bpclay1

This thanksgiving I'll be three years sober. I've posted before, but been doing great, haven't been back till now.

My girlfriend marinated some steaks in red wine, and we ate them tonight. I didn't really think anything of it, as I've always heard the alcohol cooks out. First bite had a strong taste of red wine, and made me uncomfortable. I ate it for her benefit, considering what I've heard, and that I had her cook mine for a very long time to be sure.

After eating it I started to worry about what I've done... Starting reading the facts about cooking with alcohol... Reading it actually doesn't cook out. Now I'm feeling dizzy... Like I'm buzzed... Like I've ended my three year streak...

That's crazy right? I'm hoping it's some sort of placebo effect. I don't think I, at 250 lbs, could get a buzz from that...

Just hoping to find some encouragement and some reassurance

suki44883

I don't think you really have anything to worry about; sounds like this may be an idea in your head. However, I would tell my girlfriend that I won't eat anything made with alcohol in the future. Does she know you are a recovering alcoholic? If not, I think she should know. If she does know, then I think she should be willing to do this in support of your recovery.

bpclay1

I think you're right. Yeah she knows I'm an alcoholic... And we have decreed a new law of no alcohol in my food from here on out.

Midton

I think the alcohol evaporates in the cooking process

advbike

You're fine. Just don't obsess on it. What slight amount of alcohol might have been left in there won't trigger anything.. unless YOU make it into something.

Dee74

it doesn't as much as you'd think Midton.




That being said bpclay - you have three years and some, and you've taken steps to ensure it won't happen again.

That pretty much covers the bases as I see things

If you feel a little wobbly in the next few days feel free to post about it here, or utilise whatever other support you have

D

SereneEdition

A similar thing happened to me 3 months ago. I was quite upset at myself for choosing politeness over my recovery. I doubled down on my recovery for my own piece of mind and I was fine. I didn't reset my date. Good luck to you and congrats on your sobriety time!

Secretdrinker

I don't understand that burn off chart....how can 40% be burnt off a simmered/baked dish that's been cooking for 15 minutes, but only 5% be burnt off after it's been looking for 2.5 hours?

Sorry if that makes total sense to everyone else but me, I'm useless at maths!

dcg

Because the chart indicates the % of alcohol retained , not the % evaporated after cooking.

Reset

I'm a lot newer to this than a lot of people here, but it would seem to me that intent is important. Meaning, if you ate something that had wine in it without consciously and deliberately trying to get some booze in your system, it shouldn't really matter. It's not like you had a really crappy day and pulled over to the liquor store for whatever reason.

If you were licking the remaining juice off the plate however, that might be different.

Secretdrinker

Oh duh haha! Thanks I need to learn to read everything properly.

mecanix

i think your 3 years will be there intact ,
I think your intent was true in staying sober,
You haven't cooked up another 20 of them since and had a binge ?

Keep on being careful and respectful of alcohol and i think you'll be fine .

I accidentally had a vodka soaked tomato at 4 weeks and it felt like a good excuse to throw the cards in and have a binge , but i didn't, i stayed true , 4 weeks is now 4 years .

keep on

m

MythOfSisyphus

I really wouldn't sweat it! It's true that some alcohol won't cook out; alcohol is 'hydrophilic' meaning it has a chemical affinity for water. To get all the alcohol out you need molecular distillation or a centrifuge. But let's put it in in realistic terms. Even assuming that only half of the wine cooked out (note: considerable over half probably did) how much wine could have been in the meat to begin with? Due to osmotic pressure some exchange does take place with the water in the meat, but beef is not a dry sponge! Very little of the marinade actually penetrates. If you were to weigh the vessel with the wine before adding the steak, then again after removing the meat, odds are it would be hard to detect the difference with a home scale. There's a strong flavor of the wine but bear in mind that you could drink one sip of wine and get the full flavor of the wine even though it's maybe one ml of liquid.

