I heard this too, on an NPR interview with the author of 'The Science of Cooking' (I think) from Carnegie Mellon Univ in Pittsburgh, PA.

Thanks for everyone's suggestions and knowledge on cooking with alcohol. I don't think that anyone could really detect a very small percentage of alcohol that might be left in the finished dish so I won't be concerned with letting my guests know that alcohol was added.

When I was a kid, our parents would let us sip warm hard cider on special occasions, and how much alcohol is in cold medicine? The trace amounts of it in dishes won't hurt anyone IMHO..

That's a great idea... thanks!!!