Yesterday at a work event I had a dessert that had been cooked with liquor. My boss who was with me, knowing I was Mormon, asked if that was o.k. that I was eating that. I hadn’t even thought about it being an issue and told him from what I could tell the alcohol was cooked out. I guess from living in Europe where many dishes are prepared with alcohol I had become accustomed to eating food that had been cooked with alcohol.
The interesting thing was that this morning I received an email from the LDS Living magazine that had a poll asking the two questions to LDS readers: 1. Do you use alcohol in cooking? 2. How do you feel about cooking with alcohol? The question had been answered by close to 5,000 people. Nearly 1/2 of the LDS population that took the poll said they cook with alcohol and 75% of Mormons felt either neutral or positive about cooking with alcohol.
If you’re not a Mormon this is probably pretty trivial, but if you’re a Mormon where do you fall in line with the poll?
Grace for Grace 
28 comments
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February 25, 2011 at 3:48 am
Tammy Bankston
This is an interesting topic. No, I do not cook or eat food that has been prepared with alcohol. I know someone that is LDS and she makes cheese fondue. One of the ingredients she uses is beer. She did tell me that she felt uncomfortable having it in her refrigerator when her babysitter saw it. My thoughts were, how do you explain it to your kids. It’s not ok to drink, but it’s ok to cook with?? So, my personal opinion is that I do not want to sit on the fence trying to decide or justify if it is ok or not ok to use while cooking.
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February 26, 2011 at 12:23 am
ama49
Hi Tammy,
I can relate to your friend and especially with kids. I think as a general rule it is best not to have alcohol around. Personally, I doubt God will smite those who cook with it, but just for the sake of not having it accessible for kids I think it’s best not to have it around.
I remember when I was a kid at my friends house we used to sneak alcoholic beverages after his parents went to sleep. Also in our own house we had alcoholic beverages and as a kid you’re always curious.
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February 25, 2011 at 4:45 am
Cynthia L.
I had my mom’s chicken recipe rejected from our RS cookbook because it calls for 2T white wine.
I personally have no problem cooking with wine or eating food cooked with wine, but I do feel slightly awkward buying it and storing it. Less so over time.
I will say that I’m not comfortable eating coffee foods for some reason (espresso flavored ice cream, etc). Not sure the rationale there. Maybe just because I don’t like the taste! I am also not comfortable with some desserts with alcohol where you can still *really* feel the alcohol tingle (for example, some tiramisus) because then it feels like it hasn’t cooked off at all. But that’s just me.
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February 26, 2011 at 12:25 am
ama49
Hi Cynthia,
I have had desserts where the alcohol is very strong and the tingle is more like a burn! In that situation, I agree with you…it’s probably too much alcohol.
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May 6, 2012 at 3:06 pm
jacob lovaas
Caffiene does not burn off the same way alcohol does. You can still feel the jitteriness from expresso ice cream, or I can atleast. But I have never gotten drunk from eating gravy.
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February 25, 2011 at 4:59 am
Bro. Jones
I drank alcohol before joining the Church, so I know what “raw” alcohol tastes like. It’s rather nasty, in my opinion. Alcohol, when used in cooking, tastes profoundly different. I actually remember once as a kid, my mom made some kind of wine sauce for steak–it was delicious, so the next time we had steak, I grabbed a wine bottle and poured wine straight onto the meat. Believe me, it did not taste the same.
Anyway, I saw DRINKING alcohol as a way to get drunk, and COOKING with alcohol as a way to make tasty food. After joining the Church, I realized that getting drunk was against the commandments. Eating tasty food, not so much. Since I personally know that I am not tempted to use the alcohol in my kitchen for any purpose but cooking, I’ve got no problem keeping it around. (Mostly in the form of Chinese Shaoxing cooking wine, which is essential in Chinese cooking but foul beyond compare if you drink it straight.) But I respect people who choose otherwise.
On another note, there is alcohol in almost any food item with fermented ingredients: bread, soy sauce, ketchup, and some mustards all contain trace amounts of alcohol. If alcohol were a taboo substance (as pork is for Jews/Muslims), our leaders would tell us to avoid those things. Alcohol itself is not the taboo, rather it’s the bad mental/addictive effects and the seeking thereof.
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February 26, 2011 at 12:26 am
ama49
Hi Bro. Jones,
Great points you bring up. it would be interesting to see how much alcohol people inadvertantly consume.
If you have kids, how do you explain to them having alcohol around as Tammy suggested?
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February 28, 2011 at 3:41 am
Bro. Jones
Baby is too young for the discussion now, but when she grows up: she’s going to get many lectures on cooking. Dad’s chef’s knife is a powerful tool that makes tasty food, but it’s not a toy and it’s only for specific purposes. Any otter use is dangerous and dumb. Likewise, any alcohol we have for cooking is a tool for making food, not a recreational substance. Misapplication of knives or booze will be punished.
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March 2, 2011 at 4:07 am
ama49
Good point, Bro. Jones. If one chooses to have alcohol for cooking it is important to have rules for kids surrounding it and consequences.
