The One Big Mistake To Avoid When Adding Beer To Stew

Its hearty stew season and one of the best additions to a rich, flavorful stew is beer. Before you make a slow cooker Beef and Guinness Stew though, listen carefully. Daily Meal recently spoke with Hammed, a chef, recipe developer, and author of the blog The Prince Eats, and he warned us about one common mistake people make when adding beer to stew. The mistake in question is being too heavy-handed when pouring the beer.

Hammed tells us that when you don't use an accurate measurement from the recipe it "can result in drowning out the aromas and feature flavors of the stew." Beer is meant to be a flavor enhancer, not the flavor itself. It adds an earthy depth that stews would otherwise have to spend hours on the stovetop to achieve. Different beers have different uses when it comes to cooking, so choose the one that will best enhance your dish. But, even with the right beer choice — and amount — for your stew, it still needs to spend some time simmering, otherwise you'll make another common mistake.

Once you've added the called-for amount of beer into your stew, you still need to let it simmer. "A common mistake people make when incorporating beer into stews is not allowing the stew to simmer long enough to allow the smell of alcohol to dissipate," Hammed warns. If you don't follow the recipe when it comes to the simmering time, you can still end up with an overpowering beer flavor.

Fifteen minutes of simmering typically still leaves 40% of the alcohol from the beer in the dish. Even after an hour there could still be 25% of the alcohol remaining. If you let your stew simmer in a big, uncovered pot that will help even more of the alcohol to evaporate. Typically a beef stew will simmer for two to three hours. Mind your heat, too, as hoppy beers need a watchful eye and turn bitter when cooked over 180 degrees. One way to ensure success is to keep tasting your stew throughout the cooking process and find the sweet spot when it comes to flavor.