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       Volume I - November 12, 2010

Another Approach to Gourmet Cooking:
Move Over Julia Child!

by Alice Osborne

For religious and health reasons, I avoid drinking alcohol. So I’ve been wondering about something in terms of cooking: Why do some recipes call for wine, and what are the benefits of cooking with this stuff? The answer in a nutshell: cooking with wine can enhance flavor and cut down on the amount of fat needed (in some recipes, you can substitute wine for all or part of the specified quantity of oil).

Flavor and health are good, but I still wondered, WHAT HAPPENS TO THE ALCOHOL in the cooking process? Conventional information says that after a few minutes of cooking, the alcohol in wine evaporates. Not exactly. Research from the USDA shows that 85% of the alcohol remains after wine is added to a boiling liquid and then removed from the heat.

The longer a dish is cooked, however, the less alcohol remains. If a food is baked or simmered 15 minutes, 40% of the alcohol will remain; after one hour, only 25% remains; after 2 ½ hours, just 5%. But since wine does not have a large amount of alcohol to begin with (generally 12 to 14%), the final amount of alcohol in a dish is not a problem for most people.

Hmmm, I dunno. I think if there’s even a trace of alcohol, I will skip the adventure and find a substitute for the wine. So guess what I found when I went looking for this very thing? HAH! On About.com I found an entire table of substitutes for 9 common wines. Now I can have the flavor without the alcohol! (For those that do want to cook with the real McCoy, the Cooking Light website had great information on what specific wines should be used for...

Meanwhile, here’s the table of wine substitutions that you may find very helpful:

Alcoholic Ingredient

Description

 

 

Substitution

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brandy

 

 

Liqueur made of distilled wine

Try apple, apricot, cherry, peach,

 

 

 

or fruit juice

 

 

raspberry or grape juice. Cor-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

responding flavored extracts can be

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

for small amounts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Claret

 

 

Red wine or bordeaux

 

Non-alcoholic wine, diluted

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

currant or grape juice, cherry

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

cider syrup

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cognac

 

 

Aged, double-distilled wine

 

Peach, apricot or pear juice

 

 

 

 

or fermented fruit juice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Red Burgundy

 

Dry French wine

 

 

Non-alcoholic wine, red wine

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

vinegar or grape juice

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Red wine

 

 

Sweet or dry wine

 

 

Non-alcoholic wine, beef or

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

chicken stock or broth, diluted

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

red win vinegar, grape juice

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

diluted with red wine vinegar

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

or rice vinegar, tomato juice,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

liquid from canned mushrooms

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

or plain water

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sherry

 

 

Fortified dessert wine, sweet

 

Orange or pineapple juice

 

 

 

 

or dry, some with a slightly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

nutty flavor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vermouth

 

Wine-based drink infused

 

For sweet, use non-alcoholic

 

 

 

 

with herbs, sweet or dry

 

sweet wine, apple or grape

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

juice or balsamic vinegar. For

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

dry, use non-alcoholic white

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

wine, white grape juice or

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

white wine vinegar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

White Burgundy

 

Dry French wine

 

 

Non-alcoholic wine, white

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

grape juice diluted with white

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

wine vinegar

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

White wine

 

Sweet or dry wine

 

 

Non-alcoholic wine, chicken

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

broth or stock, diluted white

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

wine vinegar or cider vinegar,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

white grape juice diluted with

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

white wine vinegar or ginger

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ale, canned mushroom liquid,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

water.  For marinades, substi-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

tute 1/4 C vinegar plus 1 Tbsp

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

sugar plus 1/4 C water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



















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