Cooking with alcohol.

jackie_w

What do you do if you want to cook a recipe and it tells you to add aclohol to it, but, your wanting to give it to children .
Is there anything I can substitute for the alcohol?

Jackie

tessie_bear

alcohol boils off at (i think 70 degrees) and just leaves the flavour so should be ok for kids......if u still dont fancy this could u seperate a portion before u add the alcohol and use stock in the kids portion....depends on the recipe i suppose

stef240377

It depends what is going to be cooked and how. Some recipes the alcohol will evaporate others you can use fruit juices to substitute.

phizzimum

also it depends on what purpose the alcohol serves in the recipe.

for example if it is to add flavour to a desert you could use vanilla, cinammon, lemon zest (depending on what you like)

or is it being used as a marinade to make meat more tender? substituting something acidic like orange juice, soya sauce, flavoured vinegar would work

trader_girl

i have a recipe for pork chops in cider and apple. i add apple juice to the kids chops and do ours in a seperate pan, they love it.
you can use non alchoholic wine for recipes .
not sure what you could put in a steak and ale pie though lol.

Farway

jackie_w wrote: »

What do you do if you want to cook a recipe and it tells you to add aclohol to it, but, your wanting to give it to children .
Is there anything I can substitute for the alcohol?

Jackie

I would not bother substituting, unless on moral grounds, by the time it is cooked it cetainly will not turn them in alcholics or make them tipsy

Just do as the French do, let them get used to it, in the security of their home

Pink.

Hi Jackie,

I have used alcohol in cooking since my children were small and as others have said if it's cooked for long enough at at high enough temperature you will get the flavour but not the alcohol in the end dish. In my opinion spaghetti bolognese and boeuf stroganoff (two of my kids favourites) just aren't the same without a good glug of wine.

I have also made desserts containing alcohol (which hasn't been cooked) for adult friends coming round and the children insisted on trying them but took one mouthful and wouldn't eat any more because the dish tasted alcoholic and it's a taste most children don't enjoy.

Pink

jackie_w

Hi There,

Many thinks everyone for your replies. I dont mind cooking with alcohol, Ive just never done it for anything that the kids would have.

I was looking through my recipe book, for meal plans for the coming few weeks, and it was a beef stew that required some red wine. Ive never tried spag bol with red wine in it before, although, I know many people use it in their recipes.

I think I will start using it if a recipe requires it, and see what happens, I tend to cook my meat for a long time anyway, so, I think it would be okay.

Jackie

paddy's_mum

One of my daughters once gave me a fridge magnet that she had spotted because it was so true of me. It read "I like to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food"!

cooking-mama

Im thinking of doing a search for a recipe for steak and ale casserole to cook in the slow cooker,I have diced steak,onions,mushrooms,and a bottle of Newcastle brown ale...if i pour the ale in with the beef in the morning will it still be OK to serve to my daughters,will the alcohol burn off,or does the slow cooker not reach high enough temperatures?(altho mine does maintain a high simmer after a few hours on high.thanks.

Jem8472

If you brown the meat before you put it in the SC then I would deglaze the frying pan with the beer and maybe reduce it a little before putting it into the SC.