Monday, January 4, 2010

The Basics Of Cooking With Alcohol

By Richard Stokes

Alcohol is an ingredient in many different recipes - it is used in a variety of soups, stews, sauces, marinades and desserts. This is because the flavors in certain foods become fuller and more noticeable with alcohol.

Any alcohol can not be added to any food though; you must correctly match the right kind of alcohol with the right kind of food. If the match is not correct then the alcohol will simply worsen the taste of a food, which will also happen if too much alcohol is added.

Of course, the smaller the amount of alcohol added to the dish originally, the less alcohol content there will be in the dish after cooking. Contrary to popular belief, the alcohol is not completely burned off during cooking.

Research has shown that most of the alcohol is retained after cooking for short periods of time. It is unlikely that the alcohol content retained will be high enough to get those eating the dish drunk though. It actually several hours for all of the alcohol in a dish to be burnt off.

As well as the quantity of alcohol added, the quality of it will also have a significant effect on the taste of the finished dish. Avoid using cheap beers, wines and liqueurs for cooking, as using quality brands will give a much superior taste.

Should you wish to do so, you can actually avoid using alcohol in recipes that require it. Though you will not get the full bodied flavor of using alcoholic beverages, you can use non-alcoholic wine or beer in your recipes. To replace flavored liqueur or rum in recipes, use zests or extracts of juices and, for heartier liqueurs, use tomato sauce or juice mixed with Worcestershire sauce or soy sauce.

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