phoenixbot

Good morning, everyone. Something came up in a meeting earlier that I got very curious about: avoiding foods cooked with alcohol.

I wrote a post and then found a previous thread that was great. But then I realized that I think curiosity is trying to kill this cat, so I thought I'd post anyway and get it out of my system.

In my early days of sobriety, I'm always (including today) so focused on avoiding the liquor store and triggers and situations where everyone is drinking. But I love food, and have always worked in food. Rum-based desserts. My dad's barbecue sauce has bourbon. Beer in chili. Wine in stews and sauces. Vodka in pasta sauce. Even vanilla extract, I guess.

I'm on day two and still have a doctor's appointment to keep and a day to get through, so I have my priorities. But as I think about some of the wonderful things that I might get back sober, which my alcoholism robbed me of (including jobs), liquor just starts to feel like it's everywhere.

I think maybe the alcoholic voice is trying to get me concerned. I was trying to focus on the things I'll get to do as kind of a way to deal with some anxiety and panic, and it's trying to tell me what I might not be able to do.

I think I just beat the voice, though. Not going to let coq au vin ruin my sobriety today. So thanks for listening!

freedragonfly

interesting topic. I have not thought about it much yet. I am still very early in recovery. Lately I do not cook much. However, I do think if the food is cooked and the alcohol burns off, I would not have an issue with it. I could have a problem though with foods (esp desserts) that just have alcohol added but not burned off. Those are my thoughts now. The truth is my cooking is so minimal right now that this is unlikely to be an issue anytime soon.

ScottFromWI

This is a very common question and oft-discussed here. You'll hear about alcohol burn off charts, percentages of alchohol naturally occurring in foods, etc, etc, etc..

The bottom line to me is it's a personal choice. If you feel it will somehow compromise your sobriety, don't do it. It's much more about the reasoning behind why you are doing it than the minuscule amount of alcohol involved.

Fandy

yesterday you were in the throes of first day withdrawal, you posted about hiding bottles of alcohol IN YOUR OVEN....i read that and thought, wow, explosion, fire, burn the house down how awful, how foolish. You dissed the medical centers and ERs, although you may not have been to the ones I know of that provide excellent care and american licensed physicians.

today you are posting about cooking with alcohol, rum and coq au vin....lamenting what you think you are missing.

I think it might be better if you direct your thoughts in a different direction. There are HUNDREDS of delicious recipes that do not require any alcohol, just patience and skill. When you are feeling better, try to cook some, enjoy the recipes.

Congrats on Day 2, we have all been there.

Verte

Repeat this to yourself as needed Whatever you need to do, right? As long as you keep on keeping on. Your post makes me smile. Thanks for this phoenixbot...I'll gladly take smiles anywhere I can get them.

A few days ago I made farfalle al salmone using some leftover salmon...and for the first time, without vodka. Initially I considered running out to the store real quick. But after thinking about it a little...no.

I actually laughed to myself in my kitchen. Like many here I used to drink while cooking. Now the bygone habit no longer aches like it used to...the ache has morphed into some strange sentimentality for bygone times. Of Course, it has only been 6weeks-ish for me but this has been a time chock full of habit change and shoo-ing of reflexes.

Rocky and uncertain moments will definitely come, yes? At which time repeating to oneself, "Not going to let coq au vin ruin my sobriety today", sounds like a great idea. Thanks for this!

Keep it up!! You are doing great.

EarlyHours

Here is the alcohol burn off chart that was mentioned. It's much less than you would think. Alcohol Burn-off Chart

Personally, I'm not going to go out of my way to seek out foods cooked with alcohol, but I'm not going to live my life avoiding them. A single beer in a pot of chili, fine, a little white wine in a sauce, fine (though I wouldn't personally cook with alcohol now because I don't want the bottles in the house). Though just about everything else is, food is not one of my triggers. Food and alcohol exist in two separate worlds for me.

SoberCAH

This is a good thread which merits consideration and which surfaces when I least expect it.

I eat no desserts which have alcohol.

We spent the weekend with friends a couple of weeks ago and the hostess made a great-looking dessert (a huge dessert for ~20 people) which she ruined with less than a shot of Grand Marinier (sp?).

I didn't touch it.

If a fish, poultry or meat dinner is prepared with wine in it, I will usually eat it and I have never had a problem with it.

My wife is a great cook, but she doesn't cook with alcohol.

