This is my first time cooking this dish, also my first time cooking with wine. I saw that there's a "cooking wine", but read that isn't recommended because the ingredients don't compare to actual drinking wine.

Is there an alternative to white drinking wine for kids (and former alcoholics, if possible)?

Should I use the cooking wine?

Should I just be selfish and use the white wine and keep the dish to myself?

by Anxious_Ad909

14 Comments

  1. Cooking the wine will evaporate off the alcohol.

    *But not 100% of it.

  2. menwithven76

    Absolutely no reason to sub? Why are you worried?

  3. FreckleException

    Just increase the chicken broth, but use low sodium so you can adjust the salt to taste. It will still be delicious!

  4. 13thmurder

    Wine adds a little sweetness and acidity. A splash of lemon juice and a pinch of sugar should help bring what you’re missing without it.

  5. Almost all the alcohol evaporates during cooking. The only reason not to use wine would be religious restrictions.

    I never heard of a product called “cooking wine”, but I’ve heard some people referring to less expensive wine like that. Even them, it’s recommended that you use a wine that you’d also drink, not the cheapest option.

    Having an almost full bottle of wine in the fridge would be a better reason to avoid using it. So, if you want to avoid having the temptation near a recovering alcoholic, and don’t want to even buy the wine, you could use a bit of lemon juice.

  6. Garconavecunreve

    Light grape juice/ non alcoholic cooking wine/ fish stock or additional chicken stock will all work

  7. flurnt_is_turnt

    One option is to purchase a single serve box of white wine. There isn’t enough alcohol left over after cooking for the kids to get drunk, and there’s no liquid alcohol left in the house to act as a lure for the former alcoholic. Or, cut it out completely and just increase broth amount. I don’t think it’ll make that big of a difference.

  8. necessarysmartassery

    The wine in the food is fine for the kid. Most of it evaporates off, anyway. Unless he’s allergic or has religious restrictions or something, it’s OK. He’s not gonna get drunk off the food.

  9. wehave3bjz

    Mom of 3. I cook with white wine.in addition to the alcohol burning off,to the math… how much wine is in each serving? One tsp isn’t going to hurt them, even if it does have alcohol.

  10. Present_Dog2978

    Just make the recipe as is. Its not that serious.

  11. WindBehindTheStars

    As many have pointed out the alcohol will mostly cook off from the finished dish. A friend of mine freaked out when she found out that I used two tablespoons of creme de menthe liqueur in a batch of mint chip ice cream convinced I’d turn children into alcoholics with one scoop. I asked if she had an issue with the teaspoon of peppermint extract I used. She said no. I then told her that there was more total alcohol in the single teaspoon of extract than there was in *both* tablespoons of liqueur. Your caution for recovering alcoholics is admirable, same for anyone with religious or cultural beliefs about alcohol, but the tiny amount that remains in the finished dish will not affect kids, and with extracts that do not get cooked out in things like cake frosting and ice cream, they already consume trace amounts of alcohol on the regular. This is also a good opportunity to teach about responsibility with alcohol.

Write A Comment