Originally Posted By: andy
Originally Posted By: Dignan

Regardless of whether the actual alcohol burns off, the question is whether that means the taste of it goes with it. It doesn't. If it did, why bother cooking with it in the first place?


If you reduce beer the resulting taste it beery, if you reduce wine the resulting taste is winey etc

Beer and wine don't really taste alike, so if the resulting taste is the alcohol, why doesn't the result always taste the same ?

Sorry, I wasn't speaking of alcohol in the chemical sense, just the beverage sense. Perhaps that's my problem here. The study is looking at how much of the chemical is burned off. I still argue that the chemical remains, but you're correct, it's the flavor of the beverage that mostly stays behind.

But I'd also argue that when I tell people I don't want to order something because it's cooked in beer or wine, I'm coming from the idea that I don't want the flavor. That's what most people are trying to say when they say "it burns off." The logic remains: if the flavor went away, why would you cook with it in the first place?
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Matt