Is it really GONE gone?

Have you ever wondered what actually happens to the alcohol you cook with? When it just "evaporates" into thin air, and your tipsy treat turns into a mellow meal?

That didn't exactly sound how I had hoped. It made the later dish sound boring...something it most certainly is not! I have made some of the most delicious sauces by adding just a touch of white wine. Or gravy! Don't even get me started with the turkey gravy my uncle made a few thanksgivings past. I still remember that gravy.

But I digress.

I do wonder what happens to that alcohol. Which is why I am on a mission to find out. Walk with me for a bit.

I found that my answer was not far from my grasp. In fact, the first time I typed "does alcohol evaporate when you cook it?" into my search bar, I was immediately brought to this chart, courtesy of http://www.betterendings.org/Recipes/cookal.htm:

PREPARATION METHOD	Alcohol Retained
No heat application, immediate consumption	100%
No heat application, overnight storage	70%
Alcohol ingredient added to boiling liquid, and removed from heat	85%
Flamed	75%
Baked, approximately 25 minutes, alcohol ingredient on surface of mixture (not stirred in)	45%
Baked/simmered, alcohol ingredient stirred into mixture 15 minutes 30 minutes 1 hour 1.5 hours 2 hours 2.5 hours	40% 35% 25% 20% 10% 5%

It doesn't get much simpler than that, so I'm not even going to try and complicate it just to sound wise in the ways of science.

In the words of Bill Nye regarding the case of the missing alcohol: "NOW YOU KNOW!"

Image courtesy of http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2008/03/wine%20cover.JPG