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Weaning

Find weaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Weaning forum. Use our child development calendar for more information.

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Original poster

When cooking food for a baby, can you use wine?

25 replies

Ceebee74 · 01/03/2007 20:19

Before anyone jumps on me from a great height, I don't intend to get my DS drunk!

It is just that I cook lots of yummy dishes (spag bol, risottos etc) that would be great to mash up and freeze for DS but I do put a bit of wine in them during the cooking process.

Would this be ok on the basis that by the time they are cooked, all the alcohol will have evaporated off?

Does anyone know - don't want to get DS drunk intentionally!

OP posts:

morningpaper · 01/03/2007 20:22

I do - like you say, the alcohol evaporates

Most of them cook for an hour or two first

I might not give her a sauce that had only boiled for a few minutes

Then again I might

BarefootDancer · 01/03/2007 20:38

Why not do the dish without wine and drink it yourself instead just to make sure the alcohol isn't wasted?

NAB3 · 01/03/2007 20:39

I wouldn't for a child under 1. Your child though.

BonyM · 01/03/2007 20:41

As you say, alcohol will evaporate. I use it in dishes that I give to dds and they've never suffered any ill effects!

wannaBeWhateverIWannaBe · 01/03/2007 20:42

the alcohol evaporates within 5 minutes. and it is actually possible to tell if there is any alcohol is left as you can smell it as it evaporates off the top.

claireybee · 03/03/2007 13:36

I do. She's never shown any side effects and the alcohol all evaporates anyway.

JodieG1 · 03/03/2007 13:41

I'd use a small amount in a spag bol etc as it cooks for so long anyway and as others have said the alcohol evaporates but I wouldn't use it otherwise.

Fonk · 03/03/2007 13:41

it doesn't all evaporate because the food won't heat uniformly. oh its a long chemical story

I wouldn't

Blandmum · 03/03/2007 13:49

yes you can. Dh had a problem with his pancrea (has cancer now but that is another story) and couldn't have alcohol at all, not even the amount of sherry in a sherry trifle. However we were told that he could have wine in food as long as it was cooked for a very long time.....they way you do with a spag bog.

the alcohol boils off at a much lower temperature than the rest of the food cooks at

Fonk · 03/03/2007 13:53

i KNEW if I said that mb would be the next poster

i KNEW it

and I was right

ha!

my chemistry teacher said no

but she was utterly weird anyway

Blandmum · 03/03/2007 14:07

sorry to be predictable!

googled for the fine detail ' alcohol has a boiling point of 78.3 degC' so it will boil 20 odd degrees lower than the food that you are cooking

Fonk · 03/03/2007 17:54

oh i assumed it was that thing where theres some of variation in a. boiling point of any given molecule or b. just the fact that food isn't heated evenly throughout

I suppose though...I mean, you'd taste it, wouldn't you?

hows the scarf?

Gobbledigook · 03/03/2007 17:56

I never did when mine were under 1ish - after that I did. Ds3 is 2 and he has spag bol with red wine in it.

DetentionGrrrl · 04/03/2007 10:33

i use it but boil the arse off it so there's no booze left.

aDad · 04/03/2007 10:35

you can use stock or small amounts of vinegar can work well for deglazing.

Original poster

Ceebee74 · 04/03/2007 17:46

Thanks for all the replies on this - I think I will give it a whirl but make sure it cooks for ever!

OP posts:

Blandmum · 04/03/2007 17:50

Thing is if you cook with wine you tend to cook it for a long time, so the booze cooks off, leaving behind the other bits in thw wine that add flavour, bit not the ethanol itself.

Lightly cooked stuff would risk there being some ethanol left

NOOEYOUKNOW · 12/04/2017 20:19

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

BlueDaBaDee · 12/04/2017 20:27

😂 calm down dear

Owllady · 12/04/2017 20:30

They are all adults that are ten years older and the OP must have a ten year old by now :o

TittyGolightly · 12/04/2017 20:35

One of DC's favourite things to eat when baby led weaning was fruitcake where the fruit had been soaked in tea and whisky.

She also loved risotto and bolognaise with wine in, a sip of her dad's homebrew and steak with peppercorn and brandy sauce.

LotisBlue · 12/04/2017 20:39

Perhaps the op will pop back to confirm whether her ten year old is now a raging alcoholic as a result of miniscule amount of wine he once consumed in a risotto when he was 9 months old

whistledowntheway · 07/02/2023 14:44

LotisBlue · 12/04/2017 20:39

Perhaps the op will pop back to confirm whether her ten year old is now a raging alcoholic as a result of miniscule amount of wine he once consumed in a risotto when he was 9 months old

Hahaha yes would love to know!

LachrymoseLeeches · 07/02/2023 14:47

The child is almost of legal drinking age now...

Claymorekick · 09/02/2023 07:50

OP here (with a name change- it has been 16 years after all 🤣)

So, I can confirm that my 16 year old is not a raging alcoholic...he likes a beer or 2 occasionally and has had a couple of binge drinking sleepovers with his friends but I will confidently say that is because he is a teenager, not because I gave him food with alcohol in it at 9 months old 😁

God, so funny to see what I was stressed about when he was a baby 😳 as it turns out, he was not a fan of my cooking anyway as he grew up as he is the fussiest eater ever and has not touched risotto or spag bol since he was about 6 😭😭

The way mumsnet now works where all your previous posts are visible and flick to the top of your I'm On threads is both entertaining and mortifying at the same time!

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