TryTryAgain

Hello,

Yesterday I decided to make Chicken Marsala. The recipe looked so easy and received rave reviews on the recipe website.

I considered following the recipe as written, which would mean I would have to buy a bottle of Marsala wine. Since the recipe called for only 1/2 cup of wine, my AV, that jerk, whispered to me that I could just chug whatever was left.

So, instead of following that horrible advice, I looked up substitutions for Marsala. Did you know you can use 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar instead of 1/2 cup of the wine? I used the loveliest balsamic in my pantry, and the dish was a total success!

I've heard that alcohol burns off when cooked, but is that even true? Does anyone know?

Anyway, hooray for balsamic vinegar!

newhope01

Hello TryTryAgain,

True, nearly almost all of the alcohol burns off when cooked but there is still a negligible amount of alcohol that remains. People who are allergic should steer clear of foods made with alcohols.

Marsala wine is a cooking wine and is not meant to be consumed.. tastes pretty awful and will make you pretty sick if you try. Of course, that mere fact alone has not stopped some of us from letting the AV get its way.

How did it taste with the balsamic vinegar? Bet it tasted just as yummy.

TryTryAgain

Hi Hope,

The dish was absolutely delicious using balsamic. Maybe even better! ;-)

Now see, I didn't even know Marsala was not for consumption. Wow, that would have been a true disaster.

Thanks!

LBrain

yes, with a little research one can find many substitutions and alternatives to alcohol in recipes. Some dishes you can't. And some 'purists' will say no.
As long as the recipe is followed and the cooking is done properly, the alcohol does burn off. The problem is more psychological than anything.
If you are concerned and have to ask these questions the best answer is to avoid using alcohol in recipes - and pour the leftover liquid down the drain if you do use it. It can get expensive, but keeping a bottle of unused alcohol is not a good idea. I drank marsala already from the pantry - it tastes nasty. But I drank it anyway. Now I can look back at how utterly ridiculous those actions were.
This subject comes up often here. Best to just forgo the alcohol in recipes until you have five years of sobriety - or some number.

Anna

Alcohol does not burn off with cooking. This is the percentage of alcohol retained after cooking:

alcohol added to boiling liquid & removed from heat 85%
alcohol flamed 75%
no heat, stored overnight 70%
baked, 25 minutes, alcohol not stirred into mixture 45%
Baked/simmered dishes with alcohol stirred into mixture:
15 minutes cooking time 40%
30 minutes cooking time 35%
1 hour cooking time 25%
1.5 hours cooking time 20%
2 hours cooking time 10%
2.5 hours cooking time 5%

SoberLeigh

Thanks, TTA. I have been avoiding Chicken Marsala - now where is my crockpot?

newhope01

There was a lady on here who had some recovery time under her belt and one of the ways she coped with using alcohol in recipes, was she would keep only about a cup in her home at a time and it would keep it frozen in her freezer.

Thought that was a novel idea, but then again of course she did have some recovery time under her belt.

LBrain

I stand corrected.

MIRecovery

If that was me I'd get addicted to winesicles

terribob

MMMMM...winesicles!

To the OP, my drunk mind went to how bad could cooking wine possibly be? Answer? Real bad. It's salted and will cause you to vomit profusely.

I can't have alcohol in the house in any form or I'll drink it. There's probably some out there who can just cook with it, just not me.

Soberpotamus

Winesicles came to mind when I read it too

Yeah, not gonna happen for me for a while - the cooking with wine. Though I do love dishes cooked in wine and they don't trigger me. But having a bottle of wine in my home would absolutely be a ticking time bomb for me.

Soberwolf

I used to cook with alcohol & had no problem but since i first discussed it here in August i dont anymore looking back over that thread made me giggle i was on a diet at the time its nice looking back i loved food so much back then i still do but its a lot more balanced and NO ALCOHOL goes near my food since that thread (check the link)

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...king-wine.html

My food is still amazing without alcohol

TryTryAgain

Wow, everyone!

Thanks for all the input. This has been educational, encouraging, and even funny!

Feels good to have made the choice I made.

PurpleKnight

It doesn't all cook off, but as you've discovered there are alternatives!!

Chicken Marsala sounds tasty!!

newhope01

Thanks for sharing that thread soberwolf. It was a good read.

MissOverIt

This! Cooked in wine is no problem for me and I only taste the enhanced dish but the remainder in my home would be spooky. I'd have to dump it...assuming I could make it to the sink. Lol!

phoebe64

My issue would be the leftovers. I am not triggered by the wine used in cooking as it blends in and I don't taste it as alcohol. The exception would be alcohol on a cake, so not cooked own at all.

Marsala wine is very drinkable if you buy real Marsala, at the liquor store, as opposed to from the vinegar section of a grocery store. It is a fortified wine, aged and can be sweet, or dry. Dry ones are often used as an aperitif, and sweeter ones as a dessert wine. They are simply not as popular these days and more known for cooking. But it doesn't really matter because none of us should be drinking it anyway. But it would be a problem as a leftover in my home. If I have an open bottle of wine I will eventually drink it.

The winesicle comment made me laugh. It would be very true for me. Funny, but not at the same time.

NightNDay

Thank you for posting this. THANK YOU. Seriously. This topic came up in a meeting recently, and nearly everyone in that room (some of them A.A. oldtimers) insisted that it was perfectly fine to cook with alcohol "because all of it burns off." I was weary, because why in God's name do I even want to tempt myself?

Seriously, so many of the people in that meeting kept insisting that it was a perfectly fine thing to do -- the only "downside" being that then you have to go to a liquor store and buy alcohol (it's not sold in grocery stores where I live) and how that's a bit of a gray area. Even so, several people admitted to going to the liquor store and purchasing alcohol for cooking. This sounded insane to me.

SoberLife2014

I use this website for alcohol substitution in my recipes.

Alcohol Cooking Substitutions - Alcohol Substitute Recipes

Food can still taste just as good without the alcohol.

feathersandhope

Balsamic vinegar! Brilliant! Praise The Lord. There is no way I could cook with wine these days and have faced similar dilemmas... cooking and drinking wine was an old pastime for me.