Alcohol

The term 'alcohol' is often used superficially in the sense of wine, among other things. Alcohols or alkanols represent a powerful environment in terms of diversity. The most important (monohydric) alcohol in wine is known as ethyl alcohol (ethanol, ethyl alcohol) or wine spirit. It is obtained during fermentation from dextrose and fructose, or with the help of yeast, the sugar molecules are broken down into ethyl alcohol during the fermentation process. The extremely poisonous methyl alcohol (methanol) or wood alcohol can be fatal to humans even in the smallest quantities.

During fermentation, further 'medium' and 'higher' alcohols are produced, which are known as fusel oils, among other things. Although they only exist in relatively small quantities in wine, these alcohols are enormously influential, generally toxic and also partially narcotic. Among other things, however, they determine extremely important odour and flavour characteristics of a wine. They also give ethyl alcohol a certain 'permanence' in the human body - even after the wine has been consumed. If wine is consumed in excess, they are indeed partly responsible for the well-known 'hangover'.

Another important companion of a wine from the alcohol family is the precious glycerine.

It should also be noted that ethyl alcohol (ethanol or commonly referred to as 'the alcohol') does not (as is often believed) simply 'vaporise, burn, evaporate' quickly when cooked with wine. This (erroneous) logic often follows from the fact that the boiling point of alcohol is reached much earlier (78.3°C or 173ºF ) than the boiling point of water (100°C or 212°F). In reality, however, water and alcohol can hardly be separated easily in the mixture and shift, more or less together, the boiling points (in relation to the water/alcohol ratio) somewhere between 78.3° and 100°. For example, if the mixture is predominantly water and contains very little alcohol, the boiling point will only be slightly below the typical boiling point of water. If the mixture is again predominantly alcohol, then the boiling point will approach that of the alcohol. As the alcohol evaporates, the alcohol content of the mixture in the liquid phase decreases, while the boiling point increases accordingly and the alcohol content in the vapour phase decreases. Physicists also classify the water and alcohol mixture as an 'azeotropic mixture' if the liquid and the vapour have exactly the same composition (and can therefore no longer be distilled further). In the case of alcohol (or ethanol) and water, the so-called 'azeotropic point' occurs at 96%vol (96% alcohol and 4% water). But what does all this mean for us chefs and connoisseurs in practice? Very little. Fortunately, however, there are already studies with some practical aspects:

In 1992, a study by the University of Idaho, Washington State University and the USDA showed that a delicious dish such as coq au vin (where the wine is of course included in the preparation) is ultimately served with 4% to 49% of the original alcohol after cooking. The same applies to the delicious flambéed bananas in our recipes section: the flambé has only used around 20% of the total alcohol after being extinguished.

The amount of alcohol remaining during cooking is determined by many variables (e.g. temperature, design of the cooking vessels, with or without lid, duration of cooking...). In practice, this means that if a dish is left uncooked (or prepared for cooking later) in the fridge overnight, almost all of the alcohol will be available in the dish the next day. If, on the other hand, the alcohol is only added during cooking and the dish is removed from the heat immediately afterwards, around 70% of the alcohol is retained. If a dish is mixed with alcohol and only cooked for 15 minutes, then approx. 40% of the alcohol remains. After one hour, only approx. 25% remain. After 2.5 hours, only approx. 5% remain. The longer we cook our dish with alcohol, the lower the remaining alcohol content will be.

 

Back to the lexicon & glossary | You were here: Alcohol