Conference moira::parenting_v3

    My understanding is that the alcohol mostly (all?) evaporates during
    cooking.  But I would suggest checking with your doctor.  What we do is
    just leave out the alcohol from those recipes that normally have
    cooking wine, substituting plain water or chicken broth or some other
    liquid to make up the difference.  Still tastes fine to me!

							cheryl

    Actually the evaporation is true. I have a close friend who is AA and
    has told me that wine in cooking is fine, but please don't use wine
    vinegar as the alcohol is retained. 
    

    If the alcohol evaporates, what remains to give flavor to the food?
    
    Also, I use wines in beef and chicken (crock-pot) stews.  There's alot
    of liquid to contend with in the finished meal.  This is all
    non-alcoholic?
    
    I've been thinking about this same issue; glad you brought it up!
    
    LZP
    

Alcohol is flavorless.  Think vodka, which is alcohol and water  -- any flavor
that vodka has comes from impurities.  Since alcohol is much more volatile
than water, I think that even in a liquidy dish, all the alcohol will have
evaporated.  This would be particularly true of crock pots, with their
loose-fitting lids and long cooking times.

    I believe what's left after cooking with wine, once the
    alcohol evaporates, is the sugar.
    

Many wines have added sulfites and have urethane contamination from processing.
Grapes are also one of the crops often cultivated with a lot of pesticides
and fungicides.

I realize the contamination is in line with what people get from mainstream
food production methods.  Just worth deciding if you want an additional burden
to a small person's immature system.

=ss

    Wine is about ten percent alcohol--the other ninety-or-so
    is water and flavorings.  When you cook, the alcohol
    evaporates, as does some of the water, leaving the flavors.
    
    Flambe'ed items, if left to burn out, are also largely
    free of alcohol--what doesn't burn is evaporated by the 
    heat of the flame.  
    
    Only if the alcoholic beverage is added after cooking will
    significant amounts of alcohol remain in the food.
    
    			-John Bishop

    My son loves my beef stew and the recipe contains 1/2 a bottle of wine
    and black coffee. He never had any reactions to it and the alcohol
    evaporation theory is correct. I guess he just likes the flavoring that
    wine adds!! As for the caffine, who knows if he had any reaction to it
    (but it was only about 6 ounces).
    
    I personally would worry about the "alcohol" but as a previous note
    mentions there is alot of other stuff in wines that you personally
    might be concerned about.
    
    Andrea.                  

    When I'm substituting for wine or other alcohols when I'm cooking,
    I find I sometimes need to add about a quarter cup of vinegar or
    lemon juice to make up for the acid in the wine.  In dishes like
    stews the acid helps break down the tough fibers in the meat.  It
    also adds a bit of flavor. 
    
    There are about a million things you can substitute.  Try V-8 in
    spaghetti sauce, or save the liquids you cook vegetables in.  
    
    --bonnie

    .9 > There are about a million things you can substitute. 
    
    My standby is Apple Cider, supplemented as appropriate by vinegar,
    lemon juice, or the like.  And any true cook knows that using enough
    cumin is more important than what liquids you use, anyway (I buy it by
    the pound).  V-8, on the other hand, is close to pure sodium; most
    definitely NOT a health food.
    
    I try to freeze enough gallons of apple cider over winter and spring to
    tide us over that horrifying period from about June through September
    when one can't get unadulterated (i.e. unfiltered and unpreservified)
    fresh cider around here.  Midwesterners (bless our little hearts) are
    smart enough that some Vendors take care of this problem (I pig out
    when I visit there in August).  I don't know why my dear adopted New
    England Yankees (only a Yankee can sell true apple cider) are still too
    dumb.
    			- Bruce

    >V-8, on the other hand, is close to pure sodium; most
>    definitely NOT a health food.
    
    Good point, Bruce -- when I substitute V-8, I cut out the other
    salt in the recipe.
    
    --bonnie

    I remember my high school French teacher saying that in many European
    countries the water is so poluted that everyone, including children,
    routinely drink wine with meals.  
    
    My mother told a story often, of having company at the house for
    dinner,including wine when I was about 2.5, and they retired to the 
    living room for coffee, and I proceeded to polish off the rest of the wine
    bottle!  Me drain-bamaged??? of course not!  The other joke after that was a
    favorite uncle who annually gave me a nip size bottle of wine for
    Christmas, he made it clear that was *my* wine!
    
    I still prefer a glass of wine now and then over other alcholic
    beverages.
    
    As others have stated, the alcohol does cook out.  If you're *that*
    concerned about the alcohol content, the why not cook with St. Regis or
    some other alcohol-free wine?
    
    Lyn