Using Alcohol for cooking

[Eagle732]

If you think it's OK to cook with alcohol on a Scout trip then maybe we can have special brownies for dessert!

[T2Eagle]

"If you can't cook without alcohol on a Scout outing then stay home."

 

Geez, lighten up.

 

Other than that thanks for the considered responses. I had read the G2SS and was interested in how others would interpret it. Although it is not unanimous, the majority opinion seems to be that the safer interpretation is not to use alcohol even for cooking.

 

A couple of further thoughts about cooking with alcohol on non-scout camping trips. One of the reasons I like using alcohol is that it is actually an easy ingredient to use to give strong added flavor in simple recipes. I find it especially helpful in one pan meals. Take Eamonns mussels in white wine. With whatever else the recipe calls for you cook your mussels, remove them briefly once theyre cooked, add whole wheat angel hair pasta, some frozen peas, cook for about four minutes more, throw the mussels back in and voila: a one pan meal with a low fat protein, complex carbohydrates, and a good green vegetable. Hmm, its Friday and lent and near dinner time, I may try this tonight.

 

As to the alcohol left after cooking, I had heard that prior to popular belief the alcohol does not burn off completely, but I had not seen the percentages before. They seemed kind of scary until I plugged in some numbers. Assuming in the mussel dish above you used 1 cup of wine, 12% alcohol, total cooking time about 15 minutes and serve five people, you end up with .0768 ounces of alcohol consumed per person. What does that mean? Well, an ice cream in a bag recipe calls for teaspoon vanilla extract per person. Vanilla is 35% alcohol by volume which means .08333 ounces of alcohol consumed -- more than the wine sauce. So unless you can eat enough ice cream to get drunk go ahead and cook with wine, just not on a scout trip.

 

 

[le Voyageur]

hmmmmm,since the G2SS is such a broad brush on this topic, then Cough Syrup at 25% alcohol would not be allowed on Camp property. Therefore, for Councils not to violate this ruling, would require every Camp to locate their Health Lodge off the property, and bus Scouts for treatment....

[T2Eagle]

I have to add one more note on this topic. My older brother, a retired SM and currently president of his local Appalachian trail club, once conducted an elaborate experiment involving marinating shrimp in wine for a backpacking trip (hes a rocket scientist, they do that sort of thing). He found that if you marinated shrimp in wine and chilled it down to the point where the wine froze, the rate that frozen wine thaws was slow enough that the whole mixture would stay healthily cold enough that you could carry it uninsulated for two days and then cook it for dinner. I think he was trying to impress a member of the fairer gender when he did this.

[Scoutfish]

The Boy Scouts of America prohibits the use of alcoholic BEVERAGES and controlled substances at encampments or activities on property owned and/or operated by the Boy Scouts of America, or at any activity involving participation of youth members.

 

 

 

le Voyageur. Back in the day, I tried a few shots of Wild Irish Rose, Thunderbird and some other "hobo" drinks. We used to get a small bottle for parties. Everybody would chip in 2 or 3 dollars into the kitty, and then we would see who could hold down a shot for 5 minutes without puking.

Nobody ever won.

 

Now, I don't want to judge, but I don't suppose you use cough syrup as an alcoholic BEVERAGE do you? LOL!

 

Granted, had we tried that, I would have won that bet many times!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[T2Eagle]

True Tales from My Wastrel Youth

 

I had a friend in high school who took a bottle of lemon extract and added it to fruit punch from the cafeteria vending machine to see if he could "catch a buzz". That guy is now considered one of the top cardio-vascuslar surgeons in the Philadelphia area. He's on the billboards for one of the health systems.

[Scoutfish]

More true tales.....

 

Back when I used to run fire/EMS/ water rescue: A fella runs out of cigarettes one day and doesn't have the money to buy another pack. So he gets creative and busts open a Lipton tea bag ( orange pekoe I think?), rolls it up in a rolling paper and lights up.

 

 

When we got to his house, the sheriff;s dept already had an amonia caplet brokeen and under the guys nose. REode all the way to the hospital barely conscious.