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February 25, 2011 at 7:12 am
Mark D.
I wouldn’t be so quick to jump to conclusions about percentages. Straw poll, selection bias, etc. If you want a real study you have to select people at random, or at least be comprehensive about it.
In Utah. grocery stores don’t carry wine, and I doubt too many are going to are going to make a trip to a state run alcohol outlet to pick some up, or suffer the embarrassment of carrying more than a trivial amount in their kitchen. I imagine quite a few local LDS feel neutral about it though.
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February 26, 2011 at 12:28 am
ama49
Hey Mark,
You have a good point about the climate in Utah. It probably isn’t worth all the effort to get the alcohol and I can see how people would want to avoid being judged by having it in the old grocery cart if someone in their ward saw them!
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February 25, 2011 at 3:40 pm
Tom O.
[Cue reference to Prince’s book and the obligatory David O. McKay/rum cake story…]
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February 25, 2011 at 4:48 pm
hmm
Well, do you eat raw cookie dough? Because it has straight up vodka in it (vanilla extract is vodka and vanilla beans). So do many frostings. And it is not cooked at all.
Also, medicines. Alcohol may be use as a solvent or carrier in the flavor of toothpastes and other products. Halls Lozenges contain alcohol in flavors, Children Claritin, Chlor Trimeton and Children NY Quil, cough syrups, fluid fever relieving, Vicks, NY Quil Cough contain alcohol.
Pam cooking spray…alcohol. Enough to make you fail a drug test if you use it that morning.
Mouthwash…although now they have alcohol free ones. But I bet most of these naysayers don’t realize it.
Dijon mustard has wine in it.
Natural or artificial flavor may or may not contain alcohol as a solvent, Krispy Kreme Donuts, Dunkun Donuts, Red Bull, Ritz Crackers in USA/Canada, Butterfinger, 7up, Cream of Wheat, Dr. Pepper, Stoneyfield fruit yogurts, Lucozade and Ribena soft drink, Rubicon Fruit Drink, Ice Cream products contain alcohol.
Now…I agree thats it different to have a bottle of wine sitting around in the house to cook with, but they have cooking wine that comes in smaller bottles, so its just another ingredient. No biggie.
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February 26, 2011 at 12:33 am
ama49
hmm,
I agree with you that a bit of alcohol in your food isn’t going to send you screaming to the bishop’s office and if we really looked at it, we use alcohol all the time. Personally, I do not have issues with using alcohol in food. However, a young kid or teenager may not see it that way and therefore haivng alcoholic beverages around may not be the wisest idea.
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February 26, 2011 at 1:36 pm
martin holden
In the British Isles where a lot of restaurant food and many of the better quality ready meals you can buy in the supermarkets have had alcohol used in making them. I am happy to eat such food as I believe the alcohol has been cooked/burned out. I am a lot more careful though about desserts as some of them can be very alcoholic and the alcohol is not always cooked away.
Having said that because of the W of W I would never buy alcohol to use in cooking a mea. It is very easy to find a non-alcoholic substitute. Last week I cooked a beef bourguignon and simply used red grape juice instead of burgundy wine. I thought the taste was fantastic!
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February 26, 2011 at 7:42 pm
ama49
Great Comment, Martin.
It sounds like most of us feel eating something prepared with Alcohol is cool as long as it has been cooked, but it is safer to have outside the home.
A friend of mine emailed me this link: http://www.ochef.com/165.htm. It shows that unless you eat something that was cooked for 2.5 hours, you probably are still consuming a lot of alcohol. Does this affect your decision in any way?
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February 26, 2011 at 3:56 pm
ezra
I’m curious where the prohibition comes from in the first place. Was it the idea of JSmith or a Mormon apostle?
In Jesus’ day, throughout apostolic times, wine was a daily staple in life. (It was so extraordinary to refrain from alcohol, that mention had to be made regarding Sampson’s upbringing–ie, make sure no alcohol touches his lips. And this was a personal vow, for Sampson.) Jesus doesn’t bring a bottle of wine to a party, he provides gallons of it at his mother’s request. And the Apostle Paul urges Timothy to take a bit of wine daily for his stomach– great medical advice, as it turns out. Coffee wasn’t in circulation, of course, but drugs of various kinds were circulating, if only medicinally. The one Biblical response I can think of regarding substance use is from Apostle Paul, saying that all things of creation are good and are to be received with thanksgiving in our hearts toward God (1 Timothy 4:1-3). All prohibitions are of a person’s conscience and abiding by public law; otherwise, as God said to Apostle Peter, “Do not call unclean what I have made clean.”
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February 26, 2011 at 7:49 pm
ama49
Hi Ezra,
These are great questions.
The restriction against alcohol came as a revelation to Joseph Smith and can be found in Doctrine and Covenants Setion 89. It was initially given as a principle to live by and not a commandment. Later prophets made it a commandment.
