How Much Cooking Wine To Get Drunk?

Cooking wine is more about cooking with it than drinking it. Though, some might wonder would it hurt to take a swig while adding it to the stew or marinating sauce? Well, there are additives in cooking wine that might make you avoid taking that drink.

Better yet, why drink cooking wine when you can have a much better experience with table wine? Or cook with table wine, and take a swig while working in the kitchen. It’s flavourful and pleasing to the palate.

The Food Network discusses cooking with wine and whether to use cooking wine or table wine. The article leans toward skipping the cooking wine and using a decent bottle of wine instead.

Layla Khoury-Hanold has some valid points in this regard. She supports cooking with a wine you drink and steer because you are familiar with the aromas, palate, and finish.

Still, cooking wine has its uses, but we will take a look to determine how much cooking wine to get drunk and if you even want to attempt it.

What is Cooking Wine?

What exactly is cooking wine? It’s different from table wine. Like regular wine, it comes in different varieties, from reds and whites to dry and sweet. There are even fortified cooking wines such as sherry and rice wine.

Cooking wine is higher in alcohol — 16 to 17 percent by volume. The high ABV is intentional because alcohol burns off while cooking. If you do the math, the higher the level of alcohol, the longer it takes to burn it off in the sauce.

Cooking wine contains salt, preservatives and sometimes a sweetener. That way, the additional ingredients extend the shelf life of the open bottle from days to months.

Extra shelf life works for those who don’t drink table wine and require small quantities of cooking wine for the occasional recipe.

Remember, it contains salt, so you may want to cut back on adding salt to the recipe based on how it tastes at the end. Then add enough salt as needed.

Can You Drink Cooking Wine?

Taking a sip of cooking wine after adding it to a recipe will tell you it was never meant to be sipped. Though, it’s safe to drink once you get beyond the salty-sweet taste. Truthfully, you will not enjoy it.

Nevertheless, besides the added content, the high levels of alcohol can get you drunk. The alcohol content in cooking wine is equivalent to drinking a rich, full-bodied red wine, such as a California Zinfandel, California Syrah, and Italian Amarone.

Getting Drunk from Eating Cooking Wine

It’s worth discussing whether you can get drunk off food made with alcohol. Since the alcohol burns off during the cooking process, the likelihood of you getting drunk from eating a delicious sauce or stew with cooking wine is slim.

Yet, Graham Lawton, New Scientist deputy editor, begs to differ based on an extensive experiment he did on himself. He ate several dishes sauteed, baked, and flambeed in booze. After each plate of food, he has a hand-held breathalyzer to gauge his blood alcohol content.

The experiment results show his alcohol content after eating Chorizo flambeed with rum went up, reading high, over the drink-drive limit. He continued eating a couple of more dishes that made him feel drunk.

It also appears that the dishes Lawton consumes lack the proper cooking time to burn off the alcohol.

How Much Cooking Wine To Get Drunk – Conclusion

With that, you can get drunk off cooking wine if you drink it straight from the bottle. But it’s liable to make your stomach feel sick with all the additives.

Like any alcoholic beverage, unless you weigh 250 pounds or more, two glasses of cooking wine in an hour makes you drunk.

So, head to the kitchen, open a decent bottle of wine, and add it to your sauces, stews, or marinating sauce. While at it, pour yourself a glass and enjoy the pleasures of drinking wine while you cook.