cooking with wine & spicy food for toddler?

[home alone]

Dh & i eat lots of spicy food ( i was brought up with) and i wonder does anyone give spicy food to toddler?
dd2 is 3.5yrs and hates spicy food.   she won't even taste mild curry. 

2nd question is i cook meat with wine and wondering if i should restrain from serving it to toddler.
i thought alcohol will be burnt off by the time the cooking is done but never asked other moms what they thought of it.

thanks!

[Mum to Ella Rose]

Not sure about the wine but my 12 month old already eats lots of spicy food.    He loves curry and southwest BBQ sauce.  The curry kind of happened by accident, I had made a meal but didn't add the curry until after his was served.  Turned around 2 minutes later and he was on his dad's lap gobbling up the one with the curry! We just kind of approach it like everything else... go slowly, watch carefully and we give it early enough (first time I mean) in the day that we would see if there were any bad reaction. JMO

[momtonb&ab]

we certainly serve spicy foods to the kids.  they decide how much they want, and i do always have an alternative for occassions when they don't want it, but mostly they do eat what we do, moderately spicy, and they enjoy it.   i don't often cook with wine, but when i do, i serve it to them as well....  not sure if that helps you at all, but we have been offering table food to them since they started eating......

[Mashi]

Although my LO is still too young for table food, when it comes to spicy food I've always had the philosophy that kids in India, China, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia.....etc etc etc etc eat spicy food from their first foods, so there is no reason your LO *can't* have it.  But, if you say that she doesn't like it, then I would go slowly and don't push it on her, make it mild and offer an alternative. Maybe with your younger one, start offering mild spice earlier on and see how she takes to it.

I don't (and won't in future) cook with wine until my LO is older, but that's just me, and I'm a prude!! 

[aisling]

Spicy and flavour family here. DS loves since he was about 1 yr old, olives, garlic, hummus, spicy mustard, salsa, beets in vinegar, curries, pesto, medium spicy sausage/pepperoni etc... We all get a good laugh when he comes to kiss me and I am like "Ew get of here garlic breath!" To which he replies, "No, you are garlic breath head!" 

Made properly, foods cooked with alcohol are perfectly safe to serve LO's. The dish should be cooked long enough, usually several minutes, for the alcohol itself to evaporate, leaving only harmless trace residues and the concentrated flavour of the wine or beverage used. Cooking with wine, beer, sherry, and spirits can greatly enhance the taste of some dishes, acting as a flavour conductor to heighten the taste of all the ingredients. 

There is more risk giving your child pain meds or sweeties/candies with all their additives and colourings FWIW.

A x

[home alone]

i am relieved to hear that cooking with wine is fine!

it's also great to hear that kids like spicy food.  i am thinking that i inadvertently discouraged LO from eating spicy food by giving too much warning "be careful it's spicy" or " it's spicy.  if you don't like it don't have it" etc.  i will hold off and re introduce in couple of months though i noticed  their memory's getting so much sharper so it might take longer.

[MLK]

I cook with wine for my 10 mo - slow cooked for a long time so there's no alcohol left. As for spicy food - Iwas talking to an Indian Mum and she started he bab yon very milk spices from 6 months. Obviously not chilli but turmeric, garlic etc.

[aisling]

Monica LOL about their memory.  So true.  Good luck.  It really helps when they like what we eat as a family. Now I will never eat as hot as DH but I consider myself a "spicy hotty" LOL!

[home alone]

Lan it's true that i could start with spices other than chili and move to hotter kind when they are older.

Spicy Hotty, i eat waay too spicy so i can't tell sometimes when something is spicy or not.  I should get dh to double check.  he notices even 1/4tsp of cayanne in a big tub of chili.

[MLK]

I should clarify -  I cook with wine for the family and my 10 mo has some of ours. I don't deliberately add it in for him!

[home alone]

Lan you are right. i don't cook with wine for the kids.  i was asking cos sometimes i just don't feel like cooking 2 meals.

[aisling]

As an Italian we HAVE to add wine to our homemade pasta sauce LOL.  I also tend to marinate meat or stew meat with wine.  Have used beer with ham/gammon and ribs in the crock pot too.  I also usually add wine/sherry to all gravies/au jus as well.

[MeAndVee]

DS is half indian so gets a lot of curries and spicey foods.  When he was younger we made it milder but now we do full force and he does fine with it.  His favorite is chilli tator tots {not exactly indian I know}!

[L76]

I know my DD has curry at nursery but no idea how hot it is!!! She is only 14 months and has eaten it since she was around 10 months.

Would be interested in opinions about wine though. My DD has had casserole and bolognaise with wine in a couple of times for ease but would make life easier if she had my adult versions more often?

No idea if it is ok or not. Was of the opinion like u that it got burnt off. Anyone know?

X

[aisling]

Like I wrote earlier:

Made properly, foods cooked with alcohol are perfectly safe to serve LO's. The dish should be cooked long enough, usually several minutes, for the alcohol itself to evaporate, leaving only harmless trace residues and the concentrated flavour of the wine or beverage used. Cooking with wine, beer, sherry, and spirits can greatly enhance the taste of some dishes, acting as a flavour conductor to heighten the taste of all the ingredients.