For some more information on the Word of Wisdom, feel free to visit this site as well: http://www.jefflindsay.com/WWisdom.shtml
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May 6, 2012 at 3:19 pm
jlovaasx3
In the king james version that I have always read it makes a distinction inbetween strong drink and wine. When ever they mentioned wine they were talking of juice prepared with fruit of the vine. And I have never seen anywhere where it said it is ok to drink strong drink. Ever mention I have seen actually prohibits it.
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February 26, 2011 at 6:01 pm
Amy
I’m not opposed to OTHER momrmons cooking with alcohol. I’m also okay with eating my favorite Red Lobster Shrimp Scampi which has been cooked with alcohol. I think we can use our best judgement as far as whether or not the alcohol is cooked out or not. I’m still careful about what I order.
I am, however, opposed to having alcohol in MY home. I teach my kids to avoid putting themselves in a position where they may be tempted… to avoid the very appearance of evil. Plus, they aren’t the only one’s I’d be worried about. I’m a crazy-busy mother of five, and I have to admit that a little “escape” calling to me from the back of the cupboard could possibly lure me enough to give in at times. Even just a sip! I’m not strong enough to subject my family (or myself) to that kind of temptation. For the same reason, I won’t subscribe to Victoria’s Secret catalogs & other things. Kids are faced with plenty of temptation outside the home. I don’t need to add to it.
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February 26, 2011 at 7:37 pm
ama49
Hi Amy,
Sounds like you and I are pretty much on the same page. I have no problem eating something that’s been cooked with it but prefer not to have it in the home where it could become a temptation.
I had a conversation with the same co-worker the next night over dinner, and he said that when work got very stressful he had turned to the bottle. Before he knew it, he was putting down a 6-pack/night. If the alcohol hadn’t been in the house in the first place, it would have been harder for him to have that issue.
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February 26, 2011 at 11:33 pm
martin holden
Ama,
You asked:
“A friend of mine emailed me this link: http://www.ochef.com/165.htm. It shows that unless you eat something that was cooked for 2.5 hours, you probably are still consuming a lot of alcohol. Does this affect your decision in any way?”
In answer to your question my answer would be no. I suppose I am influenced by the fact the revelation Joseph recieved warns against strong drink not alcohol per se. As far as I am concerned alcohol in food can rarely be counted as strong drink. I do think that I should not be going out of my way to eat food that has alcohol in it but when choices are limited I don’t think it is harmful.
Living in an area where drinking alcohol is seen as normal behaviour it is not unusual for us as a family to be given a bottle of wine. We seem to aquire one most years and it will sit at the back of our cupboard until we give it to someone who drinks. I do not see this as a moral issue though I think it would be if we were to give it to someone who had an alcohol problem.
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February 27, 2011 at 6:41 pm
ama49
Hi Martin,
Thanks for the response. I agree with you. I think we should be wise in how we use it and that still doesn’t affect my decision of if I would eat something cooked with alcohol or not.
However, for some, I can see them justifying drinking based on that link. Heck if there’s still 75% of the alcohol left in something that’s been cooked for only a few minutes, what’s wrong with putting back a beer?
How would you respond to someone who said that to you?
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February 27, 2011 at 1:54 am
Ezra
Thanks, Ama, for the history on that.
Could an apostle reverse this and restore it as a principle instead of a command? Similarly, coffee, for instance has been shown to be a substance that doesn’t hurt the body, but actually could be a substance that forestalls Multiple Sclerosis. Truly, this would be a substance one could truly receive with thanksgiving.
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February 27, 2011 at 6:36 pm
ama49
Hi Ezra,
I’m sure a prophet could reverse it. There are many health articles that go both ways showing that wine can help heart health and there are many that go the other way as well. I’ve never heard the one you mention about cofee, but I don’t doubt it’s out there. I’ve heard other articles that show coffee is bad for us too.
I think the main point behind it is that if one has a testimony of the prophet and that the prophet receives revelation for the church like Peter did for Christ’s church after Jesus was gone, then we’ll be willing to follow what the prophet says regardless.
You do bring up an interesting thought though. If the prophet said “hey, it’s cool to drink wine now” I wonder how many Mormons would freak out! : )
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February 27, 2011 at 7:44 pm
Cal
Another biblical reference is Ephesians 5:18: “Do not get drunk with wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.”
That verse summarizes my personal view. I’ve observed that when people get buzzed on alcohol, they are more likely to do things that go against the Spirit, such as make insensitive comments, flirt with someone other than their spouse, or tell nasty jokes.
So on those infrequent occasions when I drink alcohol, I stop as soon as I start to feel the effects of it. If I didn’t have the self-discipline to stop, or if I was around someone who would be offended, I wouldn’t start in the first place.
I want my behavior to please and glorify God. After all, he’s really good to me!
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February 27, 2011 at 9:24 pm
RNM
I think the issue is pretty simple really. We avoid even the “appearance of evil”. That way we never have to get in a discussion about whether the alcohol is cooked out (which by the way rarely fully is) or how much is okay. Where is the line between a little and too much.
I personally don’t consume alcohol, whether that be by drinking it or eating it. Safest way!
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March 2, 2011 at 4:07 am
ama49
RNM,
I can understand why you would feel that way and respect your viewpoint.
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