cooking with wine in food you give to toddlers?

[hellosailor]

sorry, bit of a dullard question..so far I haven't given my 15 month old any casseroles, bologneses etc, that have been cooked with wine, but most of my friends give food that has been cooked with wine to their toddlers, on the basis that it has cooked off for hours and is fine.

Presumably it is fine to give, say, a beef casserole that has been cooked with a bit of red wine for hours, but how about a bolognese or something that has only been cooked for 45 mins, presumably that would not be ok?

[Yak]

I think the evaporation point of alcohol is around 78oC. So as long as it's.properly boiling when you cook it, and you give it time for it to evaporate, then I reckon that must be ok. The yaklet was on coq au vin at 7 months if that puts your mind at rest at all!

[hellosailor]

the yaklet has always had sophisticated tastes

[simonethebeaver]

My one year old had a beer and beef casserole this evening and is still upright!

[oimissus]

I don't think it's to do with the length of time a dish is cooked for, it's that when you add the wine you should boil it off fast so that it reduces, and this burns off the alcohol and you're left with the flavour? If you just add it without boiling off it won't matter how long you cook it for, the alcohol will still be there - I always know if I've not boiled it off sufficiently cos it tastes too 'winey', if that makes sense. Miss Oi has had wine in food from about a year old.

[Fuschia]

A nice cava over weetabix sets mine up for the day...

[One Sweet World]

There's a chart here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooking_with_alcohol that indicates how much alcohol is left in a dish after various cooking methods. I looked this up once after hubby pointed out to me that I'd been giving casserole with wine in to our baby (probably only about 8 months). I then did a frantic search for the effect of alcohol on babies but only found pages on alcoholism in parents - it was as if no-one except me had ever actually GIVEN BOOZE TO A BABY! She seems to have survived but I've still never read anything about whether it can have any ill effects.

[GinaG3]

I always cook my Bolognese with red wine. After saut?ing the onions and garlic, I add a glass of wine, reduce for around 10 minutes, add the tomato and blah blah blah then allow to simmer for 40-60 minutes. My daughter has never suffered ill effects.

[nunheadmum]

Never heard of any ill effects. And any probably outweighed by the positive effects of reducing workload on parents of having to cook separate meals!!

I have to say that bolognese with wine goes down much better in our house than without. I fear they are their mother's daughters!!!!

[Otta]

Just avoid slow cookers, as they don't get hot enough to burn off the alcohol. stuff done in the oven or in a pan should be fine.

[hellosailor]

thanks all!