July 20, 2010 at 5:00 am Chad Upton The laws and store policies around the products that require ID and the ones that don’t, are sometimes confusing. I was in Target a while back and bought a can of compressed air to clean my dusty laptop. I was surprised when they asked for ID at the checkout. Apparently some people like to get high from the propellant in canned air. It’s unfortunate, these are not recreational drugs, these are asphyxiates that displace the oxygen in the air, reducing the oxygen that reaches your brain and eventually causes death. The solution is to require ID for purchase, although even a 42 year old man died from “huffing” canned air. Even when you’re using these products as intended, you should avoid inhaling the fumes and ensure adequate ventilation. I was at Target a few weeks later, looking for ramekins to make Crème brûlée. I also needed a butane blowtorch to caramelize the top of the custard. It turns out that you can buy butane torches and fuel without ID.

Thinking back to my teenage years, a blowtorch would have been much more fun than a can of air. But, cooking wine has the most interesting story. It ranges from 10%-13% alcohol and anybody can buy cooking wine at the grocery store. They even sell it in grocery stores in “dry” areas, where no alcoholic drinks are sold. In fact, Safeway requires ID to buy cough syrup, but not for cooking wine. Some cough syrup, such as NyQuil, contains alcohol. Other cough and cold medications contain a drug known as Dextromethorphan, which is a dissociative psychedelic drug. My friend Molly told me about this cooking wine loophole and gave me a sample of the product. If you’ve ever tasted cooking wine on it’s own, you’ll understand why anyone is allowed to buy it. Nobody would ever consume it on its own, it’s simply awful. Wine that is sold as “cooking wine” is usually grape or rice wine. It is then adulterated with salt, which makes it less suitable for cooking and even more undrinkable.

If you’re making a recipe that calls for wine, use wine that you’d actually drink and use a wine that pairs well with the food you’re cooking. Cooking wine has a lot of salt for coloring and as a preservative. Because cooking wine is consumed very slowly, the salt prevents acedic acid from forming and turning it into wine vinegar. Oh, and if you’re going to make Crème brûlée, my friend Mike showed me that you should skip the butane and go with propane — it has a wider flame that heats more evenly, which gives much better results and in less time. Subscribe on: Facebook | Sources: Wikipedia (Cooking Wine, Difluoroethane, Dextromethorphan), MSDS, Cooking Wine Without ID (1, 2), Dry Counties, NyQuil Entry filed under: Around The House, Food and Drink, Law. Tags: air, canned, cooking, Food and Drink, gas, huffer, huffing, legal, wine.The first thing to know about cooking wine is that you should probably avoid it. High levels of added salt make cooking wine unpalatable for drinking.

Therefore, there are no age restrictions on purchasing cooking wine, and you can find in any grocery store. Unfortunately, it doesn't add the flavor of wine to your cooking. Instead, it too often adds the flavor of salt. However, this doesn't mean that you can't find a good wine appropriate for cooking. best red wine 30 bottleIn fact, any good drinkable wine is a good cooking wine. best wine tasting in long islandYou just need to know what to look for.best wine maps of france Shop where drinking wine is sold if you want to use a grape wine in your cooking. best wine shops dcIf only liquor stores sell wine in your state, forgo the grocery store and head to the liquor store instead.wine sale online nz

Consider the recipes you'd like to make with the wine to choose the best type. Generally, red wines are best for hearty dishes and red sauces, while white wines are best for lighter sauces and flavors. Overall, you'll want to choose dry wines for cooking---unless you're using the wine in a dessert. wine sale online nzIn that case, a sweet wine may be ideal. Peruse the less expensive wines to find one for cooking. Though you want to purchase drinkable wine, there's no need for you to buy expensive wine. Much of the subtlety of the wine's flavor will dissipate as it's cooked. Find the boxed wine or gallon sizes for economy, especially if you plan on using wine often in your cooking. Unlike wine for drinking, you don't need to use cooking wine quickly; its flavor will still be good for cooking after a few weeks. However, if you know you won't use that much wine in a month or two, purchase a smaller bottle.

Visit an Asian supermarket or specialty shop if you want to use mirin in your recipes. Unlike Western cooking wines, this low-alcohol sweet rice cooking wine generally has little salt and few preservatives in it. Mirin does, however, have high sugar content. Read the labels of the mirin offered at the store to find one with the fewest and most natural ingredients. Some boxed wine is designed to stay fresh for up to 2 months, so you can keep it even longer than that for cooking. Some cooking wines don't have an especially high salt content, but this still doesn't mean you should use them in cooking. You'll find that buying drinking wine is a more economical choice than buying even the lowest quality cooking wine. You May Also Like Want to kick up the taste of your favorite dishes? Adding cooking wine to a well-loved recipe can enhance the flavor and... Although its name is nearly identical to the sweet white French dessert wine "Sauternes," the singular "Sauterne" is a popular dry to...