I need good substitutes for alcohol in recipes, or should I just omit ingredients?

Question

Too many recipes have booze in them, and I get frustrated with it, not knowing how to substitute. Should I substitute or omit? I usually run into Sherry or other wines in recipes, how do I get around that?

additional: since so many of you are curious. Alcohol, besides my ethical objections to it, smells like garbage juice to me. You know, you throw out a box of grape juice, it leaks and somehow seeps past the bag liner and into the bottom of the plastic garbage can. It forms a pool and festers for about a week. You take out the bag and smell this rotten grape juice...well that's what wine smells like to me. Beer? You know how cornflakes smell when they get soggy? Just like that, but add a rotting overtone to it. I can smell wine across the room, it'll ruin in dinner. To me, you all are drinking garbage juice that has festered in the bottom of a warm plastic container for a week. I accidentally drank rancid milk, as it was sitting next to the fresh, and you know that cottage cheese texture and smell, well, that's what alcohol is like to me.

***yo Daviddrumming, when did you start substituting for booze?????***

Answer 1

When I run across a dish that calls for beer, I use O-Douls. You can also use ginger ale. For sherry use orange or pineapple juice. For brandy, apple cider, pineapple juice or almond extract. Champagne - ginger ale. red wine - beef broth/boullion, tomatoe juice, diluted cider vinegar & canned mushroom "juice". White wine - chicken broth/boullion, ginger ale, grape juice, diluted cider vinegar * mushroom "juice". Diluting with water helps out with the sweetness of the juices.

Answer 2

I like to use something that will mimic the flavor that the alcohol is suppose to have. Sure you can do without altogether but sometimes it seems as if the flavor may be lacking when you leave it out. For example Red or White wine can be substituted with about half as much or each respected grape juice (to avoid to much sugar). I substitute Cointreau with a half of fresh squeezed orange juice. I have even substituted cola for bourbon and it turned out fine. Just try a little at a time until you get the right additional flavor you need. Experiment, that's what cooking is all about! Hope this helps

Answer 3

Often omitting the alcohol is okay. In some cases, like meat marinades, you may be able to substitute the vinegar instead. Like- red wine becomes red wine vinegar. It will change the taste a little, but that is a common ingredient in many marinades and it will eliminate the booze. Most of the time, however, I'd suggest simple omission.

The other comment about alcohol burning off in cooking recipes is also true- if it's going to be cooked or baked chances are the alcohol will be gone. So, is it a religious problem or just a personal preference that requires omission of alcohol? That may change how you approach the issue.

Answer 4

In most dishes that use wine or sherry in their sauces, you can substitute with a bit of stock (or occasionally tomato sauce, depending on what you're making). The flavor won't be exactly the same, but the result should still be good and the consistency should be ok.

If the issue is with the alcohol, though, keep in mind that when you cook dishes like this the alcohol cooks out, only concentrating the flavor. For some dishes there is simply no substitute for a bit of wine or sherry; you may want to give it a try sometime :-).

Answer 5

I've always heard that substituting the alcohol with apple juice is a good.
Using a stock of some sort will be just as good also, and just omitting it from the recipe should be okay on most items.

Answer 6

Cooking tends to burn off all the alcohol leaving you with just the nice taste of whatever you need to put in. You could omit it if you dont want to buy the alcohol (though you will lose a certain flavor in the recipe), but it cant get you drunk and isnt like drinking

Answer 7

Why would you want to omit them? Wines and booze give suttle notes to the meats cooked with them, and brilliant flavors to the sauces made with them. Alcohol content after cooking is negligable, so what's the problem? Your recipes won't be the same. If you throw them out, flavor and savour will leave as well.

Answer 8

Often wines can be replaced with chicken broth or beef broth. Chicken for white wines, beef for red wines, sometimes you can even use apple juice or orange juice. In desserts, any tablespoons of rum, orange liquer, cherry liqueur, can be substituted with extracts that are the same flavor. Otherwise, I guess you can omit them but keep in mind that you will loose that liquid so it may need replaced with something.

Answer 9

I always make "strawberry daqueries" for my ten year old son. Instead of rum, I put in Sprite and lemon juice. Works great! Oh, and he thinks he gets to be like a grown up too because the drinks look the same. He has no idea I make up another batch just for my husband and I:).

Answer 10

Cooking recipes that call for alcohol burn off all the alcohol in the cooking. That is, they're non-alcoholic. So, try anything with a flavoring of the alcohol that you were going to use. No loss.