcohol in it there would be a bunch of drunk kids running around after eating the fish sticks at the bowling alley!

Answer 4

depending on the method of cooking the alcohol may be cooked away.....things like Christmas cake that is douced in alcohol after cooking are still alcoholic, but say beef in red wine the alcohol will probably have evaporated and just the flavour left

Answer 5

would depend if wine was said alcoholic's vice, and how long said alcoholic has been recovering. would be best to ask first.

Answer 6

if he wants to recover the wine, sure why not!

Answer 7

Hell no.