What Happens to Alcohol When Cooked

I found this great website for Muslim sisters here. I stumbled upon this article and wanted to share with you all. May Allah SWT bless these sisters in their efforts.

When we’re dining out and discover the recipe we’re dying to enjoy was prepared with alcohol, should we wave the concern away with the common understanding that “it burns off or evaporates from the heat?” I think we’d probably react differently to beer-battered shrimp than to teriyaki, although both traditionally employ significant amounts of alcohol.
 I wondered, though, what the purpose of cooking with alcohol was if none was left behind in the final dish. So I recently decided to find out whether the response I’d seen in some of my sisters was the right one. The right Google search found this chart, with data documented during a 1992 study by Augustin J, Augustin E, Cutrufelli RL, Hagen SR, Teitzel C., J Am Diet Assoc. 1992 Apr;92(4):486-8 for the USDA’s Nutrient Data Laboratory. I think the numbers speak for themselves.

Preparation Method	Percent of Alcohol Retained
alcohol added to boiling liquid & removed from heat	85%
alcohol flamed	75%
no heat, stored overnight	70%
baked, 25 minutes, alcohol not stirred into mixture	45%
baked/simmered, alcohol stirred into mixture:
15 minutes	40%
30 minutes	35%
1 hour	25%
1.5 hours	20%
2 hours	10%
2.5 hours	5%

Table 1 Credit: What’s Cooking America
 We are not held responsible for what we don’t know, of course. But remaining ignorant becomes worthy of blame in itself. If there’s no information about the ingredients in a dish in a restaurant (which is growing rarer every year in this health-, allergy-, and diet-conscious age), it’s a good idea to ask so we don’t inadvertently harm ourselves and our families, as Allah says, “Say: ‘In them (alcohol and gambling) is a great sin, and (some) benefit for men, but the sin of them is greater than their benefit.’” (Baqarah: 219)