No, it is not safe to assume that. I would not do it.
Lisa

Alcohol Burn-off Chart

Preparation Method Percent Retained
alcohol added to boiling liquid & removed from heat 85%
alcohol flamed 75%
no heat, stored overnight 70%
baked, 25 minutes, alcohol not stirred into mixture 45%
Baked/simmered dishes with alcohol stirred into mixture:
15 minutes cooking time 40%
30 minutes cooking time 35%
1 hour cooking time 25%
1.5 hours cooking time 20%
2 hours cooking time 10%
2.5 hours cooking time 5%

Aren't there commercial de-alcoholized wines?

Non alcoholic wine is for the most part awful....and expensive.
If he has "issues" like he is on Antibuse, I wouldn't chance it.....if he chooses not to consume alcohol, I wouldn't think a thing about it....no more alcohol in thata fter it has cooked for hours, than in an over ripe pineapple or some over proofed bread.
Just tell him to not breathe the fumes from the pot!!
Linda C

You can simmer it for a while before adding it to your recipe to add to the cook-off factor, I suppose. I do that sometimes.

The least you'll probably ever get it down to is 3% (that I remember from some class I was in ages ago.) Then factor in that he's not going to be eating a huge amount and that's probably be less than would be in a wine vinaigrette.

It's a tough decision. I have a relative who is in recovery and knowing what it took for her to get that, I've decided not to push our luck.

Non alcoholic wines have gotten better in the last five years. And I know in one of the food trade mags I saw a couple years ago, there is a de-alcoholed wine "base" on the market.

When I made my lasagne sauce the other day I was curious about this too but it only called for 1/2 C. Since mine simmered and then baked for almost 2 1/2 hours, I did a google search and found that there wasn't much left. Since I wasn't eating the entire pan (although I wanted to) I decided that I would go for it. I have to be careful because of medication and I know others do too. Having a whole bottle would make me reconsider though.

As a non-drinker in recovery, I will still cook with wine on occasion, and cook till it is down to that A recipe with a whole bottle becomes more of a issue imho. To me this is pushing it, and with the many many things one could make instead, I'd pass on this one for his behalf. Why not err on the side of caution without making an issue of it, and rethink this dish for another year.

Thank you for all the input. I did some more research after I posted my question. Beef Burgundy simmered for 2.5 hours has about 4% of the alcohol remaining. I'll think on it. Chicken Cordon Bleu is second choice. Thank you again!
-Pam

I don't drink and I've tried the non-alcohol wine. I would agree it's awful but the stuff I've found is not expensive. I wonder how it would be for cooking. I use regular wine in cooking since my alcohol free state is not the result of being in recovery.

It seems to me that this is more a personal choice more than a real risk. Consider the following:

4oz cognac x .40 (typical cognac)= 1.6 oz alcohol x .75 (flamed, per above) = 1.2 oz alcohol.

750ml wine = 30oz x .14 (typical wine) = 4.2 oz alcohol

Simmer this for 1.5 hours, per the recipe, and your 5.4 oz is down to 1.08 oz alcohol. Bump it up to two hours and you're at .54 oz. Divide by 6 servings and you've got .09 oz.

A 12 oz bottle of "non-alcoholic" beers may have .5%, or .06 oz of alcohol. So basically it burns down to (no pun intended) asking is he comfortable consuming the equivalent of one or two (depending on how long you simmer) non-alcoholic beers? Remembering that this is food, not a beverage that's designed to remind you of real beer?

On the other hand, if he prefers to draw a strict line of NO alcohol, then don't serve it.

(Please feel free to correct my math if I went off somewhere!)

What comes to mind about the non-alc "wine" is the old rule for cooking with wine....if you wouldn't drink it, don't cook with it. I would apply that to the substitute as well.

Chicken Cordon Bleu sounds pretty good to me!

Fenworth, that's kind of what I've been thinking. He drinks NA beer whenever we go out or have guests who drink. There will be six of us eating the dish so it sounds like the amount of alcohol in his actual serving would be very small. Also, surely if someone could become intoxicated from eating a meal, the recipe would come with a disclaimer about serving it to children,etc.- one would think. I'd hate to think that my teenagers might become tipsy from dinner!!

Perhaps I shouldn't say anything, but ...

You started by saying that your DH would definitely object to any alcoholic content, so it seems to me that the exact percentage isn't really the issue. To me, it seems like a matter of supporting your husband's decision versus undermining it. Maybe just the wine flavor will set him off on the wrong path again. Or maybe he'll think that, if he can handle 3% with no problem, he can have 5% or 10% next time. So it's not just a question of math. You can make a great beef stew (or some other recipe) without any alcohol.

