Richard Periut wrote:

> Recently I tasted a vodka sauce recipe from a local Italian Ma & Pa
> place. The place is very good; byob, quick service, and the best Italian
> food in the area.
>
> I ordered a Penne a la Vodka as a side dish, and found it quite good.
> However, my questions a
>
> 1 Vodka is pretty much tasteless, so what does it give the dish?

The alcohol isn't tasteless. Vodka doesn't have congeners to add
flavor like whiskies, but it certainly can be tasted.

> 2 The ETOH of the vodka evaporates during cooking; and considering that
> vodka is 40% ETOH by volume, what is left is H20 and some residual
> unfermentable sugars, et cetera.

Not much of the alcohol actually evaporates in the short cook time of
most vodka sauces. Here's a pickup from
<http://www.canoe.ca/HealthMayeMuskColumns/011009.html>

There's more info on the page, but this is the crux of it.

Preparation method Percent retained

Alcohol added to boiling
liquid & removed from heat 85%

Alcohol flamed 75%

No heat, stored overnight 70%

Baked, 25 minutes, alcohol
not stirred into mixture 45%

Baked/simmered, alcohol
stirred into mixture
15 minutes 40%
30 minutes 35%
1 hour 25%
1.5 hours 20%
2 hours 10%
2.5 hours 5%

Depending on your method of cooking, expect 45 - 75% alcohol in the
final dish.

Bob