Pregnant and cooking without alcohol

Love pulled pork in red wine? Fan of risotto with white wine? Or would you rather have mussels marinated in beer? During your pregnancy it is better to cook without alcohol. Because alcohol residues often remain behind. 

Were you always used to flavoring some dishes with alcohol? It is better not to drink alcohol during your pregnancy. It is not true that the alcohol evaporates completely. You can read how that works here.

Alcohol after cooking and stewing
Many people like to cook and can really enjoy a nice meal. Without and with alcohol in it. Most alcohol evaporates as the food heats up. More precisely, if a dish with alcohol in it has been simmering for more than 2 hours, more than 90% of the alcohol has disappeared. With shorter heating, for example when making a sauce, more alcohol remains: about 40% after heating for 15 minutes.

Alcohol after flambé
Flambé steak, flambé chicken legs, stews with beef or pork…. is your mouth watering yet? As delicious as it is, after flambé there is still about 75% of the alcohol in the dish. So it is better not to flambé dishes and stews for your unborn baby.

Source: nutritioncentre.nl

And now?

The claim that alcohol evaporates in dishes is therefore incorrect. That doesn't mean you can't eat dishes that normally contain alcohol. There are good substitutes.

For example, depending on the dish, you can replace red wine with:

• Beef broth
• red grape juice
• cranberry juice or
• pomegranate juice.

White wine by:

• chicken bouillon
• vegetable stock
• Apple juice
• white grape juice and
• even tea!

And beer by:

• beef stock or
• Apple juice.

Desserts often contain drinks with a higher alcohol percentage. You can also easily replace these:

• sherry through orange juice
• kirsch by cherry syrup
• rum by pineapple juice

Of course the dish will taste a little different than you are used to. Don't compare it with the original, just taste it to see if you think it's a tasty replacement. That's what it's all about in the end.