Sue

I'm chiming in with my two cents in support of sue's post.

I am a complete non-drinker due to medications. If I was invited to a friend's home for dinner & they cooked a meal with wine...I'd be disappointed because all of my friends know that alcohol presents a danger to me. I would feel like they had taken it upon themselves to decide what was OK for me & what was not OK. That's not their role. With so many other dinner menu choices available, it would seem thoughtless, to me. If it were my husband who'd prepared a meal with alchohol...I would be even less pleased.

I think Chicken Cordon Bleu sounds great!

/tricia

Tricia and Sue - Based on the phrasing of the original question I agree with you. The point of my math was to show that the amount of alcohol is negligible to where it might more appropriately be left to a personal decision than a medical one. Note that the post also said he would not object to the flavor.

Based on Marleesmom's reaction to my post, it seems that negligible amounts of alcohol are not a concern. Again, this is his/their decision. I know ex-drinkers who wouldn't drink NA beer, and know ex-drinkers who do with no ill effect. Maybe the right thing to do is simply ask him.

At the very least this thread brought up an important point that's been discussed here before: not all alcohol is cooked out of food.

I don't think the issue of how much alcohol is present is whether or not he will get tipsy. For someone in recovery there is a possibility the alcohol will trigger the desire to drink more. For someone who is abstaining due to drug interactions it does not matter how much alcohol remains, they cannot have any. Personally I would ask him, the math has been presented here so you can tell him what residual alcohol content there will be. If you do not want to ask him, change the menu.

-Robin

to everyone- all very good points and most helpful. I am changing the menu. Now, what to do with the 2.5 lbs of chuck roast in my freezer? Happy Holidays to all!!

-Pam

As a wine lover, I know that what red wine adds to a recipe are flavors of berries, herbs and spices. What I might try would be a mixture of good quality beef stock with a healthy splash or two of 100% cranberry juice (not the Oceanspray stuff). I would also add a small cheescloth baggie to the pot, and fill it with fresh rosemary sprigs, black peppercorns and a bay leaf or two. Those are the flavors you would get from the red wine.

But I wouldn't try an experiment like that for an important holiday meal, so I think you're making the right call with the chicken. Play around with the recipe on some cold, snowy weekend.

Just tossing this out there but do you think that substituting the wine with some watered down white or dark concorde grape juice would work as a substitute, might be a little sweet though it is a flavoring

Roselin's Beef Goulash .

The decision is made (and personally I think it was a good decision), but something else occurred to me reading this -- and I'm willing to risk embarrassment to have someone more logical than I am explain it to me.

We were doing all this math about how much of the alcohol content burns off during cooking. OK, I'm with the logic on that one; the alchohol reduces due to an heat-induced evaporative process. Got it.

Here's the part where I'm scratching my head. HOW is the alcohol content further reduced by dividing by the number of portions? If I have a bottle of wine that if 12% alcohol, then the single glass I have from it is also 12% alcohol and each sip of wine I take from that glass is at 12%.

If I have a platter of Beef Burgundy (or whatever) that has a residual alchohol content of 3%, then the single portion on my plate is also at 3%, and each bite I take would be at 3%. Granted I will not consume the same AMOUNT of alchohol in one serving as opposed to the whole dish just as I wouldn't consume the same AMOUNT of alchohol in a glass as is in a bottle, but the percent stays the same.

Or if it does not, someone please explain why not using non-technical terms. I'm setting aside the argument as to whether it's harmful or desirable and focusing on the math.

Renee, you are correct the number of servings does not affect the percentage of alcohol in each serving. However Fenworth's math converted percent of alcohol to oz's of alcohol in a bottle. The the number of ounces was reduced by cooking and divided into servings. Is that non technical enough?

btw, REALLY good to see you (in the imaginary forum sense).

-Robin

Ever have one of those days were you look at something and say "this really should make sense, so why am I blanking?"
Today is that day for me.

This is what I get for being up 30 hours straight. LOL!

I only knew what your mistake was so easily because I made the same one at first. Did I mention I was a math major in college. Numbers are intuitive to me and I did not always need to study for exams. LOL!

Robin - Another math major here. Which makes it particularly embarrassing how many times I did the math and came up with different results. Fortunately I was just sitting around idle waiting for some jobs to run so I could quintuple check the final numbers before hitting 'submit'!

You're both too kind. :) I should have read it more closely and let it settle in better.

I wish math came easily to me. It was always a major struggle and has been the main reason I don't go back for my master's -- I'd never pass the math!

I think you made the right and respectful decision.