Does alcohol boil away during cooking or is it a myth?

• Is it safe for people for people with alcoholism to eat food cooked in alcohol?
• What about those wanting to limit their intake because of loosing weight, or driving?
• What about those with religious prohibitions?

Is there any alcohol left in food cooked with alcohol?

Despite the old wives tales – and old chefs too, many who are top chefs – it’s repeatedly said ‘burn the alcohol off’ on TV cooking shows or in recipe books) in fact alcohol is NOT removed in ANY cooking process!

If this a surprise to you – it was to me too – and to the USA team studying it.

As someone with an allergy to alcohol this concerns me. Often, at top restaurants I have found that although there is  alcohol in a recipe, they often or usually, don’t put it on the menu! Desserts are the worst, but even soup or jus (gravy/sauce) is not safe from the addition of a slurp, slosh or little tipple of alcohol.

This is a real concern for those with religious, moral, health, or any other reasons for wanting, or needing, no alcohol residue in their food.

So, check this out . . . it is a study conducted by the US Department of Agriculture’s Nutrient Data Laboratory which calculated the percentage of alcohol remaining in a dish – based on various cooking methods

Does Alcohol Really Boil Away or Burn Off in Cooking?

Q How long does it take for alcohol to burn off during cooking? Is this time the same for all forms of alcohol? Boil? Simmer? How about in baking?

A Yours may be the question of the year. We thought it was pretty cut and dried. We were wrong. And it has taken a while for us to accept what we’ve found out.

 

The US Department of Agriculture made this handy chart to compare how much alcohol content is retained in certain foods using various cooking times and methods.

USDA