Urgent. Cooking for recovering alcoholic. Substitute for white wine please!

[Reallyimeanreally2022]

Fright in middle of cooking a Ragu with pork and veal (it’s a blonde Ragu ie no tomato’s and uses milk)

Recipe call for 500 ml of white wine

What’s a brilliant substitute for this kind of meaty pasta sauce

Thanks so much

@idontlikealdi

Chicken stock pot and water, you don't have to have wine.

You do seem a little aggressive though op.

Yep

Am when I come to this.

As indeed anyone else close to an alcoholic would be and have seen what’s happened over last ten years and how close you came to losing them

@Reallyimeanreally2022

Concerned that some posters may serve a recovering alcoholic and think “oh well it’ll burn off”

Please read this from alcohol advocacy

** Taste Triggers: If you think of addiction as a disease, the answer to your question becomes immediately clear. If your friend were deathly allergic to lemons, you wouldn’t cook with them because even trace amounts could trigger a negative response. For alcoholics, recovered or in recovery, the taste of alcohol can act as a trigger. It can trip cravings, and that can set them up for disaster. Using alcohol to infuse flavor probably isn’t a good idea.
Alcohol Doesn’t Burn Off: It’s a myth. Alcohol doesn’t burn off completely during the cooking process. com has a chart displaying how much alcohol is retained after cooking, and it might surprise you. A dish needs to bake or simmer for up to 2 hours to reduce the alcohol retained to 10 percent. The average dish calls for alcohol to be added to boiling liquid, which can retain up to 85 percent of the alcohol. For someone fighting alcohol addiction, adding it to a dish can be dangerous.
The biggest challenge for a recovering alcoholic is craving. If they were never a wine drinker, the taste of wine in a dish shouldn’t trigger a want to drink. However, if they were a bourbon drinker, cooking with bourbon or similar tasting alcohol could trigger a craving.

You also need to consider your friend or relative’s wishes. Have they sworn off all alcohol? If so, cooking with it could undermine their resolution.

Can an Alcoholic Cook with Alcohol?

What if you are a recovered (or recovering) alcoholic? Can you safely cook with alcohol? First, all of the above applies to you. Taste can trigger a relapse or cause hard to resist cravings. Second, alcohol doesn’t completely burn off. Reintroducing it to your body could prove to be a setback. But there’s another aspect you need to consider; will cooking with a bottle of alcohol tempt you to drink it straight?

You might be able to consume alcohol that’s been cooked with no side effects. But if you’re the one preparing the meal, can you only cook with that alcohol? You have to ask yourself what your limits are and then respect those limits, adapting as needed.

Then why on gods green earth, with literally thousands of recipe to choose from, would you go for one with half a litre! of wine in?

To be fair, it depends on the individual.
Obviously in OP’s case, his guests wish to be cautious in which case, I’d either substitute with a light vegetable stock or preferably, find a recipe that doesn’t require any alcohol.

DH has been in recovery for more than 25 years and I’ve always cooked with wine if the recipe called for it. I rarely drink alcohol myself as it gives me migraines but we do have booze in the house for guests and DH will mix amazing alcoholic cocktails for other people to drink without tasting them himself.

I know that for some recovering alcoholics, having booze in the house simply isn’t an option.

Chicken stock

Dont need lemon juice just use chicken stock and a bay leaf

(Very very experienced cook)

I would cook something else that doesn't require alcohol!

@Aposterhasnoname

Read previous post
Last dish I went to do, especially as I don’t like milk

Bit bit of a joke and follows a spirited debate during previous dinner party
Anyway must get on. So will sign off but thank you all

Don’t like meat

It might have helped to put all the drip feeds in the OP then, if you’re that sensitive about his history to be narky at posters who are just trying to help

@cultkid

No balsamic vinegar??

@Shirleyphallus

It might have helped to put all the drip feeds in the OP then, if you’re that sensitive about his history to be narky at posters who are just trying to help

“Recovering alcoholic”

That should have been sufficient.

“Recovering” ie continuous

You never describe “recovered”, in which case… wine would have been fine

Chicken or vegetable stock, add a few extra herbs and some garlic. Don't panic!

Followed up second later that i had promised him and wife

Stock and a tiny bit of vinegar

I use alcohol free cooking wine, I get it at Waitrose in the cooking section with the stock.

An alcoholic is never “recovered”

I just use stock.
possibly a dash of white balsamic vinegar for the acidity.

OP you are rude.

If you don't get that then you need to read back and in particular take into consideration the time stamp on the posts and the time it takes to type a response and press send and the fact that other posts may be typing whilst your response is posting.

Thanks. That is all.

Chicken stock and a teaspoon of mild mustard. It has that tang! Trust me, been down a whole substitution lane myself

There are so many dishes that doesn't require wine etc for the recipe. 500ml of wine is quite a lot, why can you just choose the alcohol free recipe in the first place if you are cooking for recovering alcoholics?

@Aquamarine1029

There won't be any alcohol left after it's cooked off.

Unless OP intends to simmer for 2+ hours then yes, there will be.

I’m also married to a recovering alcoholic, I also don’t use alcohol in any recipes, balsamic vinigar, stick cubes,Worcestershire sauce, herbs and spices are what I use for flavour, nothing is worth risking a trigger for them. The new alcohol free Guiness that’s just come out he would love to try but is too nervous the taste might trigger him, it’s simply not worth it after nearly 8 years sober.

@Redjumper1

OP you are rude.

If you don't get that then you need to read back and in particular take into consideration the time stamp on the posts and the time it takes to type a response and press send and the fact that other posts may be typing whilst your response is posting.

Thanks. That is all.

You don’t have any experience with alcoholism, do you?

I’d love a quote where I was rude.

“Recovering alcoholic” in thread title.

Ps it smells delicious. Is this one of those dishes that the longer you cook on lower heat the better?

I'd use cider vinegar, lightly sweetened

I use apple juice for white wine and grape juice for red.

Sober for 23 years.