What is the point of vodka in sauces?

Question

When making vodka sauce, I mix heavy cream with a homeade marinara sauce, a couple cups of parmasean cheese, and about 3 shots of vodka, because it wouldn't be vodka sauce without it. But what does the vodka do? The alcohol burns away and vodka doesn't have any flavor to begin with. (in my opinion anyway) What is the point of it? I understand wine and rum marinades as they actually have flavor, but vodka doesn't have a flavor at all.

Answer 1

its the flavor, not the alcohol.

Answer 2

I totally agree with you -seems strange. here's my thought though. One thing that alcohol does is extract flavors from anything it's mixed with. So I could see it being a good ingredient if you wanted to get all the flavors out of the ingredients, then the alcohol burns off and all the flavors are left to mix nicely. It's also very likely that the alcohol in the vodka would help the tomatoes to break down quicker. If this is the reason then it makes sense that vodka was chosen - because it will do its job without leaving any flavor behind.