Alcohol Substitutions in Cooking: What Works?

[Beebs]

You could also try experimenting with tea or herbal/fruit infusions as a substitute. Some teas, surprisingly, have a lot of similar characteristics to wine and liquors. You could try replacing whisky with lapsang souchong, strong Assam-type teas for beer, or a fruit & berry tea in sweet applications. Or find a scented tea like almond or blackcurrant to replace amaretto and cassis. I recall a thread somewhere titled "Cooking With Tea" (I think), but I can't remember whether that's in the Tea & Coffee Forum or this one....

[maggiethecat]

I had to cook in an alcohol-free kitchen for a few months, with a very finicky clientele, and I'm sad to report that it really can't be done. One can make fine dishes without wine or booze, but you'll never achieve the same flavor profile.

So I'm chiming in with the many good ideas on this topic: minis, boiled down wine cubes and excellent stocks. Acids, not only vinegars, but citrus juice. And lots and lots of fresh herbs.

[Blether]

Thanks Blether for this...

My pleasure. Those pithy few sentences are part of the very first two-and-a-half-page section of that book - excluding the introduction / notes & foreword - in which she sets out a food manifesto that should be read by anyone who cares to eat, never mind cook.

"... when we say to friends, 'we'll just have an omelette and a salad and a piece of cheese,' what we mean is 'we won't make any fuss, but what we will have will be well chosen, will make a satisfying meal and will go nicely with a glass of wine'... "

"... If a dish does not turn out to be quite as it was at the remembered auberge in Normandy, or at the restaurant on the banks of the Loire, is this a matter for despair ? Because it is different, as by force of circumstance it must be, it is not necessarily worse."

Sorry if you are already familiar with it.

[SyntaxPC]

Despite the fact that most of it cooks out, the alcohol in alcoholic ingredients is usually a vital component. This is because many flavor compounds are only alcohol soluble.

I regularly substitute a decent quality dry vermouth for dishes that call for white wine to no ill effect. The benefits to vermouth are that it is relatively cheap (~$6 for a decent 750ml) and, thanks to its fortification, it has a much much longer shelf life than wine after opening. ~10 pan sauces and you'll be done with the bottle.

[Blether]

Despite the fact that most of it cooks out, the alcohol in alcoholic ingredients is usually a vital component. This is because many flavor compounds are only alcohol soluble...

Hi, SyntaxPC. What particular flavours are you thinking of ? To my knowledge it's true that alcohol will dissolve flavours that water won't, but it's also true that fats will dissolve most of those same flavours. (And again, also true that alcohol prefers water to fat: in the presence of both, it will tend to release the fat and amalgamate with the water).

[SyntaxPC]

Despite the fact that most of it cooks out, the alcohol in alcoholic ingredients is usually a vital component. This is because many flavor compounds are only alcohol soluble...

Hi, SyntaxPC. What particular flavours are you thinking of ? To my knowledge it's true that alcohol will dissolve flavours that water won't, but it's also true that fats will dissolve most of those same flavours. (And again, also true that alcohol prefers water to fat: in the presence of both, it will tend to release the fat and amalgamate with the water).

You are correct: Water does reduce the solvency of alcohol. Therefore, you're probably not going to get anything in terms of alcohol-soluble compounds from using wine or beer. From what I've read, however, anything above 80 proof or so does retain a good amount of its solvency. My point was that if you take a standard recipe for something like penne alla vodka and either omit the vodka or substitute it with water then the resulting dish will likely (albeit perhaps subtly) suffer. This is sometimes also due less to its solubility but more due to the fact that alcohol will behave differently than water during the cooking process. For example, alcohol inhibits gluten formation and is therefore sometimes used in baking; substituting water for the vodka in a pie crust recipe will yield a tougher dough.