Contrast this with something like Coq Au Vin where a bird is cooked in wine and that wine is the backbone of the sauce. There you might actually consume enough of the sauce for it to be a concern (although in reality that dish is cooked for several hours, minimizing the amount of alcohol).

Long story short- no need to reset your sobriety date! It's impossible for you to have eaten enough wine in the steak to give a buzz. Now psychologically some people are strongly triggered just from a taste, so it's something to keep an eye on.

I still buy a couple bottles of wine per month on average, just for cooking. I've never had any issues myself. Wine is acidic which is very useful in cooking and is an important flavor component. If you worry about it then have your GF use some good vinegar. It will perform many of the same functions in a marinade (eg. flavoring and breaking down proteins in meat) without any worry of triggering of intoxication.

Executive Chef and Food Nerd,
MoS

Meraviglioso

Thanks MoS for your informative post. I agree, no need to reset your date in my opinion. I do not have issue with food cooked with wine and it does not trigger me to eat foods cooked with wine.
Right now, where I'm at in my work at sobriety I cannot have wine in the house and I cannot do the cooking with wine myself for fear of drinking the wine intended for cooking. But if I were served something I would not have a problem with it.

trachemys

Yes, that's crazy.

Carver

You didn't drink it out of a bottle - forget it. You've taken steps to ensure it doesn't happen again, so I'd say you take your sobriety very seriously. Don't worry about it

Soberwolf

This is exactly why I won't food cooked in alcohol

OpenTuning

It was my daughter's birthday a few days ago and she asked for her favourite meal. Fish and Chips. I used Hugh Fearnley Whittingstal's recipe for beer battered fish and chips, as I always have. uses 200 grams of flour and about 250ml of beer for the batter. About half a pint.

I did briefly wonder if I needed to find a new recipe, but every restaurant in the UK uses the same recipe just about, and am I really prepared to give up fish and chips? That would be a real sacrifice

Anyway, I worked it out. So that's 1 unit of alcohol. About 1/3 of the batter is always left over, so that's 2/3 of a unit left. There were three portions this time, so we're at 2/9 of a unit per person. It's then deep fried at high temperature for about 3-5 minutes depending on the size of the fish. Don't see that in the chart above, but let's say that's roughly equivalent to simmering for 15 mins, so 2/5 of 2/9 would be left per portion. Or 4/45 of a unit. Or 8.8 % of a unit.

To put it another way, I would need to eat 22 portions of fish to be the equivalent of having a pint of 4% bitter. I was stuffed after one. I feel my sobriety is safe

More relevant, though, is the issue of triggers. What I didn't think about until I did it was cracking the lid off the pint of ale, and finding myself with half a bottle of beer left over. If I was any less solid in my sobriety right now that could have been a real issue. It still felt weird pouring the rest down the sink. So I'd say that's a valid concern. I don't think you could have physically felt the effect of the alcohol in the marinade, but if the taste was causing any weakening of your resolve, then makes sense to do what you did and agree not to cook with wine till you feel on more solid footing at least. But I'd certainly say your day count is still intact.

Dee74

I love my fish and chips too

I find what you say interesting because I don't think I've ever had beer battered fish and chips, maybe in a upmarket restaurant perhaps, but never at my local chippy..

I understand it's not a problem for you, but if it was, you'd be able to find a non-alcoholic recipe pretty easily

I haven't used alcohol in my cooking for a long time now. I think the flavours are better for it

D

OpenTuning

Hi, yes, I don't think the takeaways would use beer in the batter for cost reasons, but with the rise of "gastro pubs" over here it's hard to find any places to eat in that don't make it with whatever the most locally brewed ale is.

I might have a look at other recipes for home cooking if for no other reason than to have a lighter batter. There's a reason I can only manage one portion. To be honest, I can't really taste the beer once its been cooked, think it's used more for the yeast in it, so I doubt a change is anything the kids would notice as long as it was still deep fried