Is cooking with alcohol safe?

[Eksar]

Hello! I'm that person who drinks a few sips of wine, and then the body turns red, heart starts to beat a little faster, etc. I get "buzzed" with about 5 small sips of wine. Given my sensitivity to alcohol in general, I want to be extra careful and not drink alcohol at all during my pregnancy (I rarely drink anyway). I just found out that I'm in the 5th week of my pregnancy.

While I don't love drinking alcohol all that much, I love cooking with alcohol (e.g. wine, sherry, burbon, sake, etc.). I've never felt "drunk" by eating foods cooked in alcohol, but I thought I better ask. My checkup appointment is weeks away, and I thought there might be someone who knows the answer here.

Thank you in advance!

 

[CassieSims]

When you cook with alcohol properly you cook out all the alcohol anyway and are just left with the flavor. You should be fine just make sure you're giving the dish a few minutes to cook out all the alcohol.

 

[Eksar]

Thanks! I had eaten shrimp cooked with sherry with paprika and parsley earlier. I felt like I smelled alcohol a lot, but maybe it was just me being sensitive to the smell. I'm going to cook down the alcohol extra well!

 

[RebeccaR19]

I was going to say the exact same thing that CassieSims said. It's not a problem when you are cooking with it.

 

[Eksar]

Thank you both for your replies. The reason why I asked was because I am very sensitive to alcohol and also I heard years ago that alcohol doesn't really cook out of the food. I was going to take your reassurances, and put my suspicion to rest. But then my overanalytical self nudged me to look into it further.

I'm a new member so I can't post a link. But if you google "alcohol doesn't really cook out of food," you see a number of articles some claim to have been written by doctors that say that alcohol does NOT cook out of most food - one of them says anywhere between 4-85% is left in.

Even then, the amount I use is pretty small. So I think I'm okay with a little. But I think this morning was the last time I eat my sherry shrimp as the sauce was all sherry and cooked only for a few minutes (I do smell alcohol every time I eat it, though somewhat stronger today).

Anyway, thank you for your replies. You gave me the answer that I was hoping for, and it probably is okay in most cases for most people (e.g. in some cultures, it's okay to drink during pregnancy). But given my sensitivity, I'm going to be extra careful.