As ingredient

Many foods contain alcoholic beverage

Alcoholic beverage

An alcoholic beverage is a drink containing ethanol, commonly known as alcohol. Alcoholic beverages are divided into three general classes: beers, wines, and spirits. They are legally consumed in most countries, and over 100 countries have laws regulating their production, sale, and consumption...

s that are later incorporated into the food itself, rather than being consumed separately by drinking them. Such dishes include coq au vin

Coq au vin

Coq au vin is a French braise of chicken cooked with wine, lardons, mushrooms, and optionally garlic.While the wine is typically Burgundy, many regions of France have variants of coq au vin using the local wine, such as coq au vin jaune , coq au Riesling , coq au pourpre , coq au Champagne, and so...

, hunter style chicken, and boeuf bourguignon. More modern examples are beer grilled chicken and bratwursts boiled in beer. Adding beer, instead of water, to chili during cooking is popular. An overnight marinate of chicken, pork or beef in beer and spices is another example - generally for broiling, grilling or barbecue.

Specialist cooking wines, liqueur

Liqueur

A liqueur is an alcoholic beverage that has been flavored with fruit, herbs, nuts, spices, flowers, or cream and bottled with added sugar. Liqueurs are typically quite sweet; they are usually not aged for long but may have resting periods during their production to allow flavors to marry.The...

s, vermouth

Vermouth

Vermouth is a fortified wine flavored with various dry ingredients. The modern versions of the beverage were first produced around the late 18th and early 19th centuries in Italy and France...

s and eaux de vie

Eau de vie

An eau de vie is a clear, colorless fruit brandy that is produced by means of fermentation and double distillation...

 are widely used by professional chefs to enhance flavour in traditional and modern dishes. These are specially created to be an ingredient in cooking, not a beverage. As well as offering excellent value for money, they have a longer shelf life which avoids wastage. The addition of specialist cooking wines, liqueurs and vermouths adds flavour to finished meat and fish dishes; desserts benefit from the use of sweet or dry wines. In addition, the use of specialist cooking wine in marinades can tenderise

Tenderizing

In cooking, tenderizing is a process to break down collagens in meat to make it more palatable for consumption.There are a number of ways to tenderize meat:*Mechanical tenderization, such as pounding or piercing....

 meat and is of particular benefit to game dishes.

Flambé

Flambé

Flambé

Flambé is a cooking procedure in which alcohol is added to a hot pan to create a burst of flames. The word means flamed in French ....

 is a technique where alcohol, such as brandy

Brandy

Brandy is a spirit produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35%–60% alcohol by volume and is typically taken as an after-dinner drink...

, is poured on top of a dish and then ignited to create a stunning visual presentation.

A variation of the flambé tradition is employed in Japanese

Japanese cuisine

Japanese cuisine has developed over the centuries as a result of many political and social changes throughout Japan. The cuisine eventually changed with the advent of the Medieval age which ushered in a shedding of elitism with the age of shogun rule...

 teppanyaki

Teppanyaki

is a style of Japanese cuisine that uses an iron griddle to cook food. The word teppanyaki is derived from teppan , which means iron plate, and yaki , which means grilled, broiled or pan-fried...

 restaurants where a spirit is poured onto the griddle and then lit, providing both a dramatic start to the cooking, and a residue on the griddle which indicates to the chef which parts of the griddle are hottest.

Alcohol in finished food

A study by a team of researchers at the University of Idaho, Washington State University, and the US Department of Agriculture's Nutrient Data Laboratory calculated the percentage of alcohol remaining in a dish based on various cooking methods. The results are as follows:

• alcohol added to boiling liquid & removed from heat - 85% alcohol retained
• alcohol flamed - 75% alcohol retained
• no heat, stored overnight - 70% alcohol retained
• baked, 25 minutes, alcohol not stirred into mixture - 45% alcohol retained
• baked/simmered, alcohol stirred into mixture:

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Time (h) !! Alcohol retained
|-
| 0.25 || 40%
|-
| 0.5 || 35%
|-
| 1.0 || 25%
|-
| 1.5 || 20%
|-
| 2.0 || 10%
|-
| 2.5 || 5%
|-
5.5 1%

Alcohol as cooking fuel

Also as an alternative to cooking with propane

Propane

Propane is a three-carbon alkane with the molecular formula , normally a gas, but compressible to a transportable liquid. A by-product of natural gas processing and petroleum refining, it is commonly used as a fuel for engines, oxy-gas torches, barbecues, portable stoves, and residential central...

 or kerosene

Kerosene

Kerosene, sometimes spelled kerosine in scientific and industrial usage, also known as paraffin or paraffin oil in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Ireland and South Africa, is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid. The name is derived from Greek keros...

 on boats, alcohol stoves have been very popular in the past, but are known to be dangerous due to the operator not knowing how much odorless vapor is being released, often resulting in explosions below deck in the galley. Propane and kerosene are scented, negating this issue.

For an example of a very light weight alcohol stove for camping see Beverage-can stove

Beverage-can stove

A beverage-can stove is a homemade, ultralight portable stove. The simple design is made entirely from aluminium cans and burns alcohol. Countless variations on the basic design exist....

.