If you're alcoholic...

[HangingOver]

Do you cook with alcohol? I'm nearly 5 years sober and just started using red wine in a certain recipe (the little stock pot things aren't as good). Being so near the sight and smell of it is pretty strange. I buy a tiny bottle just for the recipe and put it all in.

Just curious.

No, none of those things actually. It's on Spotify. I took the link down as it appeared to cause offence. It's easy to look up if you have Spotify. It might be on other platforms, although I'm not sure.

I know what you mean, sun dried tomatoes add an amazing flavour. Where I can I buy the already chopped ones for exactly the reason they are horrible to handle 😆

I am a ‘lay person’ in this context, but if I wanted an alternative approach to alcoholism, you have killed ‘group thinking’ dead in the water by the way you have behaved on this thread. You seem to lack insight to a truly extreme degree.

@HangingOver thank you for explaining.

Enough is enough. Reported.

Alcohol macerates the other ingredients - softens them, releases the flavours - and so do a lot of other things, like tomatoes. If your dish has some acidic ingredients and/or you've marinated the meat before cooking, you don't need the wine to perform this function and it's there for the flavour.

I think your comment about intrusive thoughts was insightful. I have long suspected that the 'no alcohol in cooking' thing's more about those who would love to tell themselves they've had a bit of wine in the bœuf bourguignon so they may as well neck a bottle now. The alcohol will have evaporated by the time you eat it.

This. I can’t believe the blasting in and recommendation of podcasts and sober lit (which I’ve read and listened to btw) over in person support that has already worked for OP.

i also found the podcasts and books interesting inspiring and relatable by also lightweight and easily forgotten, certainly not a form of ongoing support, certainly not one that will eg stop you whizzing out to the off license at 8pm on a random Friday

Let's do the maths.

The first recipe I googled suggested 125ml of red wine for a 4 person serving.

One 750ml bottle contains 10 units of alcohol. Therefore 125ml contains 1.66 units of alcohol.

After an hours cooking that will reduce to 0.4 units.

Divide by 4 servings is 0.1 unit of alcohol. Less than 2 teaspoons of 'raw' wine.

Whether that is the risk, or the opened bottle now languishing on the counter is the risk is debatable. For the sake of either I'd argue the cost of a half decent bottle isn't worth it anyway - buy a red wine stock pot (despite pp suggestion of them not tasting authentic -in this case isn't that the point?)

A good cook in my family never uses alcohol in dishes for this reason. The rest of the wider family almost never cook with alcohol, not sure why, perhaps connected or perhaps not! I don’t either. The food is still tasty.

In your situation I’d not bother thinking about or trying it, just for marginally tastier food

I don’t think any alcoholic is “ over it” . He doesn’t consider himself cured which is why in meetings they still say my name is whatever and I’m an alcoholic. He will buy me alcohol and can have it happily in the house . He feels neutral about it BUT he managed to get sober on his first attempt which is very very rare and he doesn’t take his sobriety lightly so the things he does absolutely work for him as 15 years sobriety proves.

Podcasts and books were not the only way I got sober. Therapy and getting to the bottom of my trauma was a key part with a trained therapist. Plus medication. The quit lit and podcasts were a Springboard to get out of that AA 'mindset'. You're making assumptions about me. I have not elaborated on my own recovery and removed my recommendations as they were not wanted.

I have no problem eating anything with alcohol in it but will only buy nonalcoholic wine to cook with purely because I will drink it otherwise.

@HangingOver . The problem is not your method of recovery.

My initial response was polite, compassionate and informative.

Why did I bother posting ? Because in my opinion , I hear "I'm fearful of cooking with a small amount of wine. I'll post on here and contact my sponsor"

Rightly or wrongly, I feel that instilled fear comes from your recovery method. That's fine if you like that method. No problem.

But from someone who has a recovery that does not hold that belief or fear (and believe me I was an "alcoholic" that's now 7 years sober ) although it could be 8, I don't religiously count it. I can't help but think it's a valid response to say "hey, you don't have to live like that!" So there was a valid point to me posting.

I accept that in your mind (and some others ) they're not getting the point of my posts and just think I'm on here to talk about my recovery. (I'm not )

However, regardless, the civil and polite way to respond would be "thanks for your concern, but I'm happy with my recovery method" or better still ignore my post. It's just one piece of advice. Humans have differing view points.

So far in this thread : I've been called a cowpat, told to "go away", accused of not being an "alcoholic" accused of not classing wine as "alcohol" accused of reading a few quit lit books and 'ping' - I'm recovered! I've been accused of being a "religious zealot" " evangelical". The tone has been abusive, aggressive and cruel.

Goodness - your anger at @Jalapenosplease is totally disproportionate. I believe @Jalapenosplease was genuinely trying to be helpful - however misplaced. I certainly don’t think she meant to cause offence. Why such aggression towards her? I’m not an alcoholic so not an expert, but it doesn’t seem inconceivable that more than one method could work…

I believe I am completely teetotal. I don’t believe sloshing a glass of wine into a spag bol changes that.

We'll have to agree to disagree ThatsNot, on being teetotal.

You know what @Jalapenosplease don't bother starting your own thread, this one's yours.

Just as well I’m not bothered by your opinion. I consider myself completely teetotal/sober and am comfortable with my sobriety

I don't expect you to be bothered by my opinion, what a strange thing to say. My post wasn't directed at individuals. Teetotal means total abstinence from alcohol. Imbibing alcohol makes a person not teetotal.

Aggressive? Do you know what that means? That reply from op was not aggressive.
Jalapeno came on this thread to give their unasked for opinion and has continued to comment like a dog with a bone. They completely derailed the thread, they could have easily started their own thread as many on this one said they'd be interested in

Really? After your first (insulting) post, where you assumed OP was in AA and elected to educate her about how silly she is to view alcohol that way (clearly you've had a brush with AA at some point and remain weirdly full of resentment, bitterness, and contempt towards what you believe it entails), you have gone on (again from that well of boundless compassion you keep telling us you have) to insult and berate other posters, and repeatedly declare yourself a victim when posters object to your railroading of OP's thread, which was a cooking question. None of that emanates 'peace'.

Have you apologized to the OP for not grasping she was not actually an AA member, even after she explicitly stated that fact? Perhaps I missed it, as you seem to have posted 50 times.