KittyCopes

My husband is currently far away from home in rehab. When I get to talk to him, he sounds good, and I'm managing to pick myself up off the floor and work on my own recovery.

I've been thinking about things we will need to or want to change when he gets back, and while a lot of it is sort of heavy, I have one question that seems lighter to me and I'd love any feedback from RAs out there.

I love to cook. Many of my favorite (and my husband's favorite) recipes include wine or beer (i.e. beef bourgignon, a beef stew with Guinness beer).

My thought - and please tell me if I'm off base on this - is that things where the alcohol is "raw", like a rum-soaked poundcake, will not be okay and I'll avoid them. But it seems like stews and simmered dishes would be fine?

Are there things those of you who are RAs avoid eating?

Kitty

Freedom1990

I don't eat anything with alcohol in it. Cooking does not remove the alcoholic content. It does reduce it, but doesn't completely eliminate it.

aasharon90

Avoiding people, places and things that has
anything to do with alcohol has been a plus
in my own recovery. Alcohol is cunning,
baffling and powerful and is lurking around
every corner, drinks, foods and is ready
to take it's next victim.

20 something yrs. of recovery and incorperating
the tools and knowledge of recovery in my
everyday affairs has been a success for me today.

Replacing alcohol with juices and other non
alcohol favorings is available to make many
tasty appealing dishes.

Charon

Aside from the residual alcohol there is a more important consideration - you will have alcohol in the house. IMO not a good idea.

There are things you can substitute. I always used red wine in my spagetti sauce. Now I use red cooking wine or a specialty vinegar. I don't really miss the wine. A substitute for beer might be NA beer. I don't cook with beer so I don't know. I do know you can find lots of substitutes for alcoholic ingredients on line. Most of them work pretty good.

The other thing to keep in mind - once you eliminate something from your diet/cooking (salt, skim milk instead of whole) you find that shortly you don't miss it and when it is present it is overpowering.

StarCat

There are substitutes for any alcoholic substance, when it comes to cooking, so you can still make your recipes, just with changes.

As to whether you can cook with the actual alcoholic beverages, that's up to your husband, and his answer is certainly open for change as time continues.
I have a friend in AA who originally wouldn't eat anything containing alcohol. Now when going to an Italian restaurant he'll usually order the shrimp scampi, and thoroughly enjoy it - although he does not hesitate to send it back to the kitchen if the alcohol flavoring is too strong.
Other people never eat anything made with alcohol, ever again - either due to fear of relapse, or because they like the flavor with the non-alcoholic-substitutes better.

breakingglass

i find using vinegar can work just as well....like balsamic. flavorful and no alcohol. i have an ah in the house and he'd even stoop to drinking cooking wine if he had to. i don't keep any liquor in the house....he keeps enough for both of us! or should i say hides enough....

SoaringSpirits

My AH and I are separated and I like to cook with wine, but when he comes over and has dinner with us, I don't. This site will help you with substitutions!

Substitutes for Alcohol in Cooking - GourmetSleuth

KittyCopes

Thanks breakingglass, this made me laugh...I have spent a lot of time living in what I thought was an alcohol-free zone only to find out it was only alcohol-free for ME!

breakingglass

doesn't seem fair does it??? !!

shawty80

i've wondered this, too, as i love to cook! now i know that it was smart of me to NOT make that yummy pork tenderloin with the irish whiskey sauce!

SOBARweasel

I use NA beer and wine and it works just fine. My house is alcohol free. No vanilla extract, mouthwash etc..

Might be a good idea to keep it that way for at least a year or so.

cjacobs

You could buy just enough for the recipe. They sell some pretty small bottles of wine or single cans of beer. Also, you could have friends over and get them to take any leftover alcohol.

I've been wondering about this, too. Thanks!

Dee74

This comes up a lot on the Newcomers and Alcoholism forums.
Cooking does not completely remove the alcohol.

Alcohol Burn-off Chart

Some people seem ok with eating stuff cooked with alcohol - I personally avoid it.

D

yorkiegirl

I too decided not to use alcohol in my cooking since my RAH went into recovery & we've reconcile. I love the taste in cooking (even though I don't drink alcohol). Cooking with alcohol is just not important. I don't keep any alcohol around in our home. We don't have control over the alcohol in stores, other people's home, restaurants, etc. But we can choose what we keep in our home. (Of course that doesn't guarantee possible temptations & relapses but it's nice to have an alcohol-free home after years of empty cans & bottles my RAH used to stash or forget to stash). Thanks for posting the topic!

SOBARweasel

LMAO Those small bottles got me into a hell of a lot of trouble

Not a great idea IMHO I'd be too tempted to take a sip of beer "what could go wrong" and there's no really good reason for it when you can get NA stuff.

DMC

Once I realized that my "alcohol-free" home was only alcohol-free to me, I started cooking with wine again. I didn't flaunt it in front of him, but I enjoy cooking and eating and he took enough of the things I enjoyed away.

Ultimately, he chose the booze and I chose not to be married to him, and now I don't worry about it. But I wrestled with it as well, and while he was at least attempting to be sober, didn't cook with it. Chicken broth for white wine; beef broth for red.