Many people wonder about cooking with alcohol such as wine. When you see alcohol in a recipe, you might think that the dish won’t be fit for children, for example, but this is not necessarily the case. In order to ensure that you achieve the right flavour and your food is indeed suitable for children is to follow these cooking tips.

Evaporation during cooking

When you cook with alcohol, one of the most important things to remember is that the heating process actually causes evaporation and this reduces the alcohol content itself so the dish will retain the flavour of the wine, for instance, but without all the alcohol. It’s also good to note that pans are more effective when making sauces that include alcohol. The larger surface area allows for faster and more effective evaporation. One of the most important cooking tips is to make sure that you leave the lid off or you will prevent evaporation from occurring.

Cooking times

According to tests, when you boil the liquid just before removing it from the source of heat, you will retain 85% of the alcohol content. Allowing the dish to simmer for 15 minutes means that the alcohol content is reduced to 40%. After one hour of simmering, 25% is left and, after 2 hours of cooking, you only have 5% alcohol. Keep this in mind when preparing your dishes and, remember simmering is more effective than boiling.

How much to add

Another one of the most important cooking tips is that you should know how much alcohol to add. If you use too little, it won’t have much effect on the flavour. If you add too much, it will take longer to evaporate and it can overpower the flavours and aromas of the other ingredients. You should add wine along with another liquid like water or cream so that the alcoholic beverage is not the only liquid ingredient in your meal.

Meal and wine pairing

And the last, but certainly no less important of all alcohol cooking tips, is to make sure you choose the perfect pair. Pairing the right wine with your food will make all the difference. If you are not sure, you can always look up wine and food pairing tips online.

With these easy cooking tips in mind, you will be able to prepare the most amazing dishes and sauces. Remember, your food should have a slight flavour from the wine or other alcoholic beverage, but it should not be so strong that it feels like you’re sipping from your glass rather than taking a bite out of your food.