What I learned about Guinness Stout Beer and Corned Beef and Cabbage

K

karennoca

Well-known member
This year I tried a new recipe cooking my corned beef in the Guinness, then taking out two cups of the liquid, and cooking the veggies an another pot. Everything was horribly bitter...I wanted to throw it all out, but my husband had just told me how good it was. What?

Did research, some said not to cook with Guinness Stout because it would make the food bitter. Yet other bloggers said the results were fabulous and the comments confirmed their pleasure with the recipe. THEN, I hit upon one blog that said, some folks have an intolerance for the bitter taste, and WILL taste the Guinness as very bitter, while others will not.

I learned something about myself, and a beer I never drink. So, if you happen to be one of those people who find the dish bitter, it is best to use another beer other than stout.

.

Anyone else experience this?

 
I don't think Guinness too bitter, but there IS a difference in the way people taste "bitter". . .

I bet you don't drink beer, do you? I have been tasting beers this year and have discovered that I DO NOT like those way-over-hopped Imperial Pale Ales (IPAs) and such. I have taken to going on line and looking up beers from a restaurants beer list to see what their International Bitterness Units (IBUs) are, then I order the or at least ask about the ones with the lower IBU values.

Yes, I don't like bitterness. Nor does my husband. We have both found that bitterness in a beer depends on not only the amount of Hops, but can also depend on what types and how darkly roasted the malts are in a beer. I have read that the time the hops are added to a beer while brewing, and the amounts of hops, types of hops and number of times the hops are added can affect bitterness perception in the finished beer. Also, as I mentioned above, the darkness of roast on the malts (sprounted grain-- high in sugars) can matter too as the darker the roast the less sweet the malt is.

A while back I read that in general, women are more sensitive to bitter and men are less sensitive.

I recently made a chocolate stout cake, which was ok, but then it had a LOT of sugar in it as well. That sugar balanced out that bitter from the stout just fine! Also, every time my son or youngest brother is swigging on an Arrogant Bastard brew of some sort (usually an IPA) I ask for a taste. It still doesn't taste any better--to me as least.

A little bitter can be a good thing, but in some of these beers I have tasted, bleccch! I used to really dislike beers, but now I have found so many different types out there, I have actually found some that I like--and they aren't Bud or Coors or the like.

 
Not a beer fan, but it seemed to taste mighty good to me years ago when the kids were at home

and we had them and friends out on the lake for a whole day of skiing in our hot summer weather. Have not had beer since they left home.

My meat was very bitter from the half way cooking time. I pulled off a little shred of it with a fork to taste, and was stunned by the bitter taste. The blogger, whom I contacted about it, was amazed and said she had been cooking that corned beef recipe for years and no one ever complained about bitter. Yet, here is a link that says differently. There were other bloggers that mentioned Stout beer being bitter for cooking.
I do not like bitter. My husband cannot pick up any bitter, which goes along with what you said about women versus men.

Leftovers tonight and I am so disappointed, but I will not toss it out. Thank goodness for a wonderful, brown sugar, stout brown mustard and horseradish sauce to dredge the meat in.

http://www.food.com/recipe/corned-beef-and-cabbage-in-guinness-86868

 
Supertasters (BBC Article)

Brussels sprouts - for some people these miniature cabbages are the highlight of their Christmas dinner, others shudder at the mere thought of them. Scientists now know that not all people experience tastes in the same way. This is mainly down to the number of taste buds on your tongue.

Brussels sprouts
The more taste buds you have, the more intensely you perceive tastes, especially bitter ones. People who are particularly sensitive are called supertasters. They can have up to twice as many taste buds as the rest of us.

Bitter chemical

Taste researchers divide people into three groups:

Non-tasters
Medium tasters
Supertasters
Studies have shown that around 25% of people are said to be non-tasters, 25% supertasters and 50% medium tasters. These numbers can vary depending on sex and ethnicity. Women are more likely to be supertasters and so are people from Asia, Africa and South America.

Whether you're a non-taster or a supertaster or somewhere in-between depends on your sensitivity to a bitter chemical called 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP). Non-tasters can't taste the bitterness of PROP at all. Medium tasters sense the bitterness but don_t mind it, while supertasters find the taste of PROP revolting.

Children taste PROP more strongly than adults and, unlike adults, they always seem to sense the bitterness of the chemical. So it could be that certain flavours taste different to children than they do to most adults. This might explain why they're often fussy about their food.

Health effects

The supertaster gene could be a remnant of our evolutionary past, acting as a safety mechanism to stop us eating unsafe foods and toxins.

Nowadays, the supertaster gene appears to affect people's wellbeing in other ways. Take flavonoids for example. These are the healthy antioxidant chemicals found in fruit and vegetables. Flavonoids taste unpleasantly bitter to supertasters, so they often avoid foods which contain high levels of them. On the other hand, they tend to have a lower risk of heart disease, because they also shy away from very fatty, salty and sugary foods.

 
I love the bitter. Unsweetened (high quality) chocolate, Negronis, stews made with Guinness

all sooo good.

I love beef stew with guinness and found the sweetness of the carrots offset the beer flavor.

Now I want a pint!

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top