Although red wine is said to be great for our hearts, in moderation ( like anything else ), it is filled with sugar. I avoid sugar for lots of reasons and one of these is because it triggers a need for MORE without any moderation. I avoid all wines and alcoholic libations. Bye, Bye Martinis.
But, what about using wine to flavor foods as they cook, does the alcohol dissipate? and how long will that take?
Alcohol is created when grains, fruits, or vegetables are fermented. Fermentation is a process that uses yeast or bacteria to change the sugars in the food into alcohol.
What about when wines are used in cooking, does the alcohol burn off. There have been many studies about this. In "The New Making of a Cook", as authoritative a source as you can find, Madeleine Kamman cauthions that a dish with wine must be cooked long enough to remove the harshness of the alcohol. She wants you to simmer and reduce the wine separately from the sauce and add it only when it has been greatly reduced but she can't give an exact time frame reference. Other notable cooks just say that when cooking the alcohol burns off.
James Peterson, a cookbook writer who also studies chemistry, says you need to cook a sauce for at least 20 to 30 seconds after adding wine to allow the alcohol to evaporate. ( Alcohol evaporates at 172 degrees F. ) So, any sauce or stew that is simmering or boiling is certainly hot enough to evaporate the alcohol? WRONG!
You have to cook something for a good three hours to eradicate virtually all traces of alcohol. Plus, some cooking methods are less effective at removing alcohol. The best recommendation is to add alcohol when sauce is boiling, let it simmer for at least 2.5 hrs - and then 5% of the alcohol will remain.
Bottom line, there is NO 100% - so, if you use alcohol to flavor your sauces, think about limiting these to slow cook dishes, like stews and briskets.
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