Is the alcohol gone?
The truth about cooking with alcohol
Conventional wisdom holds that alcohol cooks out of dishes. Not true! Although alcohol evaporates at a fairly low temperature, its retention in food varies greatly, depending on cooking time, the amount of alcohol used, the size of the pot and the intensity of the heat applied. According to the USDA's Human Nutrition Information Service, a sauce that contains three tablespoons of liquor (added at the end of cooking) retains 85 percent of the alcohol, while a pot roast containing one cup of Burgundy and cooked for two and a half hours retains only five percent. Even flaming doesn't burn all the alcohol off - three-quarters of the alcohol can remain.
As for the impact the alcohol in food has on recovering alcoholics, there is no scientific evidence linking food and relapse. Nonethless, Alcoholics Anonymous recommends that recovering alcoholics avoid foods cooked with alcohol.
For a long time I threw away many recipes the looked good, but had alcohol in them. In the last few years I have learned to substitute other liquids to get needed taste.
The first item I had to change was a simple little item called 'Pam' (its' main ingredient is alcohol). I now use 'Wesson', 'Canola Harvest' or 'Mazola'.
The next item was to look for a good Vanilla Extract without alcohol. I found mine at Trader Joe's under the name of 'Madeleine & Charlotte's' or 'Trader Joe's Cookbook Vanilla'. Another source for alcohol-free vanilla is the Frontier label available from www.Frontiercoop.com.
If recipe calls for: Substitute in equal amounts (usually): Sweet Sherry Apple Cider Sherry Orange or Pineapple Juice Dry Vermouth Apple Juice 2 Tablespoons Bourbon 2 teaspoons Vanilla extract Grand Marnier or other orange-flavored liquer Unsweetened Orange Juice Concentrate Coffee Liquer Coffee made 4-6 times stronger or double-strength espresso Other Fruit Liquers Use the syrup from canned fruit (reduced by boiling) White Wine White Grape Juice, chicken broth, ginger ale Red Wine Red Grape Juice, beef broth, tomato juice Champagne Ginger Ale Claret Grape juice, or syrup from cherry cider Kirsch Syrup or juice from black cherries, raspberries, boysenberries, currants, grapes or cherry cider. Cognac Juice from peaches, apricots or pears Cointreau Orange juice, or frozen orange juice concentrate Creme De Menthe Spearmint extract or oil of spearmint diluted with a little water or grapefruit juice Beer or Ale Chicken broth, white grape juice, or ginger ale Brandy Apple cider, peach or apricot syrup Rum Pineapple juice or syrup flavored with almond extract Flambe's or Flaming Desserts The only substitute that might be used is a sugar cube soaked in lemon extract, then set atop a dessert and burned. If you have found a substitute that works well, please let me know so we can publish it for everyone out there.
Ever wonder how to keep celery fresh over 1 day? I have found that if you cut the stalks off and wrap them tightly in aluminum foil, they will keep for a weeks. To Crisp limp lettuce, trim off an inch from the bottom of the stalks, then stand them upright in a container filled with an inch of ice-water for a couple of hours; store in the refrigerator.
Lemon Zest: Lightly grate just the yellow from the lemon making sure you don't go down too far. You do not want to grate the white beneath the yellow.
The secret of slicing a ripe mango: Peel the mango with a paring knife. Cut a small slice off the stem end. Stand the mango on its cut end, a narrow side facing you. Cut one side of flesh off the pit, making a vertical slice about 1/2-inch from the center so the knife clears the pit. Repeat on other 3 sides. Now slice, dice, chop or puree.
How to handle a kitchen grease fire:
Just good to know. Watch the video; we are never too old to learn something or to be reminded of how to handle a situation.
At Charleston Navy base at the Fire Fighting Training school an instructor would demonstrate this with a deep fat fryer set on the fire field. The instructor would don a fire suit and using an 8 oz cup at the end of a 10 foot pole toss water onto the grease fire. The results got the attention of the students. What happens is the water being heavier than the oil sinks to the bottom where it instantly becomes superheated. The explosive force of the steam blows the burning oil up and out. On the open field it became a thirty foot high fireball that resembled a nuclear blast.
Inside the confines of a kitchen, the fireball hits the ceiling and fills the entire room. Also, do not throw sugar or flour on a grease fire. One cup creates the explosive force of two sticks of dynamite.
(See attached file: KitchenOilFire1.wmv)
