TheKitchenTableByWhite.com is reader-supported. We may earn a commission through products purchased using links on this page. Learn more about our process here
Too-Much-Black-Pepper-In-Beef-Stew

Too Much Black Pepper In Beef Stew? 6 Simple Ways To Fix It

Introduction            

It’s hella annoying if you add too much black pepper to beef stew accidentally. But buddy, you’ve to act quickly. Otherwise, it can be extra frustrating to fix the stew.

So, what to do after putting too much black pepper in beef stew

Well, firstly, you can strain the broth a bit and add new broth. But the intensity of black pepper is a bit high. Then try adding an acid. You can even add more veggies. Lastly, adding dairy or a sweet ingredient in the stew can fix this issue of yours.  

Now that’s just the preview. We’ve provided an in-depth guide on this issue for your better understanding. Therefore, do give us some of your time, and stay tuned!                                   

How to Identify If There’s Too Much Black Pepper?

Now, two types of changes can take place after you add too much black pepper. And you can identify those changes through two specific methods.                                              

identify-too-much-black-pepper
Source: chowhound.com

Appearance

The first obvious change can be identified by looking at your beef stew.

Now, if you add too much black pepper, your stew will get darker than its original color. Thus, you don’t have to put much effort to understand that you messed up. To be extra sure about how much you’ve messed up, check the next segment. 

Flavor

So, the second change will be regarding the taste or flavor. Adding less or more of an ingredient can certainly affect the taste of your food. 

Now, let’s get back to black pepper. Well, black pepper has a specific piney and hot flavor to it. 

Therefore, to identify the intensity of the black pepper, you can taste a teaspoon of the stew. Just how you’ve to taste to know if the chili tastes too tomatoey or not.

But make sure you taste the portion slowly. Or else you won’t understand how much black pepper you’ve actually added.

6 Easy Ways to Remove Excess Pepper from Beef Stew

After identifying the high intensity of black pepper, the first thing you’ll do is panic. 

Hold it there buddy! Calm down. Now, repeat after us, every problem has a solution. You just have to be determined to fix it.

Now that you’re a bit calm, let’s focus on the solution.

One more thing-

It doesn’t matter whether it’s a beef lever or a calf lever you can apply the solutions for both of them.

So, you can apply six different but effective methods to solve this. These methods will surely save your dish. So let’s take a look at them, shall we?

Strain the Stew a Little 

The first thing you can do to fix the stew is to reduce some of the liquid from the stew. Now you can reduce the liquid by straining the stew.  

Straining the stew a little will eventually cut down the black pepper intensity. 

To strain the stew, you can use a metal strainer. Make sure to take your time while reducing the broth.

Once you’ve strained the stew, you’ve to pour in a newly made broth. However, make sure, the broth tastes the same as it did before adding black pepper. Then stir the stew properly. 

After stirring it, you’ve to taste the stew. Hopefully this time, the taste of black pepper isn’t as overpowering. 

Balance the Stew with An Acid 

If the intensity of the black pepper is still high after straining, add an acid. Can an acid actually balance out the stew? 

Well, if you didn’t know, in the chemical world, black pepper is actually a base. What’s a more logical way to neutralize black pepper? Obviously by adding an acid.                                              

Lime juice is the easiest acid you can come up with. Lime juice will not only balance out the black pepper. But it’ll also give your stew a sour taste which most people dig. 

You can also pour in a little bit of vinegar if you find it hard squeezing lemons. 

However, we definitely recommend using lime juice. Because it won’t overpower the taste of the actual stew. 

lime-juice
Source: theperfectcosmo.com

Now, how much of these acids you need to add is a bit difficult to mention. Because we don’t really know the intensity or the amount of stew you’ve right now. 

However, a rule of thumb is to pour ½  tablespoon of lime juice at first. Stir the stew a few times and then have a taste. 

Add more or less accordingly to your taste. 

Furthermore, some of you might pour in too much lime juice at once. To reduce the overpowering lime flavor, add in some water.

Add a Little Bit of Sweetness 

As we’ve mentioned black pepper has a hot and burning taste to it. Therefore, you can easily cut down that taste by adding something sweet. 

By the way, you can use the same process if you add too much smoked paprika in stew as well.

Sweet-ingredient
Source: eatbeautiful.net

However, there are lots of options other than sugar. The options actually depend on the intensity of black pepper in your stew. 

That’s why we’ve discussed what are your best options for both types of intensity –

Black pepper intensity Sweet ingredient
Low Sweet vegetables and granulated sugar.
High Granulated sugar, honey, maple syrup, and molasses.

Now, how much of the ingredient do you’ve to add?

You can start by adding 1 teaspoon of the ingredient you’ve chosen. Then just stir and taste the stew. Add more sweeteners if necessary.

Pour Some Dairy into the Stew 

One of the most effective ways to counteract too much black pepper is to add dairy. 

You can use milk, coconut milk, any kind of cream, yogurt, and so on. Plus adding sour cream to your beef stew can give it a sweet and sour flavor.                                 

dairy-in-stew
Source: tehrantimes.com

It’s proper to pour 1 tablespoon of dairy in your stew at first. Then you can add more if the black pepper taste is still present. Lastly, you can also grate cheese on top of the stew.

