grain alcohol in chinese sausage

ok smarties, i'm counting on you.
what purpose does the grain alcohol serve in commercial formulations for chinese sausage? we know it's not there for flavor so is it just to put spices in solution. is it important to the curing process? i'm stumped.

Just a guess, but could it have some sort of preservative effect?

Hi,

I would not discount the alcohol's role as a flavor enhancer, though I don't see where it works to preserve since the sausages are not seeped in alcohol. I mentioned this earlier this week and perhaps you missed it:

Shirley Corriher, who wrote Cookwise: The Hows and Whys of Successful Cooking, found to taste something fully you need these elements present: water, fat and alcohol:

A Cook's tips for flavorful low-fat food by Shirley Corriher wrote:If you don't have a little fat in a dish to dissolve and carry fat-soluble flavors, they are lost. Some flavor components dissolve in water and some in fat. If we totally eliminate fat, we lose all these fat-soluble flavors. You might have noticed that some fat-free food is truly bland.

Last edited by Cathy2 on January 26th, 2005, 2:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Cathy2

"You'll be remembered long after you're dead if you make good gravy, mashed potatoes and biscuits." -- Nathalie Dupree
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you know cathy, i think you're on to something. i need to go back to mcgee and do some research. i assumed their was more of an "alchemical" reason for the grain alcohol given its strength. also, the one sausage brand that listed grain alcohol was the only one without msg.

i'm thinking there's more to this.