She is also my dessert tester, so she takes a bite of something to make sure it has no alcohol in it.

Most of the rest of the world doesn't have a problem with alcohol, so the notion of cooking with it is something they don't even consider.

We don't have that luxury.

As an old-timer once told me, if I had a deathly allergy to MSG which would cause my throat to constrict and close, I would make certain that I never ingested any of it.

I have the same mindset with alcohol.

I have never lost a job or other important things in my life from skipping dessert, but I sure have from drinking.

Ruby2

My chili recipe used to call for a bottle of dark beer. A woman asked me if it could be made without the dark beer and at the time I thought it was so weird that someone wouldn't put the beer in. However, it was for religious reasons. The woman belonged to the Latter Day Saints who don't drink.

There are thousands of recipes without alcohol. As alcoholics we always seem to find the ones that have alcohol in them.

Now I sometimes think that it would be nice to use red wine in a dish but no. There are substitutes which aren't actually bad. I used sour cherry juice with a tiny drop of vinegar in it for red wine and it was just fine.

One think I do keep is my vanilla and almond extracts. I do bake with them.

One thing I don't recommend early in recovery and something I am having trouble with - I subscribe to Bon Appetit magazine and a large portion of the magazine is devoted to alcohol, finding alcohol and drinking alcohol. I'm getting a little ticked about it actually because not everyone has to have a cocktail in their hand to enjoy their meal.

phoenixbot

Thanks so much everyone. These were very articulate and wonderful responses. I guess, to be vague, my career has solely involved food magazines until recently. Or at least until my drinking wrecked my professional career. So you can see why, in early early sobriety, I had a large curiosity when it came up.

Pondlady

I'd concentrate on your sobriety now and forego foods with alcohol. Later, when you got a good amount of sober time under your belt, you can decide if wine in a sauce is a trigger or not.

DoubleBarrel

Some stuff I don't think is a huge deal, but there are a few dishes, like tira misu with a lot of alcohol in them.
I also would avoid pure vanilla extract, vodka sauce, and wine sauces.

I avoid anything with booze in it. I don't know what will trigger me, nor do I intend to find out. There is some evidence that small amounts of alcohol can trigger the craving desire in people who have had physical addiction in the past.

Serper2014

Where is this evidence?

Dee74

You'll doubtless hear from many of our members Serper.

D

DisplacedGRITS

I cook with wine several times a week. I have a bottle of cheap white, sherry and marsala wine in my cupboard. I make risotto several times a week and chicken marsala is a regular dinner for us. I don't taste the bite of alcohol in my dishes and i don't smell it when it's cooking so i'm not triggered. I do rinse out any measuring cups i use immediately and put the bottle away because i don't like the sharp, alcohol smell.

I tend to avoid desserts with alcohol in them because the alcohol often isn't cooked at all. I've had my husband serve as my tester and i've even declined some dishes he felt were okay.

For me, my drinking had a purpose. I drank to drink and to get drunk. That was what alcohol was to me. I don't really think much of cooking with alcohol because it's just another ingredient to me. I think the decision should be made if you can be totally honest about why you're considering eating or making a dish with alcohol in it.

DoubleBarrel

Alcohol Addiction Relapse Might Be Thwarted By Turning Off Brain Trigger | ucsf.edu

Serper2014

Awesome article! Thanks!

paloverde

I used to use red and white wine in cooking. Since I've quit drinking I've been using lemon juice and red wine vinegar (in smaller amounts than wine) to give that wine-like kick to certain dishes. Maybe someday I'll be disciplined enough to use real wine without taking a swig but knowing me I doubt it.

soberlife123

When I heard this discussed in therapy it's different for each person. The therapist himself did cook with alcohol but he was also 15 plus years into recovery. He didn't recommend it for early recovery.

Notmyrealname

A splash of pinot noir for deglazing some pan gravy is a lot different than drinking wine to get a buzz. I don't worry about it as it doesn't seem rational to me to do so. That said, I don't cook with wine at home because an open half-bottle of wine in my fridge is unneeded risk -- that I do worry about. Don't play with fire, don't get burned.

scintillady

This is one of the things I'm going to have to be more careful of now that I'm taking antabuse. Yesterday I had chinese food and I used some rice wine vinegar for seasoning and just tasting it gave me a reaction. A very slight heat in the face, but enough to remind me not to do that again.