 

The guy ended up just making it!

[Eamonn]

" then Cough Syrup at 25% alcohol would not be allowed on Camp property"

Kinda think if my kid was slurping down cough syrup in vast quantities, I'd have second thoughts about allowing him to go to camp.

Ea.

[Scoutfish]

Not that I really want to try, but how much cough syrup would you have to drink to get drunk?

 

Could you actually drink that much without puking first?

 

LOL!

[Scoutfish]

 

 

I agree with that line of thought.... You could mix your seasoning in with your wine, and even put chuncks of onion in it too. You might even use it only at the adult campsite - far away from the scouts.

 

But if that "one " parent gets knowledge of you using it... there could be some serious headaches. Council gets involved. May not do anything, but before you know it, you get a bunch of parents in an uproar.

 

Then like OGE says... "How would you defend yourself?"

 

 

[SctDad]

OK want to get technical.

 

Are ALL camp rangers in the BSA forbidden from having alcohoic beverages in their residence. I cannot say this to a fact, but I would hazard a guess that if you looked in the fridge there is probably some alcoholic beverages.

 

I would think that if it was obvious that it was for cooking then it should not be a problem as it is not intended as a beverage. But yes you do take the chance of running into the overprotective adult.

 

In other words - You are waking a very thin line(This message has been edited by SctDad)

[Scoutfish]

Sctdad, I personally think that is the bigger issue here.

Since it is intended for cooking, I do not think it would violate any rules because it is not being used as a BEVERAGE.

 

Common sense should say as long as everybody doesn't get drunk or high off of eating linguini, then no problem.

But it's that whole "common sense" thing.

 

Some over protective parents might totally freak out! Then a molehill becomes a mountain.

 

But between you and me, I'd think any normal ranger probably NEEDS a nice shot of Jack or a couple cold ones after a week of scouts running around! LOL!

[desertrat77]

To echo T2Eagle's sentiment, and quote Sergeant Hulka, DI in the movie Stripes: "Lighten up, Francis!"

 

To assume that someone who cooks with alcohol is lush, or a person of low moral character, is indeed painting with a broad brush.

 

In the case at hand, knowning your audience--your troop--is the first step. Some, like a church sponsored troop, may espouse a zero tolerance for alcohol...in that case, I'd honor their stance fully and avoid the wine.

 

In all other instances, I'd ask the parents first how they felt. And then take the appropriate steps to avoid any negative appearance factor.

 

In my own experience, when I was an SPL a million years ago, my SM brought a bottle of dandelion wine one camp out, and he told us he would marinate the shish kebab meat in it, for our big Saturday night feed. He drained the bottle in the pot, put the meat in, and let it soak for the afternoon. Those kebabs were delicious! Amazing what that wine did for the normally tough chunks of stew meat.

[Readyman]

From the Guide to Safe Scouting:

 

The Boy Scouts of America prohibits the use of alcoholic beverages and controlled substances at encampments or activities on property owned and/or operated by the Boy Scouts of America, or at any activity involving participation of youth members.

 

 

A Scout is Trustworthy.

...A Scout tells the truth. He is honest, and he keeps his promises. People can depend on him.

A Scout is Loyal.

..A Scout is true to his family, friends, Scout leaders, school, and nation.

A Scout is Obedient.

...A Scout follows the rules of his family, school, and troop. He obeys the laws of his community and country. If he thinks these rules and laws are unfair, he tries to have them changed in an orderly manner rather than disobeying them.

A Scout is Clean.

...A Scout keeps his body and mind fit and clean. He chooses the company of those who live by high standards. He helps keep his home and community clean.

 

The rule prohibiting alcohol makes sense. As adults, do we really want to set the example that rules and laws can be set aside at will, if we do not personally agree with them.

 

Just a thought.

[Eagledad]

>>Afterward, however, I had second thoughts, and decided I would not do that again, as in my opinion, it clearly violated the intent of the "no alcohol" policy in the G2SS.