You’ve probably heard that it’s perfectly fine to serve food cooked with alcohol to a minor or someone with an alcohol abuse problem because the heat burns away the alcohol. The truth is, it’s not as simple as that, and depending on what you’re cooking and the method you use, it may actually be possible to get drunk from food.
A writer named Graham Lawton from the magazine New Scientist conducted an experiment to see if he could surpass the legal limit for drinking and driving of .08 percent blood alcohol concentration, or BAC, by eating foods prepared with alcohol. (For commercial drivers the limit is a BAC of .04 percent, and for those under age 21 no alcohol is permitted.) First, he ate chorizo flambéed – or doused and then briefly set on fire – with rum, and after testing himself with a breathalyzer he found that his BAC was well over the limit. In fact, it was too high for the breathalyzer to measure accurately.
It turns out that when food is set on fire like this, 70 percent of the alcohol is retained. The only method that retains more is adding alcohol to boiling liquid and removing it from heat, which is 85 percent. Alcohol retention when it is baked into food or simmered and stirred into a mixture can vary from 40 percent to five percent, depending on how long it is cooked.
When making a sauce, you can lessen the amount of alcohol retained somewhat by reducing the sauce. Reduction in cooking simply means to boil or simmer a liquid until it thickens. Putting a lid loosely on the pot can also help reduce the alcohol content. When the lid is on, steam will escape from under the lid. The alcohol evaporates, but the water condenses on the lid and runs back into the pan. The longer it cooks, the more alcohol evaporates out and the more water falls back into the sauce, further diluting it.
There are some substitutions you can make in your cooking in order to avoid using alcohol when it’s called for in a recipe. For example, amaretto tastes of almonds, so you could use almond extract instead. For Bailey’s Irish Cream, substitute nonalcoholic flavoring syrups, such as the kind you would use in coffee. Anything apple flavored can be replaced with apple juice, and the same goes for other fruity liqueurs, such as orange juice for Cointreau. Grape juice can take the place of certain wines.
Remember that even if the amount of alcohol in your food isn’t enough to cause intoxication, if the flavor is still present it might be a trigger that could lead to cravings and even relapse for a recovering alcoholic.
If you or a loved one need help with quitting drugs or alcohol, consider Asana Recovery. We offer medical detox, along with both residential and outpatient programs, and you’ll be supervised by a highly trained staff of medical professionals, counselors, and therapists. Call us any time at (949) 438-4504.
