Beef Bourguignon Tastes Like Alcohol: What Causes The Alcohol Taste In My Beef Bourguignon?
When most people think of beef bourguignon, they probably imagine a fancy dinner party with expensive wine and lots of delicious food.
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But what if your beef dish tastes like alcohol?
Believe it or not, many people have encountered this situation.
Read on to figure out why.
Why does my beef bourguignon taste like alcohol?
Beef bourguignon is a favorite French stew that gathers simple ingredients to bring out an outstanding dish.
However, sometimes, it tastes like alcohol that can disappoint your family or guests.
What are the reasons?
Here are some possibilities:
Use a lot of wine in the recipe
Red wine is one of the key ingredients for most beef stew recipes, including a beef bourguignon.
Therefore, it is quite easy to understand why sometimes, your beef bourguignon tastes like alcohol, or wine if you don’t follow the recipe or accidentally use a lot more wine than what it is supposed to be.
The dish has been cooked for insufficient time
Another chance that causes your beef bourguignon an alcohol-like taste is that you didn’t cook long enough so that the alcohol flavor can evaporate into the air.
Wine easily evaporates, but not completely.
So if you both use too much wine and don’t give it enough time to let it evaporate, your resulting dish will taste like alcohol.
Is it safe to eat beef bourguignon that tastes like alcohol?
Normally, how safe your dish is to consume will depend on the reason what causes the weird smell or taste of that dish.
As already mentioned, beef bourguignon that tastes like alcohol is just because of the proportion of wine used in the recipe and your cooking method.
Both these reasons are caused by you, the cook.
It doesn’t relate to the quality of the ingredients at all.
Therefore, despite the relatively unpleasant alcohol taste, your French-style beef stew is safe to eat without any worries about getting food-borne illnesses.
However, just make sure that the wine you use has a clear origin and is authentic because a fake kind of wine can cause wine toxicity.
How to get rid of the alcohol tastes from beef bourguignon?
Although it is not harmful or toxic to eat beef bourguignon that tastes like wine, we understand that all of you want to get rid of this problem.
Don’t worry, the following methods can help you avoid or ease this taste in your French beef recipe:
Use less wine, more beef broth
The first way is to use less wine and more beef broth.
You can follow exactly the amount of wine that the recipe calls for, or even use less than it is supposed to be.
Use more beef broth instead.
By doing this, you can still achieve a flavorful dish without having as much alcohol in your dish.
Add some apple juice or tomato sauce
In case you just accidentally make your beef bourguignon taste like alcohol, try adding some apple juice or tomato sauce instead of water.
The sour flavor from these ingredients can help dilute the alcohol taste significantly without ruining your stew.
You can also use other citrusy or sour-flavored elements that you find in the kitchen, but apple juice or tomato sauce will be our recommendations as they pair well with your beef stew.
Use low-alcohol wine for the recipe
Our last suggestion to reduce or get rid of the alcohol taste in your French beef bourguignon is to use the proper kind of wine.
There are types that are higher in alcohol while some others are lower.
If you are not a fan of the pungent flavor of alcohol or you are serving this dish to pregnant women or kids, you better opt for a low-alcohol kind of wine.
This helps maintain the deliciousness of your beef stew while making sure that there won’t be a strong alcohol taste in this hearty dish, even if you accidentally add too much more than what is expected.
The bottom line
Now you know that there are several ways to approach this situation.
Although beef bourguignon tastes like alcohol don’t refer to a severe problem, it partially makes your dish less appealing, especially for kids.
Keep in mind our post to always achieve a delicious bowl of hearty stewed beef bourguignon.
