Cooking with wine: French Onion soup?

norcogrrl

I'm wondering what the general consensus for cooking with wine is while eating paleo/primal.

I don't drink wine (I don't drink any alcohol) but I've got French onion soup started in the slow cooker. I'm almost ready to add the liquids to it. Pre-paleo I would have added beer to it. I'm thinking wine might be a better choice now.

I've only got a bit of left over chicken stock, and I have no beef stock on hand (local butchers charge way to much for soup bones now . . . Since the whole "bone broth" craze started). My stock is going to be a bit thin. All I have on hand to add to it is balsamic vinegar and a bit of wine.

My doc is still letting me eat high fat dairy for now, so I just have to leave out the croutons. There is a lovely little boutique cheese shop a couple of blocks from my work, so I'm really looking forward to a delishious and cheesy mess.

I'd love some feedback!

closetlibrarian

If you're cooking your soup low and slow, and add the wine near the beginning, you can reduce alcohol content a bit if that is your concern. Not all of the alcohol will be gone. After being added to food that then is baked or simmered for 15 minutes, 40 percent of the alcohol will be retained. After cooking for an hour, only about 25 percent will remain, but even after 2.5 hours of cooking, five percent of the alcohol will still be there. Of course, the amount of alcohol in an individual serving will be quite low. IMHO, a good red wine can definitely improve the flavor profile in a soup base and improve the richness of the broth.

norcogrrl

Thanks, @closetlibrarian !

I did add a "glug" of red wine to the soup, along with a "glug" of balsamic vinegar. I just had a bowl of it with 60 grams of a gorgeous Gruyère (I'm so thankful that my doc didn't remove cheese from my diet!), and it was really wonderful.