Cooking with alcohol

[NoTeaForMe]

Hi all,

As the day are getting colder we're coming up to stew time!! All the stews and casseroles we make have wine or beer in them!! Do I have to find new recipes or am I ok giving them to my 10month old?!

I thought alcohol 'cooks off' but I've also heard that's not true!!

Thanks!

I'm sure it cooks off if it has time so as long as it isn't added right at the end it should be fine I reckon. No expert though.

I think it needs to boil for 3 minutes to cook off. Or flambe it which will cook the alcohol off for sure.

Or you could use non alcoholic beer? (although I'd do the 3 minute boiling as well).

I had the same problem and relied on the USDA figures quoted here. I switched from wine to beer and used a long cook time (1.5 hours +). I figured that a small baby is eating a tiny amount of food, so I chose not to worry about the remaining alcohol (i.e. in a stew made with two bottles of 5% beer cooked for 1.5 hours, one would add 5 units of alcohol and eat just one unit, spread over the entire stew - my 10 month old would have eaten a couple of tablespoonsful of stew and therefore consumed almost no alcohol).

I wouldnt worry too much about it - its mixed with food, it will not be like making your baby drink a shot of spirit or anything! Its just flavour - the alcohol will cook off and if it doesnt, it isnt going to hurt him in anyway witht he small quantity he will consume from it.
I like to use red wine in stews and casseroles too - i usualy stick a little glug in at the beggining so more than likely its has totally cooked off bythe end anyway.