Does Alcohol Really Burn Off When You Cook It?
Think the vodka in your penne alla vodka is gone by the time the pan hits the table? Think again. While most people believe that alcohol will “cook out” of sauces when those sauces reach a simmer, studies suggest that this is total myth. So what’s really going on when the alcohol hits the pan? And how do you know just how much alcohol is in your bananas foster cheesecake?
I took a deep dive into the science of the matter. Here’s what’s actually happening when we pour alcohol into a pan: how much can actually evaporate, how long that takes, and whether you should reconsider feeding that penne alla vodka to your toddler.
How Alcohol Evaporates
Alcohol begins evaporating, or “cooking off,” as soon as it’s heated to 173 degrees F. But it doesn’t disappear instantaneously. According to studies by the USDA, it takes 15 minutes of constant simmering to eliminate just 60% of the alcohol present in a dish—and up to 2 1/2 hours to get rid of 95%. These times might vary slightly depending on the specific food the alcohol has been added to, as well as the size of the pan it's cooking in, but these variations aren’t great enough to make a huge difference in the overall picture.
Let’s be real, most of us aren't simmering a sauce for over two hours after we pour in the alcohol. Unless we're making beef bourguignon, chances are the booze is in the pan for considerably less than an hour before we pull it off the heat. In those cases, much of the alcohol is still there.
So How Long Does It Take For Alcohol to Fully Disappear?
Here’s the kicker: alcohol NEVER entirely cooks off. According to Harold McGee, the moment alcohol combines with water, some of the alcohol molecules break off and attach to the water molecules. This means that, as long as there’s moisture present, some alcohol will still remain. The only way to completely get rid of it would be to reduce the sauce to a dry scum that coats the bottom of the pan. At that point, it’s not even a sauce anymore.
So Where Does That Leave Us?
Whether we like it or not, any alcohol we choose to add into our food will never completely disappear, no matter how long we cook it. Fortunately, most recipes include a relatively small amount of booze distributed among several servings, so it’s not likely you could actually get drunk from it, even if most of the alcohol was still there. However, it's still important to keep the fact in mind if you’re making dinner for someone who’s pregnant or who, for whatever reason, avoids consuming alcohol. You also might think again before deciding to serve chicken marsala to your six-year-old daughter and her friends.
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