Meat and Veggies to the Rescue 

Now, another way to reduce too much black pepper is to add more beef or vegetables. This way you can easily get back the actual beef stew taste!

However, if you want to add more meat, you need to follow some important things. Hence, to you help out we’ve explained them into some steps- 

  • First of all, you can’t just put a piece of raw meat in the stew. You’ve to match the texture to the meat that’s in your stew. 
  • For that, you can boil 2-3 pieces of beef in another pot without any seasonings. Make sure you get the meat to the same temperature as the old ones.
  • If the new ones reach the desired temperature, you can dump them in the stew. Then close the lid and start cooking again. After 10 minutes, taste the stew to know if it has gone back to normal or not. 

Also for testing the temperature you can use a meat thermometer. Just insert it into the meat and check the number. It’s similar to how you test the temperature when fixing tough corned beef

Now, finding a good quality meat thermometer can be difficult. That’s why for you, we’ve provided the thermometers that work perfectly-

  1. ThermoPro TP03 Digital Instant Read Meat Thermometer
  2. Char-Broil Instant-Read Digital Thermometer

Anyway, if you think adding meat is a hassle, you can go for veggies. 

If you haven’t added any vegetables to the stew. Then you don’t have to put extra effort to match the temperatures. 

Just dice some potatoes and put them into the stew. Potatoes are great for soaking up excess black pepper. If you want the stew on the sweeter side, add some carrots and tomatoes. 

However, if you already have vegetables in the stew, do boil the new ones separately. Get them to the same temperature as the older ones by using a thermometer. Once you’ve matched the temperatures, add the new veggies to the stew. 

Mix Some More Seasonings

cumin-powder-for-beef-stew-recipe
Source: foodal.com

If the intensity of the black pepper isn’t that high, add some seasonings to blend it out. 

For example, you can choose cumin powder for any kind of beef stew recipe. If you want to give the stew an Indian or Spanish flavor, try out curry powder. You can add herbs to season the stew. To have an Italian taste, add some oregano or basil. 

For the measurements, start with 1 teaspoon of your preferable seasoning. Then gradually increase the amount according to your taste buds. 

You might not have any of the seasonings with you right now. So in that case, you can just follow any of the above-mentioned methods. And for future purposes, don’t forget to buy some-

  1. Sun Brands Madras Curry Powder
  2. McCormick Perfect Pinch
  3. McCormick Ground Cumin

Every spice will give your beef stew a different kick. Therefore, don’t forget to use herbs and spices

Now, these were all the methods we could provide. As there are six different methods so you might get confused while choosing one. To figure out which one to pick, you can move on to our next segment. 

Which Method to Choose for Removing Excess Black Pepper?

To be honest, picking one method out of the others is pretty difficult. However, you’ve to decide quickly. Because time and tide wait for none. 

Now, there’s a catch- 

You see, there can be different types of black pepper. And they come in both ground and whole form. They also have a difference in aroma and flavor too. Thus, you might think the methods vary from one variety to another. 

However, it’s not that complicated. The methods we’ve explained can be applied to any kind of black pepper. 

So, on which basis do the methods differ from each other? 

Well, you’ve to pick the methods depending on black pepper intensity and your beef stew type. To make things easier, we’ve mentioned the right ones according to those two factors-

Beef stew type Black Pepper Intensity Methods Extra tips
Hot and spicy Low Straining, meat and veggies, sweetness For sweetness, you can add sugar.
  High Straining, acid, dairy, sweetness Better to use lime juice for acid. And for sweetness options check the ‘add a little bit of sweetness’ segment out.
  Sweet Low Straining, sweetness, meat, and veggies You can use sugar as a sweet ingredient.  
  High Straining, dairy, sweetness, meat, and veggies Choose cow’s milk as the dairy option. Use sweeter ingredients for sweetness. 
Sweet and sour Low Straining, meat, and veggies For vegetables, use carrots and tomatoes. 
  High Straining, spices, dairy, acid, meat, and veggies Use cumin powder as the seasoning. Furthermore, if you use sour cream, you can’t use acid. 

Also, we’ve gathered two tips to prevent you from having high black pepper intensity. They are- 

  • Discard whole black peppers from the stew before applying any method. Because keeping the black pepper will decrease your chances of fixing the stew.
  • For ground black pepper, scoop out the excess immediately after pouring too much. For this, you can use a spoon. Make sure to scoop out gently without spreading the black pepper.

So from on keep these simple tips in my mind to save your beef stew in the future!

FAQs

What cancels too much black pepper? 

Well, both sweet and acidic ingredients can remove excess black pepper. Different kinds of dairy products are also useful to cancel too much black pepper 

How to identify black pepper in the stew? 

You can identify too much presence of black pepper by the visual features of the stew. And you can also taste the stew to know if there’s excess black pepper or not. 

How to reduce black pepper taste in food? 

If you want to reduce the taste of liquid foods, you can strain the liquid a bit. And then use any of the methods we’ve mentioned. For solid foods, you can cut down the black pepper amount at first. Then serve them with a sweetener. 

Endnote 

So, my friend, that’s all we could provide on too much black pepper in beef stew. Also, if you didn’t know, cornstarch can be used to eliminate the black pepper taste too. 

Anyway, were you able to fix your stew? 

Let us know your answers in the comment section. Good luck!

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

4 + 3 =

Scroll to Top