Eating Foods Cooked In Alcohol

[GurjitJ]

You aren't allowed to eat foods cooked in alcohol because it still remains even after the food is cooked right? Also, does anyone know if they use alcohol to make food in indian restaurants like the meat appetizers at parties?

 

[spnadmin]

No. Most food cooked in alcohol does not retain any of the "spirits" or alcohol. If done correctly, the alcohol is burned off. Either when glazing the pan drippings, or when prepared a sauce, the chef or cook turns the flame high and the alcohol evaporates.

There are bound to be exceptions, so you have to ask questions. An exception would be a fruit compote with the fruit soaked in some kind of alcoholic beverage. Example would be peaches in wine, or cherries soaked in brandy.

I am not aware of any Indian food that is cooked in alcohol. If so, then it is an import of a recipe or style into Indian fusion style cooking. There again the alcohol is burned off.

 

[GurjitJ]

what about this article?
http://www.ochef.com/165.htm

 

[Mai Harinder Kaur]

what about this article?
http://www.ochef.com/165.htm

I just read it. It seems to be very well researched. I learned something today. I always thought that alcohol boiled away very quickly because of its low boiling point. It seems this is not true.:noticekudi:

I do not cook with alcohol myself. Won't (voluntarily) have that poison in my home. Now I know to be more careful when I'm away from home.peacesignkaur

This is important not only for those of us who choose not to imbibe, but also for alcoholics who can be set off even by alcohol unknowingly consumed.:angryyoungkaur:

Thanks so much, Gurjit ji!icecreamkaur

 

[spnadmin]

Very interesting!

 

[Ishna]

Yes, I also thought it was all cooked away and only the flavour remained.

I was watching a random alcohol breath testing show on TV the other day, and in Australia you get a provisional license when you first start driving (or if you're been naughty on the road) which means you can't have ANY alcohol in your blood when you're driving, and this young guy had been at his future mother-in-law's house for dinner and was on his way home when he got stopped by the cops and his breath test returned a very low reading and he couldn't understand why. The cops took him to the bus for a proper test with big equipment and had a chat about what he'd had for dinner and it turned out the desert was tiramisu (a kind of Italian coffee cake) which was heavily laced with whatever liquor they put in tiramisu (the boy didn't know it has alcohol in it, thought it was coffee only)! So he'd eaten enough of the cake to return a positive blood alcohol reading!

Luckily the cops took a second test in the bus and the reading was even lower and although you're only supposed to have 0 alcohol in your blood if you have provisional license the police let him go because the reading was so unusually low (lucky!!).

So you do need to be careful what you eat when it comes to alcohol in food.

Ishna

 

[spnadmin]

Tiramisu is a desert where the liquor is poured straight onto the cakey concoction, using the older, traditional recipes. Nowadays, the liquor is mixed with the other ingredients and baked with them. None of the spirits is cooked out in the traditional approach, just like Italian rum cake and rum babas.

Yes it can pack something of a punch, especially if one uses rum.