Tips For Using Alcohol In The Kitchen
Alcohol is an ingredient in many recipes – it can be used to add flavor to a variety of desserts, sauces, soups and stews. The reason it is used is because the flavors in particular foods become fuller and more noticeable with alcohol.
Any type of alcohol can not just be added to any type of food though; you need to correctly match the right kind of food with the right kind of alcohol. If an incorrect match is made then the alcohol will simply worsen the taste of a food, which will also happen if the wrong amount of alcohol is used.
Naturally, the less alcohol added to begin with, the less alcohol content there will be in the finished dish. Contrary to popular belief, not all of the alcohol is burned off as a result of cooking it.
Research has shown that the majority of the alcohol is retained after being cooked for less than a couple of hours. It is highly unlikely that the potency of the alcohol retained will be high enough to get the person eating the dish drunk though. A dish must be cooked for several for the alcohol to be almost entirely dissipated.
As well as the quantity of alcohol added, the quality of the alcohol used will also have a noticeable effect on how good the finished dish tastes. Avoid using cheap wines, liqueurs and beers, as the taste of the dish will not be anywhere near good as if quality brands had been used.
If it is your preference, it is possible to avoid using alcohol in recipes that require it. Though you will not get the full bodied flavor of using alcoholic beverages, it is permissible to use non-alcoholic beer or wine in your recipes. To replace flavored liqueur or rum in a recipe, use zests or extracts of juices and, for strong tasting liqueurs, use a mixture of tomato juice and soy sauce.
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