Does Alcohol Really Boil Away In Cooking?

“Don’t worry, there’s no alcohol in this red wine sauce — it’s cooked.”

Heard that before? It’s the accepted wisdom about hot food made with alcoholic drinks. However, all is not as it seems — the accepted wisdom is wrong.

In this article, it’s explained that baking or simmering for 15 minutes leaves 40% of the alcohol. 1 hour of cooking leaves 25% of the alcohol.

The raw taste of the alcohol very quickly fades when the food is heated, but a large amount of alcohol remains.