Dry-anuary? This will help in the kitchen:

What if you don’t drink alcoholic beverages, for whatever reason, and the ingredient list on the recipe for coq au vin includes 1/4 cup brandy and 1/2 bottle red wine? Or, a few minutes in, the risotto recipe says, “toss in one glassful of dry white wine”? Or, to make the batter for an “authentic” fish and chips, you’ll require a bottle of beer?

Many people—including those who cook and eat—don’t drink for reasons of health, religion, or culture, or because they don’t want to feed the coq au vin sauce to the baby.

It’s a common assumption that the heat of cooking rids a dish of any alcohol introduced into it. That’s only partially true.

According to the Agricultural Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture, 75 percent of the original alcohol by volume of the liquid used, for instance, will remain in a flambéed dessert; 25 percent, in a dish that has been simmered or braised for one hour; and five percent in the same dish after two and a half hours. (Those percentages for braising are guaranteed if the pot has been covered while cooking, the norm.)

Those numbers won’t work for a lot of folk.

When searching for substitutes for wine or beer in cooking, I think about the role wine or beer plays in a recipe. They add flavor, of course, but also the very important crispness of fruity acidity or carbonation. So, I seek out fruit juices or other beverages that mimic those qualities.

• For red wine, cup for cup, I use R. W. Knudsen’s “Just Tart Cherry” juice. It’s a splendid proxy and no person at my table for whom I’ve cooked a boeuf bourguignon or oxtail stew could guess that I didn’t use red wine.

• For white wine, in equal measure, I’ve had great luck with “light” (lower sugar level) apple juice or, in a pinch, regular apple juice. It’s pretty interesting how cold apple juice smells just like a Mosel riesling—hmm, or is it the other way around?

• And get this: add a teaspoon of malted milk powder to sparkling apple juice or low-sugar-level ginger ale and you’ll swear you’re in beer country. Ergo, “beer” batter success, including the bubbles.

Here’s a recipe at GET COOKING WITH BILL ST JOHN for Poached and Glazed Pears, using tart cherry juice in place of red wine.

More recipes in each of which you may substitute for wine:
- Grilled Littleneck Clams
- Lamb Shoulder with Heads of Garlic
- Braised Short Ribs on Polenta
- Colorado Striped Bass with Tomatoes
- BSJ’s Cassoulet and
- Pasta alla Zozzona

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Cheers!

BSJ
www.billstjohn.com